“How can we continue with our studies?” was one of the first questions asked to the teachers by Luisa, a student attending the Heirs of Tradition livestock production program, implemented by Alquería and the National Training Service (SENA, its Spanish acronym) in Colombia, in view of the relentless spread of the COVID- 19 pandemic in Colombia.1 At first sight, the predictable complications brought along by mandatory confinement to halt the spread of the pandemic could be overcome virtually, the way many students from urban schools and universities are still doing.

In developing countries, agricultural cooperatives are increasingly being used to promote improved agricultural technologies and alleviate food insecurity and poverty. However, little is known about the role of agricultural cooperatives in accelerating the adoption of improved agricultural technologies.

Van Yen District in Yen Bai Province represents the general terrain conditions and farming systems of the northern mountainous region of Vietnam. It has suffered land degradation due to soil erosion and nutrient depletion, which in turn led to declined crop yield, and food insecurity. The district experienced these impacts due to unsustainable upland agricultural practices. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development realized that their previous practices would not leave anything behind for the next generations.

Smallholder farmers grow a major share of the food consumed around
the world and preserve rich, biodiverse landscapes.1
But despite their
fundamental importance, many small farmers lead lives of deepening
vulnerability – caught between subsistence strategies threatened by
ecological degradation and commercial food systems that devalue them
as cheap labour. Alternative agricultural models are urgently needed.
One long-running movement still shows major untapped potential: that

Yam (Dioscorea sp.) is an understudied tuber crop despite its importance for food security, income generation, culture, and health in West Africa. Traditional yam cropping practices in West Africa deliver low yields and lead to environmental degradation. In the context of a ‘research for development’ project, we developed and implemented a participatory and transdisciplinary research approach as a means to derive more sustainable yam production practices.

SPIA has developed a comprehensive, country-level approach to documenting the adoption and diffusion of agricultural innovations linked to CGIAR research. The first focal country for this approach is Ethiopia, where SPIA has been working since 2015.
The approach involves three stages:

The Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) countries, the legal and financial framework that supported the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), was due to end on 28 February 2020. As a consequence, CTA was also set to close. An orderly closure of the Centre was agreed by the OACPS-EU authorities, with the process to run from March to December 2020.

This study assessed the impact of engagements by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) at policy and household levels in Kenya. Specifically, the study assessed the extent to which CCAFS engagement contributed to the observed changes in terms of shaping policy and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) coordination among others.

An innovative water-measurement and accounting tool developed and tested by WLE/IWMI and partners, "smart sticks", have proven successful in improving water accounting in Uzbekistan irrigation associations. They enable associations to automatically record how much water has been delivered to which farmers. This accurate, transparent and easy-to-use tool resolves conflicts over water distribution and incentivizes farmers to pay irrigation fees. As a result, the technology was included among priority investments in the Agricultural Development Strategy of Uzbekistan for 2020-2030.

The report "Towards a cocoa and chocolate chain free of deforestation and low in greenhouse gas emissions: Current status, opportunities with a value chain approach and plan of action" presents an input for the development of a cocoa chain free of deforestation and low in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Ucayali region.

This study examines women's bundles of rights to exploit the pods of a valuable food-tree species in Burkina Faso, Parkia biglobosa, locally known as néré. In West Africa, néré pods have traditionally been collected and processed by women and sold as soumbala, a highly-valued condiment. Given its value to local livelihoods, néré is a prized tree that is subject to a particular tenure regime. This study investigates the social factors that define women's harvesting rights to néré pods in the centre-west region of Burkina Faso through the lens of intersectionality.