Climate change poses a profound threat to the wellbeing and sustainability of farming and farm-based livelihoods in fragile socioecological systems. Climatic challenges to farming have often been addressed by diverse forms of sustainable intensification that aim to maximize farm outputs and resource-use efficiency through climate-smart innovations. However, climate change poses specific challenges to women farmers, who play important roles in agri-food systems, often in the absence of their male counterparts who recursively migrate from the climatically challenged regions.

This contribution presents the preliminary results of a qualitative study complementing an experimental design conducted in Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and India under Work Package 3 of the One CGIAR Market Intelligence initiative. The aim of this multicrop and multicountry study is to understand the factors driving or hindering women and men producers and consumers in varietal adoption.

Over the past century, the world has experienced an unprecedented surge in population growth, accompanied by a significant increase in economic activity and fuelled by an intensive utilization of natural resources, including water. This phenomenon has brought about profound alterations in land cover and land use patterns across various regions. Knowledge of land use changes is key to unlocking an understanding of water use changes and associated impacts on water resources, and potential threats to sustainability.

All sectors have been introduced to vulnerabilities resulting in lower food availability and accessibility during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to determine the vulnerability drivers of food systems in the Philippines during the COVID-19 crisis and how the actors were able to adapt to this crisis through a modified resilience causal pathway. Data were gathered from 353 participants (181 farmers, 29 traders/wholesalers/retailers, 61 processors, and 82 who are involved in logistics) nationwide.

This study addresses the knowledge gap regarding the specific gendered challenges faced by women smallholder farmers and the coping strategies deployed by them during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study investigates how power dynamics, gender norms and sociocultural practices at the household and community levels affected the women farmers’ coping mechanisms from a feminist political ecology perspective.

Climate change poses a significant challenge to farmers worldwide. It affects men and women differently due to their diverse roles, responsibilities, resource access and sociocultural norms. Understanding the gender perspective would help policymakers to develop evidence-based strategies that address unique vulnerabilities, promoting equitable, inclusive adaptation and resilience policies to climate risk. Hence there is a need to evaluate the available evidence base on gendered perspectives in this domain to design effective adaptation policies as well as future research.

In the context of agricultural research and development (AR&D) in the global South, there is a growing recognition of the role of women farmers and the relevance of targeting them. The level of women’s participation in agricultural activities is influenced by factors such as male outmigration from the agricultural sector, and prevailing social norms. This participation varies both temporally and spatially, thereby influencing the strategies for targeted technology development and dissemination.

Abstract In Western Africa, agro-sylvo-pastoral systems are dominant and food demand is booming. To meet this demand, many farmers intensify the production with industrial inputs (mineral fertilizers, feeds, pesticides, herbicides). However, the price of these inputs is rocketing. To face this issue, some farmers reconsider crops, livestock, and tree synergies and by-product recycling to increase their production sustainably at a lower cost.

Although seed is an integral part of the agri-food system, it is often unavailable and unaffordable to smallholder farmers in rural areas, especially women and vulnerable groups. In addition, the poor extension system of getting seeds and information to farmers remains a drawback to adoption and increased productivity. Further, increased climate variability exposes these vulnerable groups to risks like pests and diseases. This calls for more concerted and focused strategies by researchers and development actors to mitigate these challenges through robust partnerships and training.

Ecological intensification has been embraced with great interest by the academic sector but is still rarely taken up by farmers because monitoring the state of different ecological functions is not straightforward. Modelling tools can represent a more accessible alternative of measuring ecological functions, which could help promote their use amongst farmers and other decision-makers. In the case of crop pollination, modelling has traditionally followed either a mechanistic or a data-driven approach.

Through participatory vegetable and seed system development, ethnic minority farmers in target sites were organized in value chain groups to jointly produce and market various vegetable seeds/seedlings and vegetables. With the support of project partner and local partners, the groups’ capacity to identify market opportunities and engage with value
chain actors improved, whereby production increased by 5-7 times, from 70 to 400 tons after two years. Group and individual incomes also increased, and one group proceeded to register as a cooperative.

A location-specific, tailored, season-smart agro-advisory decision support tool (DST) in the Highlands of Ethiopia increased wheat yields of smallholder farmers by up to 25% with an average partial profitability of USD 600 per ha per season. The data-driven DST was developed by integrating over 25,000 crop responses to fertilizer application datasets and corresponding biophysical co-variants, using machine learning algorithms. Currently, the DST is being piloted across the highlands of Ethiopia. Documented here, as part of INIT EIA Excellence in Agronomy.