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.

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.

Black soldier fly frass fertilizer (BSFFF) is increasingly gaining momentum worldwide as organic fertilizer. However, research on its performance on crop production remains largely unknown. Here, we evaluate the comparative performance of BSFFF and commercial organic fertilizer (SAFI) on maize (H513) production. Both fertilizers were applied at the rates of 0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5 t ha-1, and 0, 30, 60, and 100 kg nitrogen (N) ha-1. Mineral fertilizer (urea) was also applied at 0, 30, 60 and 100 kg N ha-1 to establish the N fertilizer equivalence (NFE) of the organic fertilizers.

The different cases or stories presented in this booklet are the results from the experience capitalization exercise and give insights into the specific lessons learnt by the workshop participants, through analysis of their involvement in diverse activities of the Vijabiz project and the influence on their businesses.
This booklet is produced by the Youth Economic Empowerment through Agribusiness in Kenya (Vijabiz) project, implemented by CTA and USTADI Foundation from Kenya and supported by IFAD.

The impacts of climate change on food security and development in general are well known and have been well documented. ‘Climate Smart Agriculture’ (CSA) has been developed as an approach that helps to achieve “triple wins” in climate actions in agriculture through increased agricultural productivity, adaptation (supporting crops to grow in changing climate conditions), and mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions where possible). Many innovative climate-smart agriculture (CSA) innovations have been developed as solutions to help farmers achieve these triple wins.

Termites are widely used as a food resource, particularly in Africa and Asia. Markets for insects as food are also expanding worldwide. To inform the development of insect-based foods, we analysed selected minerals (Fe-Mn-Zn-Cu-Mg) in wild-harvested and commercially available termites. Mineral values were compared to selected commercially available insects. Alate termites, of the genera Macrotermes and Odontotermes, showed remarkably high manganese (Mn) content (292–515 mg/100 gdw), roughly 50–100 times the concentrations detected in other insects.

This analysis revisits the decades-old relative deprivation theory of migration. In contrast to the traditional view that migration is driven by absolute income maximization, we test whether relative deprivation induces migration in the context of sub-Saharan Africa. Taking advantage of the internationally comparable longitudinal data from integrated household and agriculture surveys from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda, we use panel fixed effects to estimate the effects of relative deprivation on migration decisions.

This work provides a preliminary inventory of West African Coccinellidae.
This was based on the West African Coccinellidae (WAC) specimens in the holdings of insect collections at the Laboratoire de Zoologie des Invertébrés Terrestres at the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop (IFAN), Senegal and the Biodiversity Center at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITAB), Benin.