Management practices such as tillage, crop rotation, irrigation, organic and inorganic inputs application are known to influence diversity and function of soil microbial populations. In this study, we investigated the effect of conventional versus organic farming systems at low and high input levels on structure and diversity of prokaryotic microbial communities. Soil samples were collected from the ongoing long-term farming system comparison trials established in 2007 at Chuka and Thika in Kenya. Physicochemical parameters for each sample were analyzed.

This book chapter focuses on zoonoses that are not transmitted primarily through food. Establishing systematic data collection is the first step to manage zoonoses. Management is complicated by heterogeneity: zoonoses may have a significant and debilitating effect on some communities but not on others. Understanding the spatial distribution of the burden of zoonoses is important to better focus control efforts. A significant constraint is the lack of collaboration between medical and veterinary authorities: institutionally speaking, zoonoses typically find themselves homeless and ignored.

In response to major shocks, governments and international humanitarian agencies often use direct seed distribution as a first level response to help communities stabilize or restart their farming systems. In contrast, CRS uses Seed and Voucher Fairs (S&VFs). After many years of successfully implementing S&VF, CRS developed a new type of seed fair that specifically focuses on the relief-development continuum and diversity, both in household dietary diversity for improved nutrition, and crop diversity for increased farming system resilience.

Increased adoption of improved agricultural technologies is considered an essential step to address global poverty and hunger, and agronomic trials suggest intensification in developing countries could result in large yield gains. Yet the promise of new technologies does not always carry over from trials to real-life conditions, and diffusion of many technologies remains limited.

Smallholder agriculture in the Global South is characterised by high degree of risk, which disincentivises investment in productivity gains and limits rural development. Index Insurance aims to overcome the limitations of traditional insurance to insurance farmers against exposure to climatic extremes. Based on two study sites in India, Haryana and Odisha, this study

The degradation of tropical pastures sown with introduced grasses (e.g., Urochloa spp.) has
dramatic environmental and economic consequences in Latin America. Nitrogen (N) limitation to
plant growth contributes to pasture degradation. The introduction of legumes in association with
grasses has been proposed as a strategy to improve N supply via symbiotic N2 fixation, but the fixed
N input and N benefits for associated grasses have hardly been determined in farmers’ pastures.

Chaya is a highly nutritious perennial leafy vegetable native to Mesoamerica. This drought-resistant crop has low production and consumption levels in Guatemala, but has the potential to help agriculture and food systems be more nutritious and resilient. This study analyzed the value chain of chaya in Guatemala, and identified bottlenecks and opportunities for its use-enhancement. This research, the first of its kind applied to this crop in Guatemala, combined Rapid Market Appraisal tools.

The on-station study was conducted at Sakhula, Bunda College (LUANAR), and on-farm in Golomoti Extension Planning Area (EPA). The objectives of the study were to assess constraints to goat production, to assess pre-weaning body weights of local Malawi goat kids, to analyze the nutrient content of selected tree and grass fodder species and to evaluate effect of feeding goats with Faidherbia albida pods and Gliricidia sepium based supplements on feed intake, growth rate and carcass quality.

Nigeria is the main yam-growing country of the world. In the country, various plant-parasitic nematodes have been reported constraining yam production and the storability of tubers. This study established the damage level of nematodes on white yam tubers (Dioscorea rotundata) across the major production areas in the country for management purposes.

In 2020 the CGIAR CAS Secretariat is conducting independent reviews of the 12 CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs), including this one of RTB. The reviews will provide information on quality of science and effectiveness in each CRP. This review covers the Phase II years of 2017 through 2019, with a view to identifying lessons for future research modalities.

In its updated Nationally Determined Contributions, Vietnam raised the Agriculture-greenhouse gas mitigation target by 16MtCO2-eq; 100% of Ag-unconditional target will come from rice. With IRRI-CCAFS contributions, climate-smart rice production was introduced to 17,000 extension staff and 75,800 farmers within Vietnam's extension programs; while the Vietnam-Sustainable Agriculture Transformation project almost doubled the low-emission technology adoption area, reaching 163,418ha. Alternate Wetting and Drying and rice straw removal are outscaled in An Giang province.