USAID has played a crucial role in shaping global shifts in agriculture and sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) through the decades. The agency has constantly fostered agricultural innovation - from the Green Revolution in the 1960s to the market-economy transition in the 1990s1 . USAID’s more recent work has followed the priorities of the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, the US government's flagship global hunger and food security initiative.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of the research centers within the global Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), has a long history of gender research relevant to its mission of reducing poverty and ending hunger and malnutrition. One of the concerns with women’s empowerment beyond the household – in public spaces, including community decision-making processes – is that women lack key pieces of information necessary to facilitate their full and effective participation.

Climate impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa are severe and will increase. Agriculture is a cornerstone of the economies of most countries and yet is dominated by climate-vulnerable rainfed systems. Meeting the food demands of the growing African population will require significant adjustments in food production systems and unfortunately, current adaptation efforts across the continent are insufficient to meet the climate challenge.

Banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) is one of the most important diseases threatening banana production in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA). In this study, we examine the potential impacts of BXW on banana production, demand, and food security in SSA, if the disease spread across all banana-producing countries in the region. The analysis is based on a multidisciplinary approach that combines a mathematical model of field-level BXW spread over time with a dynamic global partial equilibrium economic model.

Rwanda’s impressive economic growth over the past two decades has been accompanied by significant structural change in the broad economy and the agrifood system in particular. This note summarizes key results from a recent diagnostic of Rwanda’s agrifood system transformation, examining the effectiveness of productivity-led growth in different agricultural value chains for promoting development outcomes related to poverty, growth, employment, diet quality, and hunger. The findings show that value chains differ in their effectiveness in promoting these different development outcomes.

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.

Adapting food systems to climate change is a global priority, including for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in East Africa. Food systems are impacted by climate change, and also contribute to climate change. In the East Africa region, climate change (particularly severe drought) is negatively impacting agricultural production (crops and livestock) and disrupting supply chains, putting pressure on livelihoods and threatening to significantly increase hunger and malnutrition. There is therefore a critical need for enhancing climate change adaptation efforts.

Context
Maize production in western Kenya is limited by the spread of parasitic weed Striga hermonthica and depletion of soil nutrient stocks. Nitrogen (N) fertilizer and imidazolinone resistant (IR) maize are key elements in the agronomic toolbox to control infestations and enhance yields
Research question

With only four years before the end date for the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, the need to identify nutrition-sensitive and sustainable agricultural interventions that can address hunger and malnutrition cannot be more urgent. This paper assesses associations between sustainable intensification practices and dietary diversity in maize-based farming systems of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Food, land, and water systems face daunting challenges in the future, and the body of research exploring these challenges is growing rapidly. This note is part of a series developed by the CGIAR Foresight Initiative to summarize what we know today about the future of various aspects of food systems. The goal of these notes is to serve as a quick reference, point to further information, and help guide future research and decisions.
Key messages