Emergy-Data Envelopment Analysis (EM-DEA) is a methodological approach for achieving complete environmental-economic accounting of different production systems.

This report explores the potential to diversify intra-regional trade in Eastern and Southern Africa countries (Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Burundi), with special reference to the COMESA regional market. More specifically, three critical issues were analyzed. First, the current performance and the potential to trade has been examined using several regional trade performance indicators including the production and trade similarities, and the competitiveness of the sample countries in the regional trade.

Land degradation, declining soil fertility, and erosion continue to plague agricultural production in many developing countries. In response to these farm production constraints and environmental challenges, a range of soil conservation technologies and practices have been developed and disseminated to tackle soil nutrient and fertility declines. However, evidence on the association between soil conservation, farm performance, and smallholder welfare is scarce.

Achieving gender and social equality in agri-food systems can result in greater food security and better nutrition for all—and transform food systems to be more just, resilient and sustainable. Equitable food systems are essential to achieving SDG 5, whose gender equality goal is intrinsically valuable and whose achievement supports progress across all other SDGs. Current thinking has evolved from focusing on gender gaps to enabling gender-transformative change in agri-food systems, fostering gender and social equality and women’s empowerment.

Climate change affects every aspect of the food system, including all nodes along agrifood value chains from production to consumption, the food environments in which people live, and outcomes, such as diets and livelihoods. Women and men often have specific roles and responsibilities within food systems, yet structural inequalities (formal and informal) limit women’s access to resources, services and agency. These inequalities affect the ways in which women and men experience and are affected by climate change.

A third of the land on the Earth is composed of grasslands, mainly used for forage. Much effort is being conducted to develop tools to estimate grassland productivity (GP) at different extents, concentrating on spatial and seasonal variability pertaining to climate change. GP is a reliable indicator of how well an ecosystem works because of its close connection to the ecological system equilibrium. The most commonly used proxies of GP in ecological studies are aboveground biomass (AGB), leaf area index (LAI), canopy storage capacity (CSC), and chlorophyll and nitrogen content.

Climate variability and extreme weather events such as floods and droughts continue to increase due to climate change. These changes will have significant impacts on low- and middle-income countries. Without transformative climate adaptation solutions, millions of smallholder farmers will face severe losses because of increased climate variability.

"Shamba Shape Up" is a popular television show in East Africa that focuses on agricultural education and improvement. The show features a team of experts who visit different farms, providing practical demonstrations and advice to farmers on various aspects of agriculture, such as livestock rearing, crop cultivation, farm management techniques, and sustainable practices. It aims to educate and empower farmers with valuable information and skills to enhance productivity, increase yields, and improve their livelihoods.

The workshop provided overview on the food systems landscape in Kenya, and to identify opportunities to inform inputs on crop diversification, livestock, land use expansion, and irrigation. It also contributed immensely into policy and stakeholder mapping exercise in Kenya.

Plant genetic resources (PGR), including collections held in national and international gene banks, provide access to a wide array of genetic diversity and are critical to genomics research, conservation efforts, and applied breeding. Yet, there is a general lack of awareness in the research community about the rules and treaties that govern the use of PGR, about access and benefit sharing obligations contained in international treaties and/or national laws, and about how best to comply with potentially applicable requirements.