Women and men value chain actors in low-income countries assess and choose varieties, animal breeds, or strains according to a multitude of factors, such as local agroecological conditions, production and consumption habits, and seed availability and accessibility. Continuous changes in the ecological, economic, and political contexts shape women’s and men’s day-to-day social interactions as well as their livelihood options and can create new needs for specific breeding products.

Farmers in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region face several interrelated challenges including natural resource depletion, low crop productivity, and food and nutrition insecurity. To address some of these challenges, governments are considering different incentives to increase crop production. However, incentives often entail trade-offs and may have diverging effects on economic, social, and environmental sustainability.

The One CGIAR Initiative TAFSSA (Transforming Agrifood Systems of South Asia) prioritizes interdisciplinary farm and landscape level research including an assessment of groundwater availability and sustainable use under scenarios of climate change scenarios and crop diversification. To integrate groundwater and cropping system modelling participatory practices were used to identify potential cropping scenarios in Nalanda, Bihar, through bottom-up exercise in a one-day workshop. This brief presents the methods and findings of this scenario development workshop.

With the rise in flood occurrences in recent years, conducting precise flood risk assessments has become a crucial aspect of mitigating floods in agricultural regions. This study aims to generate updated and precise flood risk maps specifically tailored to rice-based systems in Mali. Historical flood and flood indicator maps spanning from 2018 to 2022 were generated using multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite images covering the Sikasso and Segou regions, recognized as significant agricultural production areas in Mali.

This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is designed for Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) Use Case teams with an interest in developing gender- and youth-responsive agronomic solutions. The SOP is a guide to help Use Case teams move from each step in their workflows when designing, validating, and piloting their Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) to ensure they can develop gender- and youth-responsive agronomic solutions by the end of their Use Case.

The AICCRA project, led by IITA recently introduced some climate smart Agricultural Innovations and Climate information services to help improve upon the farming activities and livelihoods of farmers in some selected communities in Ghana. Innovations such as the use of improved seeds, proper soil and nutrient management practices and integration of climatic data into decision making were introduced to farmers in five agro-ecological zones cutting across six regions in Ghana.

Droughts are common in Mali and have a significant impact on agricultural and water resources. However, there has been no previous evaluation of agricultural drought risk in Mali. A comprehensive agricultural drought risk assessment approach that considers drought severity, location, timing, and duration of drought occurrences was used to create detailed drought risk information for operational drought management in Mali. The study was carried out in the Sikasso and Segou regions, which are key agricultural production areas in Mali.

This report elaborates on the methodology to source and screen a pipeline of high CSA impact economically and environmentally sustainable business models (SMEs) from diverse sources, prioritizing women-led SMEs, in Africa that can be linked to innovative investment solutions.

This research examined how the Smart-Valleys approach for water control was disseminated, its impact on rice yield, farmers' income, and food consumption score, as well as the farmers' perception of its advantages in Mali. In total, 469 farmers, including 68% women and 35% youth, adopted the Smart-Valleys approach across 10 sites, covering an area of 61.9 hectares. The primary dissemination methods included on-farm demonstrations, farmers exchange days, capacity building for extension agents and young service providers, along with continuous support to farmers during implementation.

This research assessed the dissemination methods of RiceAdvice, the factors influencing farmers' decisions to use, and its impacts on rice yield, farmers' income, food consumption score, and estimated greenhouse gas emissions in Mali. A total of 95,749 farmers, including 34,470 women (36%), benefited from RiceAdvice recommendations and were assisted by 120 young service providers in implementing these recommendations on their fields. Farmers' decisions to use RiceAdvice recommendations were influenced by formal education, farm size, and membership in farmers' organizations.

Farmer-led crop budgeting can be a valuable tool for examining how individuals or groups of farmers utilize and generate resources during agricultural operations. Budgeting exercises enable the quantification and analysis of resource inputs and outputs for a particular operation, resource, or the entire farming enterprise. They can be particularly useful when comparing between alterative suites of diverse crops and cropping systems.