Background
The social science and agribusiness research program at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has supported the Institute’s research and delivery efforts since 1967. This Compendium highlights the main achievements of IITA’s social science and agribusiness research over the 55 years from 1967 to 2022.
Methodology

A protocol was developed to establish AICCRA's on-farm demonstration plots for the short rains season of October-November-December 2023 in Makueni, Kitui and Taita Taveta Counties. This protocol outlines the specific roles and responsibilities of extension officers and lead farmers, covering various activities from land preparation to harvesting. It employs a randomized block design, integrating conservation agriculture and conventional tillage systems, with both sole cropping and intercropping of legumes and cereals.

The Breakthrough Agenda was launched by 45 world leaders at COP 26 and is a commitment to work together this decade to accelerate innovation and deployment of clean technologies, making them accessible and affordable for all this decade. To kick-start this Agenda, countries endorsed Breakthrough goals to make clean technologies and sustainable practices more affordable, accessible and attractive than their alternatives by 2030 in the power, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture sectors.

ICRISAT organized a training for county extension officers and Trainer of Trainers (ToTs) with the primary objective of increasing production and productivity of Drought Tolerant Crops (DTC) in the arid regions of Kenya. This training held from 8th to 30th August 2023, was conducted across Kitui, Makueni and Taita Taveta Counties. The main focus of the training was to enhance participants' understanding of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), quality seed production and post-harvest handling of DTCs, while also providing insights into climate information systems.

The lower Mekong region, encompassing Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, heavily relies on agriculture for livelihoods. However, both the historical and current agricultural systems face a plethora of sustainability challenges, including in relation to the health of soils to support agricultural production and livelihoods. To improve the sustainability of agricultural systems, nature-based solutions in the form of microbial bioinoculants are being combined with agroecology principles as approaches to improve soil health.

This brief provides insight into the different farming systems of the three study regions and their application of CSA practices, comparing uptake between Heifer supported cooperatives and non-Heifer supported cooperatives, using evidence from a Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey (RHoMIS).

The CWANA (Central and West Asia and North Africa) region was once considered the birthplace of civilizations and played a significant role in sustaining ancient empires like the Romans through its agricultural productivity. The area is characterized by diverse agroclimatic conditions, which vary across the countries in this extensive region in terms of climate, soil, and topography. Agriculture continues to make a significant contribution to the GDP of many CWANA countries, creating job opportunities and ensuring food security.

Recognising and including the knowledge and leadership of indigenous peoples in building resilient food systems is crucial for equitable transformation. Kenyan decision makers must empower indigenous peoples to engage in local climate adaptation and agricultural sector planning, and at the same time protect those peoples’ rights.

Women play an important role in agriculture and account for around 50% of the agricultural labor force in Asia. Strong evidence exists to prove that women farmers have less access to land, inputs, labor and information compared to men, which, in turn, can influence technical efficiency in farms, that is the effectiveness with which a given set of inputs is used to produce output. Strong reasons indicate that women’s empowerment may contribute to enhancing technical efficiency, most notably through improvements in women’s access to human, physical, and social capital.

As part of the AICCRA project, the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted land Use (WASCAL) and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) are tasked to to develop curricula and training materials to accelerate the mainstreaming Climate Information Services (CIS) and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) into University’s curricula in Africa.

In the framework of the EU-RBA Joint Programme on Gender Transformative Approaches for Food Security and Nutrition (JP GTA), FAO, IFAD, WFP and the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform developed “Guidelines for measuring gender transformative change in the context of food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture” aimed at enhancing the capacity of research and development partners to design, implement, monitor and evaluate gender transformative interventions.