Personalized extension advisory deliver information that are more compatible with farmer production conditions and has a better chance of adoption and impacts. We exploit a rich four-round experimental panel data on RiceAdvice, a decision support app that provides personalized information on soil fertility management and other agricultural practices to rice farmers. We evaluate the impact of the app on technological, managerial, frontier yield, and fertilizer productivity differentials, while accounting for differences in production technologies possessed by the different treatment groups.

This concept note is developed by the CGIAR Initiative for Diversification in East and Southern Africa (Ukama Ustawi). It highlights the significance of strengthening capacity in the science and practice of scaling innovation. The lack of a comprehensive and realistic understanding of innovation and scaling processes, coupled with limited scaling knowledge and capacity across individual, organizational and system levels hinder the effective scaling of innovations. Consequently, many promising initiatives fail to reach their full potential and address systemic issues at scale.

The UNDP & Life Peace Institute (LPI) report on mapping climate security adaptations highlights that the link between climate and conflict depends on the interplay of exposure to climate hazards, vulnerability, and coping capacity of states and communities. Therefore, due increasing impacts of Climate Change (CC), it is crucial for the Kenyan governments to identify and mitigate climate security1 risks both at national and county levels. The National Climate Action Plan (NCCAP) outlines the Kenyan government’s strategy on mitigation and adaptation to climate change and its effects.

SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) organized a four-day training program for SAARC member countries representatives on Climate Smart Agriculture in South Asia: Technologies, Policies, and Digital Innovation. 28 senior government officials and high-ranking country representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka participated in this training program. The details of the participants are presented in Annexure 4.

This comprehensive review explores the historical and cultural significance of fire management in Sub-Sahara Africa's rangelands, emphasizing its integral role in socio-cultural practices and livelihoods. While traditional fire use aligns with herders' knowledge for optimal pasture management, recent limitations arise from government policies, erratic rainfall, and population pressures. The ecological effects of fire on rangelands showcase its potential for ecological renewal, influencing species diversity, biomass, and soil properties.

On July 24, 2023, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) under the Ministry of Agriculture organized a Multistakeholder Workshop on “National Alliance of Stakeholders for the Wheat Sector in Lebanon”. The agenda of the workshop is provided in Appendix 1.

Iron and zinc malnutrition is a global humanitarian concern that mostly affects newborns, children, and women in low- and middle-income countries where plant-based diets are regularly consumed. This kind of malnutrition has the potential to result in a number of immediate and long-term implications, including stunted growth, an elevated risk of infectious diseases, and poor development, all of which may ultimately cause children to not develop to the fullest extent possible.

Climate change has major implications for food security and the livelihood of smallholder farmers, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This is so in spite of the technical and technological innovations in agri-food systems over the past few decades which not only aimed to boost productivity but also be more climate smart. Evidence also suggests that the impact of climate change is not gender neutral (UN Women 2022).

Dairy farming activities play important roles in nutrition and health, livelihoods and employment, and culture, in Kenya and Senegal. Faced with various challenges such as climate change, increased populations, insecurity, and conflicts over (water, land, feed) resources, dairy production systems will have to undergo changes in the future that allow them to adapt.

A blog call on policymakers and research-for-development organizations to take action to mitigate the possible impacts of the current developing El Niño event on small-scale farmers and rural communities and to keep tracking seasonal climate fluctuations. Multiple climate prediction centers have concurred that this El Niño event will reach a “strong” category in the Northern Hemisphere by the winter of 2023-24.

Agroecology is a farming approach which embrace a set of ecological principles, practices, and local knowledge generation to boost the resilience and adaptation of sustainable food systems. However, a transition towards agroecology food system is also not an easy task and involves the piloting of a set of very complex practices, tools, arrangements, and policies combined with behavioral changes and sustainable financing business models.

The document “Technical manual: Rice straw management towards circular economy and low emission in the Mekong Delta” introduces readers to the characteristics of rice straw, the current status of its treatment, and the management process for using rice straw in a circular way to reduce GHG emissions in rice production. This manual will be a handbook for farmers, extension officers, cooperatives, and others who are interested in rice production that is associated with circular greenhouse gas emission reduction.