Agriculture is one of the important sectors of the Southeast Asian (SEA) region, contributing 11.4% to the regional GDP. Diverse conditions in climate, vegetation, physiography, geology, and lithology have resulted in 19 complex soil geographical areas, creating 11 farming systems, of which four are considered significant. Soil health has been recognized as key to a successful and productive cropping system, giving rise to sustainable agriculture.

The titles in this series aim to disseminate intermediate research on the extension of climate services and climate-smart agriculture in Africa to stimulate reactions from the scientific community.

The regional Research-Extension-Linkage Committees (RELCSp) lanning sessions are platforms where various stakeholders in agriculture sector assemble to deliberate on constraints that facing Ghana’s agricultural system. It also assesses the performance of the year’s agricultural activities under the RELCs within the regions.

The focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment are crucial in nurturing health and human development. Using unit-level data from NFHS5 (Demographic and Health Survey data), we developed a women’s empowerment index for India and assessed its impact on children’s (0–59 months) and women’s (15–49 years) health and nutritional outcomes.

Significant progress in agricultural technology development have remained persistently blind to social and gender inequalities. Creating agricultural research ecosystems and institutions that address gender inequality require structural and systemic analysis. One of the major areas of investment in agricultural innovation is plant breeding.

An efficient small-scale flash drying technology was scaled out from 2019 to 2022 by the CGIAR team CIAT-CIRAD-IITA. The innovation was adopted by 5 cassava flour processors and 1 equipment manufacturers from D.R. Congo. This flash drying innovation package has positively impacted the environment and considerably increased the profitability of cassava processing, as the processors doubled to tripled their production capacity, and cut their fuel consumption per ton of cassava flour produced by 30 to 50%.

The International Group of Seven (G7) Presidency (Germany) used an analysis of payments for ecosystem services and innovative finance to develop the CompensAction Initiative to incentivize small-scale farmers to produce ecosystem services. As a first action, in 2022 the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) invested EUR 15 million in three projects of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). BMZ will continue to invest at least $1-2 million/year in CompensAction projects.

Nutrition-related problems are a widespread challenge in the Philippines. Many factors contribute to these problems - the availability and affordability of vegetables, for example, which are jeopardized by challenges such as seasonality and inconsistent yields due to the impacts of climate change. Crop improvement and on-farm diversification, particularly using indigenous vegetables (IVs), can help address these challenges, while also improving rural livelihoods, nutrition, and food security; and even safeguarding local culture and tradition.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is
extremely vulnerable to climate change and is also the
most gender unequal region in the world. According to the
Global Gender Gap report, the gender gap is highest in the
MENA region (60.9 percent progress toward parity), and “at
the current relative pace, it would take an estimated 142.4
years to close” (World Economic Forum, 2021: 26).
Agriculture in the MENA region is becoming increasingly
feminized, with women representing more than 50 percent

Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) is a USD 60 million three-year project, funded by the World Bank and led by CIAT, with participating partners from seven countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Zambia. This report provides an overview of two Satisfaction Surveys that were disseminated to partners to gather their feedback on three of the intermediate Project Indicators (IPI), as laid out in the Project Implementation Arrangements.

Zinc is an important nutrient for plant growth and development. Its availability is influenced by zinc solubilizing microbes (ZSMs). The effects of commonly promoted agronomic practices on the abundance of ZSMs are so far not well understood. In this study, conducted in 2019, we assessed the effects of farmyard manure (FYM) application, either sole or in combination with residue and/or inorganic fertilizer inputs, on ZSM community structure using 11 treatments in a long-term (17 years) integrated soil fertility management experiment located in Western Kenya.

The CGIAR Climate Security has developed a safeguard programming assessment tool for conflict-sensitive and peace-responsive climate action in agricultural settings. The Climate Security Sensitivity Tool (CSST) is used to evaluate, ex-ante, the extent to which a proposed climate adaptation intervention addresses local drivers of conflict and insecurity and recommends strategies to strengthen their suitability. It seeks to prevent unintended consequences, avoid conflict relapses, and contribute to peacebuilding.