A farmer-inclusive value chain development approach is a powerful formula for developing sustainable market linkages in the Pacific. We need to apply new thinking to modernising and sustaining agri-food systems as the impacts of climate change, unpredictability in global trade, migration and conflicts threaten progress towards the goals of zero hunger and end to poverty and malnutrition. Innovation in all aspects of the agrifood system, from production to processing, financing and marketing as well as in how producers organise themselves to address these challenges is critical.

While there is consensus on the need to promote agricultural development in Africa to achieve food security and use agriculture as an engine of growth, there is a lively policy debate on appropriate policies to achieve this goal. In the past two decades, there has been a revival of policies that favor government support to agriculture in Africa, especially in the form of input subsidies.

To increase productivity and profitability, while limiting nutrient losses and related GHG-emissions, African smallholders need more tailored fertilizer advice. Yet, such advice critically hinges upon – largely lacking – field-level management data, as management is key to efficient fertilizer use. The Maize- Nutrient-Manager (MNM) mobile phone application enables collection of such data at scale, and directly converts this data into actionable advice for the farmer.

Field survey of Brassica oleracea growing in the wild in northwestern French coastal areas and AFLP analysis of their genetic diversity and population structure. This study offered the highest level of detail ever presented about the distribution of wild B. oleracea populations along the French Atlantic coast. Populations analysed showed a low level of genetic differentiation. Traditional varieties commonly grown in the same area were not fully distinguishable from the wild populations on a molecular level.

Crop production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is constrained by rainfall variability and declining soil fertility. This has over time led to a decrease in crop yield, among them also maize. This decrease is also experienced in the sub-humid and semi-arid locations of Kenya. Among the commonly used soil and water management practices in SSA are Conservation Agriculture (CA) and integrated soil fertility management (ISFM). Crop response to these management practices is influenced by the existence of soil fertility gradients which are common among smallholder farmers.

As the effects of climate change are severely straining West African agricultural systems, the adoption of more incisive interventions in support of sustainable development agendas for the region is highly critical and cannot be further delayed by governments. Neglected and underutilized species (NUS) are one important ally in pursuing resilience in both production and food systems because of their promising traits in terms of nutrition, adaptation to local agroecosystems, and economic potential for local populations.

Organised by CTA, the European Commission (EC), the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and Concord, the Brussels Development Policy Briefings have been a flagship initiative providing an inclusive policy dialogue forum for 13 years, focusing on the most critical issues facing agriculture and rural development in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific countries. The Briefings offered a structured mechanism for the exchange of information and experience among representatives of the development community in Brussels.

This study explored the potential of the Innovation Platform approach, in improving the participation of rural female farmers in Maize value chain. It intends to identify the peculiarities, in terms of challenges and opportunities related to its application to the rural women realities. The study collected data from 120 small scale maize producers in South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 2015 to 2017, using individual interview and focus group discussion (FGD) for data confirmation.

Every year, millions of dollars are spent on tree-based landscape restoration activities. Over the last five decades, there are few success stories of such interventions and even those do not match the anticipated objectives for which the resources were spent. News articles that announce planting campaigns of millions of seedlings are common. Despite all this, in many countries, vegetation cover has not improved due to poor seedling survival rate. This makes the return on investment low.

Following the launch of the CSA strategy for the Central American Integration System (2017), supported by CCAFS, actors from all levels (local, national, regional/international) implemented 259 transformations aligned with the strategy’s objectives toward scaling Climate Smart Agriculture. These transformations include CSA policy formulation and implementation, capacity strengthening and partnership around CSA, mechanisms to facilitate and articulate climate financing. Most of the transformations are concentrated in the policy area.

This paper examines the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on youth unemployment in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region using panel data from the World Bank World Development Indicators for the period 1994–2017. Results from the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS-Parks) technique show that FDI has an insignificant effect on reducing youth unemployment in the SADC region. This could be because the type of FDI in the region is partly mergers and acquisitions, which has fewer jobs creating capacity compared to Greenfield investment.

Over the past 10 years, there have been a myriad of foresight exercises and scenarios developed that are relevant to consider in the context of building climate-resilient pathways of development in the SADC region. These scenarios consider different pathways for developing climate-resilient food and agricultural systems relevant for the region. However, not all the scenarios ar e developed for the r egion; most are either at SSA or country level, with a few at regional level, and several at global level.