While significant progress has been made by several international breeding institutions in improving maize nutritional quality, stacking of nutritional traits like zinc (Zn), quality protein, and provitamin A has not received much attention.

Accurate and regularly updated information regarding the cultivated area of rice, along with forecasts and harvested yields, is indispensable for governments in making informed decisions related to food security, natural resource management, agricultural productivity, and insurance. The RIICE technology approach, tailored for Mali's rice-based systems, has demonstrated its capability to intricately map rice areas and accurately determine the start of growing seasons.

The quality and origin of tree seeds and seedlings affect the survival, growth, productivity, ecosystem services and adaptive capacity of restored forests and landscapes. The availability of seeds and seedlings directly influences the delivery of benefits to land users from restoration efforts. Yet, despite more than a decade of global restoration commitments and programmes since 2011, substantial gaps remain worldwide in individual, organizational and sectoral capacities to source and deliver quality tree seeds and seedlings for restoration, especially of native species.

In Ghana, AICCRA is implemented by various institutions and NGOs led by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Benin. As climate information is key in the process, in collaboration with IITA, the Center for International Forestry Research-World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF/Sahel) is engaged for capacitating stakeholders for the efficient use of climate information and services through the Participatory and Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) approach.

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in food systems can result in greater food security and better nutrition, as well as more just, resilient and sustainable food systems for all. This chapter uses a scoping review to assess the current evidence on pathways between gender equality, women’s empowerment and food systems. The chapter uses an adaptation of the food system framework to organize the evidence and identify where evidence is strong, and where gaps remain.

Anthropogenic activities profoundly impact soil organic carbon (SOC), affecting its contribution to ecosystem services such as climate regulation. Here, we conducted a thorough review of the impacts of land-use change, land management, and climate change on SOC. Using second-order meta-analysis, we synthesized findings from 230 first-order meta-analyses comprising over 25,000 primary studies.

Inoculation of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] with rhizobia strains is a low-cost investment which can increase yields of smallholder farmers in Mozambique. The performance of four Bradyrhizobium strains was evaluated to identify the best strain to inoculate soybean grown in different agro-ecologies. Field experiments were conducted in three ecological zones in 2018 and 2019 using soybean variety Zamboane inoculated with Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens strain USDA 110, B.

The milpa system is the basis of traditional agriculture in Mesoamerica. It is based on a polyculture of maize (Zea mays L.), bean (Phaseolus spp.) and squash (Cucurbita spp.) and is associated with a great diversity of crops and wild species. The milpa has great cultural and historical importance but can also be highly productive and provide sufficient and healthy diets for smallholder farmers. The milpa system is practiced less and less however, mainly due to socioeconomic changes, but also due to a lack of agronomic knowledge adapted to current conditions.

This report presents the consolidated outputs of the CGIAR researchers involved in the first cohort of the CGIAR Food Systems Accelerator. The Food Systems Accelerator was established to bolster Ukama Ustawi, a CGIAR initiative focused on transforming agri-food systems in East and Southern Africa (ESA). This program, spanning from 2022 to 2024, aligned scientists with agribusinesses to bring CGIAR innovations to scale in ESA.

The main objective of this action was to co-identify technological and institutional innovations that can be implemented within the agroecology living landscapes (ALLs) to facilitate the agroecological transition with specific reference to pre-selected value chains. The action also aimed to co-develop the action to be implemented in the ALLs by the farmers. This co-development capacitated all stakeholders and built confidence to use local resources to solve local problems.