Land degradation is a major obstacle to agricultural development in Africa,
where it’s accentuated by poor agricultural practices and climate change effects.
Restoration of degraded lands is crucial to prevent incursions into virgin and
marginal lands. A field experiment was carried out over a four-year period on
two degraded sites, to assess and compare the effect of the common practices
of: (i) burning crop residues and weeds by resource-poor farmers (T1) and (ii)
burning crop residues and weeds followed with application of manure and/or

Gender Equality, Climate Change and Agriculture in the MENA region: Priorities and Possibilities.

From Fragility to Resilience in Central and West Asia and North Africa (F2R-CWANA) - CGIAR Initiative drop in call: RAFS RIIs, March 9, 2023

This is a report on an innovation packaging exercise for the Munda makeover innovation. Munda makeover innovation packaging is being implemented by the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (ABC) and partners. It is part of the work under the Diversification in East and Southern Africa (Ukama Ustawi) Regional Integrated Initiative of the CGIAR.

One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is reducing food loss and waste (FLW) across all stages of food value chains, including the on-farm production, the off-farm postharvest, processing, and distribution, and the household consumption stages. We employ general equilibrium models for Bangladesh, Kenya, and Nigeria to assess the economywide implications of reducing FLW at different stages of value chains. Halving FLW results in GDP increases of between 1.1 and 2 percent, with up to 13 million people lifted out of poverty across the three countries.

This brief presents the results of a modelling analysis of goat farming systems from three study sites in Nepal, shedding light on the potential greenhouse gas mitigation potential of improved goat production systems as promoted by Heifer Nepal.

Agriculture in India contributes close to 20% of GDP and employs 44% of the workforce. Of these agricultural workers, 55% are women, and this percentage is likely to increase as women have fewer opportunities than men to find non-farm jobs. On top of that, women face significantly more barriers and constraints in accessing natural resources such as water and land because – despite significant legal and social efforts – the land rights of women are not widely acknowledged.

Introduction: In rainfed agricultural systems, sustainable and efficient water management practices are key to improved agricultural productivity and natural resource management. The agricultural system in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) relies heavily on the availability of rainfall. With the erratic and unreliable rainfall pattern associated with poor and fragile soils, agricultural productivity has remained very low over the years. Much of the SSA agricultural land has been degraded with low fertility as a result of ongoing cultivation and wind and water erosion.

In Sub-Sahara Africa agriculture is predominantly rainfed and faces several challenges due to unpredictable weather patterns and distribution that is amplified by climate change. The rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and increased frequency of extreme events contribute to the vulnerability of farmers as well as leading to crop failure, low yields, land degradation among others. These factors compound the difficulties for smallholder farmers, making it more challenging for them to produce adequate food to meet the demands of a growing population.

This analysis is composed of two parts. The evolving structure of Kenya’s agrifood system (AFS) and its contribution to national development is assessed using a series of Social Accounting Matrixes (SAMs) for Kenya for the period 2009–2019. Economic performance is also assessed at subsector level to better understand the contributions of different agrifood value chains to Kenya’s development and economic transformation in recent years.

Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana var. mangostana) is a popular tropical fruit, yet many aspects of its biology and evolutionary history are little known. Its origin remains contentious, although recent findings suggest G. mangostana L. var. malaccensis (Hook. f.) Nazre (synonym: G. malaccensis Hook. f.) as the sole progenitor. We review hypotheses on the origin of mangosteen and clarify points that have been affected by errors of fact and interpretation. The narrow focus and lack of detail in published results make their interpretation difficult.