Smallholder farmers grow a major share of the food consumed around
the world and preserve rich, biodiverse landscapes.1
But despite their
fundamental importance, many small farmers lead lives of deepening
vulnerability – caught between subsistence strategies threatened by
ecological degradation and commercial food systems that devalue them
as cheap labour. Alternative agricultural models are urgently needed.
One long-running movement still shows major untapped potential: that

Yam (Dioscorea sp.) is an understudied tuber crop despite its importance for food security, income generation, culture, and health in West Africa. Traditional yam cropping practices in West Africa deliver low yields and lead to environmental degradation. In the context of a ‘research for development’ project, we developed and implemented a participatory and transdisciplinary research approach as a means to derive more sustainable yam production practices.

SPIA has developed a comprehensive, country-level approach to documenting the adoption and diffusion of agricultural innovations linked to CGIAR research. The first focal country for this approach is Ethiopia, where SPIA has been working since 2015.
The approach involves three stages:

The Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) countries, the legal and financial framework that supported the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), was due to end on 28 February 2020. As a consequence, CTA was also set to close. An orderly closure of the Centre was agreed by the OACPS-EU authorities, with the process to run from March to December 2020.

This study assessed the impact of engagements by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) at policy and household levels in Kenya. Specifically, the study assessed the extent to which CCAFS engagement contributed to the observed changes in terms of shaping policy and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) coordination among others.

An innovative water-measurement and accounting tool developed and tested by WLE/IWMI and partners, "smart sticks", have proven successful in improving water accounting in Uzbekistan irrigation associations. They enable associations to automatically record how much water has been delivered to which farmers. This accurate, transparent and easy-to-use tool resolves conflicts over water distribution and incentivizes farmers to pay irrigation fees. As a result, the technology was included among priority investments in the Agricultural Development Strategy of Uzbekistan for 2020-2030.

The report "Towards a cocoa and chocolate chain free of deforestation and low in greenhouse gas emissions: Current status, opportunities with a value chain approach and plan of action" presents an input for the development of a cocoa chain free of deforestation and low in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Ucayali region.

This study examines women's bundles of rights to exploit the pods of a valuable food-tree species in Burkina Faso, Parkia biglobosa, locally known as néré. In West Africa, néré pods have traditionally been collected and processed by women and sold as soumbala, a highly-valued condiment. Given its value to local livelihoods, néré is a prized tree that is subject to a particular tenure regime. This study investigates the social factors that define women's harvesting rights to néré pods in the centre-west region of Burkina Faso through the lens of intersectionality.

Land degradation affects 24% of the world’s land surface and 1.5 billion of its people. It is the result of human activities, exacerbated by natural processes, and is closely linked to climate change and loss of biodiversity. In Africa two-thirds of arable land is degraded. In Senegal, 2.5 million hectares are degraded (CSE 2011); the central “groundnut basin” is particularly affected.

This was a cost-sharing project supported the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). The project’s primary objectives are to: (1) strengthen the capacity of 2,000 small-scale farmers and rural women to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices; and 2) improve their access to financial products that support productive investments. By meeting these objectives, the project would improve the living condition of these farmers and rural women.