A third of the land on the Earth is composed of grasslands, mainly used for forage. Much effort is being conducted to develop tools to estimate grassland productivity (GP) at different extents, concentrating on spatial and seasonal variability pertaining to climate change. GP is a reliable indicator of how well an ecosystem works because of its close connection to the ecological system equilibrium. The most commonly used proxies of GP in ecological studies are aboveground biomass (AGB), leaf area index (LAI), canopy storage capacity (CSC), and chlorophyll and nitrogen content.

Atelier de réflexion sur l’outil Holistic Localized Performance Assessment (HOLPA). Cet atelier a réuni les chercheurs des institutions suivantes : CIRAD, CIRDES, INERA, IRSAT, ICRAF et ISRA (la liste des participants est annexée au présent compte rendu). Cet atelier s’inscrivait dans le cadre de l’initiative intitulée "Agroécologie transformationnelle à travers les systèmes alimentaires, de gestion des terres et de l'eau" ou plus simplement "Initiative Agroécologie" qui a été lancée en 2022 et pilotée par le Groupe consultatif pour la

Semi-arid rangelands in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are an important source of food security and nutrition but are under increased anthropogenic pressure by a growing population. These rangelands are characterized by nutrient poor soils and distinct wet and dry season(s). Due to the soil and climate combination, conventional crop agriculture is rarely feasible without irrigation and mineral fertilizer amendments, which in turn are limited by prohibitively high fertilizer prices and lack of water.

Indicators of CSA practices/technologies are crucial to measure the performance of CSA practices/technologies and use as a guideline for data collection on the evaluation of CSA practices and technologies. Various indicators of CSA practices under the five categories including crop production, livestock production, integrated soil fertility management, erosion control, water management, and forestry/agroforestry management were identified using experts knowledge and literature review.

Emergy-Data Envelopment Analysis (EM-DEA) is a methodological approach for achieving complete environmental-economic accounting of different production systems.

Standard tools that can quantitatively track the impacts of higher global demand for animal-sourced food to their local environmental effects in developing countries are largely missing. This paper presents a novel integrated assessment framework that links a model of the global agricultural and food system, a landscape-level environmental impact assessment model, and an ecosystem services simulation model.

The current global road network expansion scenario poses a conflict of interest between Sustainable Development Goals of human well-being and biosphere, which could be mitigated through strengthening of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. Here, we propose the integration in EIAs of a method focusing on landscape-level connectivity for wildlife, based on easily accessible satellite imagery and basic species data that need not be site-specific.

This study analyzes the impact of a component of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technology—Striga-resistant maize (SRM) varieties and mineral fertilizer—on maize yield and food security using two rounds of panel data in Ghana. The study employs a multinomial endogenous switching regression model and finds that joint adoption of SRM varieties and mineral fertilizer increased maize yield by 872 kg/ha, food consumption scores by 17, and consumption per adult equivalent unit by 38 kg/ha. The positive impact of maize yield is high among adopters of multiple CSA technologies.

CONTEXT
Cereal-legume intercropping, a common practice among farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), is important for crop diversification, soil fertility improvement, household nutrition and climate adaptation. However, cereals often outcompete the intercropped legumes for growth resources resulting in low legume yields.
OBJECTIVE

Most maize production across the globe is rain-fed, and production is set to be negatively impacted as duration and occurrence of droughts increases due to climate change. Development of water-deficit tolerant maize germplasm has been a major focus for most breeding programmes. Here, we sought to assess the genetic gain for grain yield in two maize populations developed for drought tolerance at CIMMYT by evaluating their cycle progeny through hybrid performance.

In less than one year the Niger Basin Authority, an intergovernmental body tasked with the sustainable development of the Niger waters and associated resources, passed the first ever nexus policy in a transboundary river basin, contributing to a true acceleration of change for improved water and associated development in the Niger River Basin. The guidelines were developed in close collaboration with the nine basin countries and complemented by a large capacity building program.