Report No. 2: Collection of policies and database on food, land and water systems in Lao PDR (as 20 December 2022).

Rapid population growth in fertile agricultural lands of East Africa creates land scarcity, which has become a major hindrance to land access for the introduction of new horticultural crops. But their introduction in these areas is increasing, because of their high market price, which improves farmers’ income. As such, this research evaluated land access dynamics (availability, acquisition, and use changes) on the introduction of passion fruits in East Africa.

This research activity pursues three specific objectives: 1)Evaluate existing collaboration and mechanisms for mainstreaming CIS and agro-advisories into the activities conducted by the Great Green Wall National Agency of Mali; 2) Develop Public-Private Partnerships for the sustainable management of climate risks in the zone of the Great Green Wall; 3) Define activities, roles and
responsibilities and possible contractual issues for the sharing of costs and benefits between the actors involved in Climate Information Service activities in Mali.

Ethiopia is among the five implementors of this initiative and the implementing team composed
of individuals from various CG centres based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has made visited to
the agreed project sites in Ethiopia on 30 August 2022. In north Shewa, it was agreed that
Basona Worena will be the implementing site of this initiative activities. On this day, SI – MFS
initiative implementing team composed of researchers from Alliance of Bioversity International
and CIAT, ICARDA and ILRI has travelled to Debre Birhan area to select research site for

Policymakers in Nigeria and other countries in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA) are relying on agriculture to generate employment for the growing youth population. However, there is concern that youth engagement in agricultural production is declining in favor of other economic activities. “Rural-urban-rural” migra tion occurs mainly during intercrop intervals, as the cyclical nature of crop-related activities prompts African youth to seek more economic stability from nonagricultural employment during the off season (Yeboah and Jayne 2018).

This study highlighted the importance of farmers’ understanding of the climate change effects, and identified recommendations on how to target women and enhance support services to increase the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers. However, measures to increase women’s participation should be tailored to the local context. It would not be prudent to generalize recommendations for engaging women across different geographic, agroecological and socio-cultural contexts. Land tenure considerations must also be factored in planning the CSA interventions.

Credit allows borrowers to access funds required to make an investment before returns materialize. For smallholder farmers, who must invest in agricultural inputs (i.e., seeds, chemicals, equipment, land, and labor) during the planting season before earning income from the sale of agricultural produce after harvest, credit helps alleviate liquidity constraints and promotes the ability of local agricultural production to support nutrition and food security. In rural Nigeria, access to credit—especially formal credit from financial institutions—is limited.

In rainfed agricultural systems, like in Lao PDR, where rainy season rainfall is a crucial water source for agricultural production, accurate prediction of the rainfall seasonality indices (onset, cessation, and LGP) is critical for agricultural planning. These indices determine the timing of land preparation, seeding, and transplanting of major crops, as well as the mobilization of seeds or crops. Accurate knowledge of the dates of rainfall seasonality indices reduces the risk of planting and sowing too late or too early.

Improving fertilizer use efficiency has remained a challenge, particularly for small-scale farming in undulating ‘abnormal’ landscapes of East Africa. Milne's 1930s concept on ‘Catena’ was considered as a breakthrough in understanding soil variability and its implication on productivity in East African highlands. However, there is limited information on how the ‘Catena’ features could be used for fine tuning fertilizer recommendations.

Among smallholder maize farmers in Ethiopia (and similar areas in Africa), yield and stress tolerance traits in maize varieties are important. While high yields remain a major objective, breeding and seed system development programs are increasingly based on the recognition that farmers also have an interest in other agronomic and consumption traits. In this paper we illustrate these issues by measuring the trade-offs farmers may be willing to make for specific traits in the mid-altitude maize markets in Ethiopia.