The SPIA 2019-2021 progress report seeks to provide a timely and relevant input into One CGIAR discussions and offer an update to SPIA stakeholders on the progress and ongoing activities of SPIA. The report describes studies in the pipeline, ongoing country-level data collection efforts, and details of initiatives at different levels to strengthen impact culture within the CGIAR.

WLE/IWMI research findings demonstrated that substantial water and energy savings could be achieved by adopting more efficient irrigation technologies in the lift irrigated areas of Uzbekistan. Researchers engaged with decision makers and recommended that the government shift subsidies from energy to water saving technologies. This recommendation has been adopted in a state program on water saving technologies covering 450,000 hectares in 2021.

The Alliance and its partners inspired the government in Ethiopia to start constructing a drinking water dam for the people of Mekaneselam. Our detailed report investigating the various water harvesting options and suggestions for a suitable location has led to a decision to invest hundreds of millions. We are now working with partners to develop an integrated 'dam catchment management master plan'. When completed the project will benefit the close to 100,000 people of Mekaneselam and its surroundings.

PIM researchers conducted an impact evaluation of the Baraza program, which has been implemented by the Office of the Prime Minister since 2009 to improve public services. The findings and recommendations of the study are being used to increase the program’s cost-effectiveness and inclusivity, potentially affecting millions of citizens throughout the country.

Research investments in institutional innovations: The case of rangeland governance in Tunisia. Summary of a Webinar, 9 July 2020

This workshop is part of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) supported CCAFS project “Enhancing capacities for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of sustainable livestock actions in Ethiopia.” Ethiopia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) states the intention to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the livestock sub-sector. The national GHG inventory is one of the main tools through which Ethiopia can measure and report livestock subsector GHG emissions.

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) – hereafter the Alliance and its various partners supported by GIZ-Ethiopia is supporting the transformation plan of Ethiopia through developing structured soils/agronomy database and promoting improved analytical approaches.

Land restoration is considered to be the remedy for 21st century global challenges of land degradation. As a result, various land restoration and conservation efforts are underway at different scales. Ethiopia is one of the countries with huge investments in land restoration. Tremendous land management practices have been implemented across the country since the 1970s.

Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change.

Participatory ‘assessment workshops’ were held in 2018 in Yanuo Village, Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. The ‘Indicators of Resilience in Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS)’ tool was used to provide the community with a framework for discussion and analysis of socio-ecological processes essential for resilience. Workshops were planned and implemented by local people together with researchers from outside the community.

This study intended to determine factors influencing marketable supply of avocado fruit at Lemo woreda in Hadiya zone. The avocado production suffers from many limitations such as, lack of well-organized market system, inadequate skill of post-harvest handling and lack of market information system in the study area. The specific objectives of the study to assess market channel, identifying factors influencing market supply of avocado fruit and examining market supply performance of avocado fruits in the study area.