Since the market-oriented Doi Moi reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, Vietnam’s livestock sector has experienced rapid growth. Although policies have been implemented at the national and provincial levels to guide this growth in a sustainable manner, blind spots and implementation gaps remain. Through a review of policy documents, grey literature, peer-reviewed journal articles, and key informant interviews, this research seeks to summarize livestock-related policies at the national and provincial levels in Son La, Vietnam.

Climate-smart village (CSV) has been demonstrated as a good model to practice climate-smart agriculture technologies and practices (CSA T&Ps) for enhancing adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change in rural areas worldwide. This material documents detailed stepwise guidelines for CSV implementation at village level from three CSVs that have been successfully established for three distinctive agroecologies of Yen Bai province. These CSVs were developed in three different projects, such as the CCAFS FP2.1 (2015-2018), VIBE 2018.05 (2019-2021), and NTM (2020) projects.

Biodiversity loss is recognized as a major global threat. The European Commission has addressed this issue with vigour in its current strategy papers. Farmland birds, such as the lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), whose population has been rapidly declining in Germany, have been particularly affected. To date, the European Union has tried to tackle the problem of biodiversity loss mainly with voluntary agri-environmental schemes (AESs), which are financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

Maintaining minimum population sizes for local livestock breeds is a key goal in the conservation of animal genetic resources. As markets and livestock production systems have tended to favour a narrow base of high-output improved breeds, countries have had to use financial and other incentives to motivate breeders to keep local breeds. This paper explores the potential for more cost-effective alternatives to the most commonly used financial incentive, a fixed payment per animal or livestock unit.

Dairy productivity in sub-Saharan Africa remains below its potential, while there is an increasing demand for milk from its growing population. This study focuses on the adoption potential of improved, more nutritive and productive forages by smallholder farmers in the Tanga region of Tanzania.

Rural labor markets in Africa are frequently characterized by underemployment, with farmers unable to fully deploy throughout the year one of their most important assets—their labor. Using a nine-year panel data set on 1,407 working-age adults from rural Malawi, we document changes in rural underemployment over this period and how they are associated with urbanization. Nearby urban growth results in increased hours worked in casual labor (ganyu) and in non-agricultural sectors, at the expense of work on the household farm.

Sustainable intensification (SI) is promoted as a rural development paradigm for sub-Saharan Africa. Achieving SI requires smallholder farmers to have access to information that is context-specific, increases their decision-making capacities, and adapts to changing environments. Current extension services often struggle to address these needs. New mobile phone-based services can help. In order to enhance the public extension service in Tanzania, we created a digital service that addresses smallholder farmers’ different information needs for implementing SI.

Small-scale aquaculture systems can contribute significantly to food and nutritional security, poverty alleviation, and rural development, especially in developing countries. However, the intensification of aquaculture systems often has negative environmental outcomes. The adoption of diversification practices (e.g. polyculture, pond-dike cropping (PDC)) and better management practices (BMPs) has been identified as a possible approach to intensify sustainably small-scale aquaculture production.

This report showcases the results of the assessment conducted by the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, and the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development. The assessment aims to create new sets of criteria for the Nông Thôn Mới (NTM) program of Vietnam by investigating the impacts and issues brought by climate change.

This proposal on how to integrate the development and implementation of CS-MAP into the government’s policy framework was drafted by Former Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Bui Ba Bong. In the policy document, CS-MAP can be integrated into national and sectoral policies and plans, such as in the National Plan to adapt to climate change, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to climate change mitigation in the agricultural sector, and in the national and regional agricultural restructuring plan for the period 2021-2025.

The International Potato Center (CIP), in collaboration with the Green Innovation Centers for the Food and
Agriculture sector (ProCISA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER), and the Institute of
Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), organized and facilitated training workshops for seed growers on
Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) for the production and conservation of seed potato. The workshops that took
place in ADYS hotel in Dschang on 26 – 27 April 2021, TRANSCAM hotel in Ngaoundere on 5 – 7 May 2021, ADYS