Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a staple and nutritious leguminous food crop for all income categories in Africa. Efforts to improve its yield performance and nutritional components, especially Iron and zinc have resulted in the release of several varieties in the sub-Saharan African region. The objective of this study was to assess genetic progress in varieties released in 12 African countries through the Pan African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) from 1973 to 2017, to inform current breeding decisions.

The communication strategy aims to engage stakeholders by showcasing the results and achievements made in the AgriLAC Resiliente regional initiative and, in particular, on advances related to the establishment of the Innovahubs across the region. This report details the overall strategy and includes an overview of all the communication and outreach materials developed over 2023.

This working paper was developed based on a policy and literature review to take stock of the latest information on forest-food linkages in Kenya. Our review shows Kenya’s forests play important roles in providing food directly to local communities, as well as requisite conditions for sustainable food production systems in the country. Food-forest linkages are widely articulated in different policies issued by the Government of Kenya that draw on the principle of producing food without destroying forests.

This report was developed based on a literature review of existing laws and policies, and reports on forestry stakeholders, forestry-based mitigation options and their linkages to food systems in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The report shows that despite forests playing a vital role in providing food security, this is often overlooked by policymakers and current national and provincial policies. Only a limited number of studies have explored this linkage across the 13 provinces of the Mekong Delta region.

The literature on the food and nutrition security of tribal and/or indigenous communities in the mountain and hill regions remains opaque, despite the prevalence of malnutrition and food insecurity. Empirical evidence on the gendered dimensions of challenges in the agri-food system in the indigenous communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region is even more limited. In this session, we focus on the need for gender-transformative approaches (GTA) in the HKH region, which extends over eight countries from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east. The panel session, chaired by Dr.

Farmers in Ghana have suffered from the effects of climate change. These negative effects are more severe among women and youth farming groups. Research in Ghana has been focused on developing climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices to mitigate the negative effect of climate change on farmers productivity. The study uses baseline data from the Accelerating impacts of CGIAR climate research for Africa (AICCRA) project to analyze social inequalities and gender dimensions in the application of CSA practices among maize, cowpea, yam, sweet potato and tomato farmers in Ghana.

As climate change relentlessly threatens the livelihoods of smallholder farmers regionally and globally, persistent gender disparities in the use of climate change adaptation strategies continuously impede achievement of resilience efforts. This study explored one research question: what specific strategies can be implemented to improve the inclusivity of bean value-chain innovations in Tanzania, Malawi and Burundi and enhance climate resilience?

The objective of this research is to shift participants away from potentially thinking of intersectional research as being additive, towards developing a shared understanding of intersectionality as about the ways identities combine to create specific sets of opportunities, and challenges, in an agri-food system. Taking an intersectional approach is a way of considering how interwoven dimensions of inequality affect groups of people (and individuals) in the context of a problem and can lead to constrained spaces for them to make and act upon decisions.

The acceleration of deforestation is one of the unexpected consequences of the signing of the Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP guerrilla in 2016. In recent years, deforested areas have increased in territories previously occupied by guerrilla and paramilitary groups, while illicit crops have expanded, and the violence perpetrated by other illegal armed groups has intensified. This research seeks to understand the relationship between the implementation of the Peace Agreement and deforestation in Colombia, mainly through a quantitative approach.

The titles in this series aim to disseminate intermediate research on the extension of climate services and climate-smart agriculture in Africa to stimulate reactions from the scientific community.