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.

Irrigation is an important mechanism to mitigate risks associated with the variability in rainfall for the smallholder subsistence farming system. This study analyzed how practicing small-scale irrigation (SSI) impacts the key livelihood assets on farm households’ human, physical, natural, financial, and social capitals in Ethiopia’s upper Awash sub-basin. The household-level survey data, collected from the 396 sample households, was used to carry out the current study. A Propensity Score Matching (PSM) analytical model was applied to match the SSI user and nonuser groups.

Background
Digital technologies are promoted as transformational for smallholders in Africa through the potential to enhance access to knowledge, increase productivity and food security. Despite the anticipations for agricultural digitalization in Africa, smallholders' engagement with digitalization is empirically underexplored. Hence, we surveyed 1565 rural farmers in Northern Ghana to explore how farmers interact with digital tools and services, and the variations in their engagements.
Results

Since 2000, many African countries have introduced programs aimed at providing smallholder farmers with low-cost certificates for land held un-der customary tenure. Yet there are many contending views and debates on the impact of these land policies and this book reveals how tenure security, agricultural productivity, and social inclusion were affected by the interven-tions.

The demand for chicken meat and eggs exceeds what can be produced in Tanzania, largely due to low productivity of the sector. Feed quantity and quality are the major factors determining the potential production and productivity of chickens. The present study explored the yield gap in chicken production in Tanzania and analyses the potential of increased chicken production as a result of closing the feed gaps. The study focused on feed aspects limiting dual-purpose chicken production in semi-intensive and intensive systems.

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

Agroecology is a transdisciplinary, participatory, and action-oriented approach aimed at enhancing food system resilience, equity, and sustainability. It forms part of CGIAR’s 2022-2024 Research Portfolio,
delivering science and innovation to transform food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis.

The current paradigm of biodiversity conservation, with its continued focus on the notion of pristine nature, has resulted in the separation of humans and nature at the expense of both biological and cultural–linguistic diversity. The continued annexation of land for the cause of conservation has resulted in the curtailment of both rights and access to local and diverse food sources for many rural communities.

In this paper we revisit the current debate between red meat vs. alternative protein and explore the respective contribution that those two polarized discourses claim to make in relation to the new international agenda on transforming food systems toward a more sustainable future. To complete this, we combine classical political economy analysis focusing on the access and distribution of power and economic resources amongst different groups of actors, with a more sociological approach relying on discourses analysis.

The aim of this work is to assess the impact of no-till based cropping system on soil erosion using two indicators. The experiment plot was under no-tillage (NT) for four years, adjacent to a plot under conventional tillage (CT) with same other management practices. The two used indicators are Le Bissonnais soil aggregates’ stability test and the activities of the fallout radionuclides (FRN) Be and Cs.

Food losses and waste (FLW) reduction and mitigating climate impact in food chains are priorities in achieving sustainable development goals. However, many FLW-reducing interventions induce additional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, for example, from energy, fuel, or packaging. The net effect of such interventions (expressed in GHG emissions per unit of food available for consumption) is not obvious, as is illustrated in a number of case studies.