Conclusion

The challenges of bee research in Asia are unique and severe, reflecting different cultures, landscapes, and faunas. Strategies and frameworks developed in North America or Europe may not prove applicable. Virtually none of these species have been assessed by the IUCN and there is a paucity of public data on even the basics of bee distribution. If we do not know the species present, their distribution and threats, we cannot protect them, but our knowledge base is vanishingly small in Asia compared to the rest of the world.

Intensive rice (Oryza sativa)-based cropping systems in south Asia provide much of the calorie and protein requirements of low to middle-income rural and urban populations. Intensive tillage practices demand more resources, damage soil quality, and reduce crop yields and profit margins. Crop diversification along with conservation agriculture (CA)-based management practices may reduce external input use, improve resource-use efficiency, and increase the productivity and profitability of intensive cropping systems.

As more Voluntary Sustainability Standards/Systems (VSS) increase their efforts to address gender inequality in agri-food value chains, the timing is ripe to reflect on progress to inform future strategies and research. This paper revisits the body of evidence on VSS and gender equality through the lens of SDG5.5 specifically, to identify if and especially how VSS may support women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership in decision-making in rural communities.

The manual is designed to assist the reader with information about soybean value chain and its management in times of climate change. It is comprised of six chapters of coordinated content as summarized below. First chapter of this manual is focused on the soybean and its development and also describes the status of soybean in Uganda and its significance.

Beef is a major source of animal protein across the globe and its consumptions increases annually. Globally beef consumption is expected to reach 72 million t by 2025 from 70 million t in 2021 (OECD–FAO 2021). In Africa annual beef production was over 45 million kgs in each of 26 countries (FAOSTAT). In Uganda beef production had highest growth rate of 6.5% between 2001 and 2010 (FAOSTAT) and in 2018 was estimated at 217 million kgs (UBoS 2018). For the past 50 years, beef consumption in Uganda has been growing at a rate of 2%.

These slides were used during the Stakeholders’ Consultation Meeting on Agrifood value chains in Odisha Challenges and Opportunities, at Auditorium, Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Empowerment (Krushi Bhavan) Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India on 29 November 2023.

Livestock production in Ethiopia has been constrained by feed shortage, low quality and seasonal fluctuations. The use of high-yielding, good quality and drought-tolerant forage legumes like alfalfa and vetch has been suggested to overcome the feed constraints. These forage legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen when being in symbiosis with rhizobia, but show variations in terms of N2-fixation, calling for exploring the best symbionts.

Planted forests are critical to climate change mitigation and constitute a major supplier of timber/non-timber products and other ecosystem services. Globally, approximately 36% of planted forest area is located in East Asia. However, reliable records of the geographic distribution and tree species composition of these planted forests remain very limited.

Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Walp is a well-known agroforestry leguminous tree that provides multiple benefits in different agroecological zones. Its apparent versatility is seen in improving animal feed, cleaning environmental wastes, and healing inflammations. It was also found to have significant benefits in agroforestry due to its ability to enhance soil fertility through nitrogen fixation and green manure. However, this article reviews the use of Gliricidia sepium to improve soil fertility and crop agronomic and nutritional properties.

This presentation is a collection of slides used by speakers at the National Wheat Day Workshop on February 13-14, 2023 held in Cairo, Egypt.