Agriculture plays a major role in economic growth, but it is also an important source of greenhouse gas emissions in Kenya. To achieve Kenya’s NDC target of cutting GHG emissions by 32% by 2030 relative to business-as-usual (BAU) of 143 MtCO2 eq, there is need to identify and promote scalable innovations for food system emissions reduction. The CGIAR Initiative on Low-Emission Food Systems (Mitigate+) can contribute towards Kenya’s NDC. The Mitigate+ Initiative aims to reduce annual global food system emissions by 7% by 2030. Kenya is among the prioritized countries for the initiative.

One of the great challenges facing the agricultural sector worldwide is the availability of fertile land for the establishment of crops for human and animal feed. Grass pastures used for animal feed, particularly cattle, are one of the crops with the highest land use, not only in LAC but also worldwide. However, poor practices and inadequate management of natural resources have led to a decrease or loss of soil nutrients, which leads to soil degradation.

With the rise in flood occurrences in recent years, conducting precise flood risk assessments has become a crucial aspect of mitigating floods in agricultural regions. This study aims to generate updated and precise flood risk maps specifically tailored to rice-based systems in Mali. Historical flood and flood indicator maps spanning from 2018 to 2022 were generated using multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite images covering the Sikasso and Segou regions, recognized as significant agricultural production areas in Mali.

Droughts are common in Mali and have a significant impact on agricultural and water resources. However, there has been no previous evaluation of agricultural drought risk in Mali. A comprehensive agricultural drought risk assessment approach that considers drought severity, location, timing, and duration of drought occurrences was used to create detailed drought risk information for operational drought management in Mali. The study was carried out in the Sikasso and Segou regions, which are key agricultural production areas in Mali.

This research examined how the Smart-Valleys approach for water control was disseminated, its impact on rice yield, farmers' income, and food consumption score, as well as the farmers' perception of its advantages in Mali. In total, 469 farmers, including 68% women and 35% youth, adopted the Smart-Valleys approach across 10 sites, covering an area of 61.9 hectares. The primary dissemination methods included on-farm demonstrations, farmers exchange days, capacity building for extension agents and young service providers, along with continuous support to farmers during implementation.

This research assessed the dissemination methods of RiceAdvice, the factors influencing farmers' decisions to use, and its impacts on rice yield, farmers' income, food consumption score, and estimated greenhouse gas emissions in Mali. A total of 95,749 farmers, including 34,470 women (36%), benefited from RiceAdvice recommendations and were assisted by 120 young service providers in implementing these recommendations on their fields. Farmers' decisions to use RiceAdvice recommendations were influenced by formal education, farm size, and membership in farmers' organizations.

Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) has degraded soils, epitomized by decades of loss of valuable topsoil caused by continuous cultivation, monocropping, excessive run-off, and the absence of effective conservation-based farming practices. Conservation Agriculture (CA) offers several opportunities to restore land and arrest soil degradation in smallholder farming systems of SSA. This study assessed labor productivity and farm returns associated with CA in Malawi and Zambia using household survey data collected from 500 and 616 farmers in Zambia and Malawi, respectively.

The Supply Chain Risk Assessment and Management Toolkit, developed by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT in collaboration with FMO and Mercon Coffee Group, has the objective of helping companies assess the risks of engaging with or endorsing unlawful/unethical practices in their agricultural supply chains, and defining adequate measures to prevent, minimize and mitigate their impacts. The toolkit groups risks in three major Areas: Labor, Human Rights, and Environment, which are further disaggregated in Sub-Areas and Components.

Evaluation of Pea seed-borne mosaic virus (PSbMV, genus Potyvirus, family Potyviridae) seed transmission rate among 62 different lentil genotypes was carried out during 2021-2023 at Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Seed transmission rates among lentil genotypes ranged from 0.0 to 36.4%. Released lentil varieties (Alemaya and Derso) showed high levels of seed transmission rates (13.5% and 7.1%, respectively).