The COVID-19 pandemic has brought impacts on the food system in several ways, such as on the supply and demand of food or changes in consumer preferences. However, little is known yet about these effects but needs to be analyzed to define actions and policies for crisis mitigation and achieving food system resilience and food security.

The Global Framework of Climate Services (GFCS) was developed to enhance resilience in social, economic, and environmental systems to climate variability and change at national and regional levels.

Managing climate risk in agriculture requires a proper understanding of climatic conditions, regional and global climatic drivers, as well as major agricultural activities at the particular location of interest. Critical analyses of variability and trends in the historical climatic conditions are crucial in designing and implementing action plans to improve resilience and reduce the risks of exposure to harsh climatic conditions.

Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa within 3–15° N and 33–48° E, bordered by Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti to the east, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, and Somalia to the south and east. It covers an area of about 1.14 million square kilometers. The country's topography consists of high and rugged plateaus and peripheral lowlands. Elevations in the country range from 160 meters below sea level (northern exit of the Rift Valley) to over 4600 meters above sea level (of northern mountainous regions).

Edible crickets are among the praised insects that are gaining recognition as human food and livestock feed with a potential of contributing to food security and reduction of malnutrition. Globally, the sustainable use of crickets as food or feed is undermined by lack of information on the number of the edible crickets, the country where they are consumed, and the developmental stages consumed. Furthermore, lack of data on their nutritional content and the potential risks to potential consumers limits their consumption or inclusion into other food sources.

This study takes stock of over 10-years of experience and increasing coverage of index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) programs to protect pastoralists from drought shocks in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region. The study reviews the status of national-level drought/climate risk financing solutions in the region and discusses the operational and technical feasibility of a regional IBLI program, summarizing critical lesson learned and providing a set of recommendations and options for regional implementation.

The climate services that are available to farmers and other agricultural value chain actors are quite heterogeneous across sub-Saharan African countries. While the literature highlights widespread gaps between available climate services and the needs of farmers and other decision makers, there has been little published analysis of how or why those gaps vary by country.

This report provides evidence-based insights about the state of digital agricultural innovations through the eyes of the Inspire Challenge, which can help design and support future Digital Agricultural Innovation System (DAIS) in the One CGIAR. The results show that the first phase of the Inspire Challenge program was successful at serving as a DAIS enabler by creating partnerships in the digital agricultural ecosystem, which led to digital innovations in food systems.

This seminar launched the course on the RTB Toolbox for Working with Root, Tuber and
Banana Seed Systems, covering 12 tools for studying and documenting these systems
(https://tools4seedsystems.org/). The online seminar was held for two hours a day (26, 28
and 29 July 2021) and was attended by between 85 and 134 participants from 26 to 39
countries. The Toolbox originally included a set of 11 tools and a glossary, but in this seminar

Plant breeders’ knowledge of precise traits preferred by variety users would accelerate varietal turnover and widen adoption of newly developed maize varieties in Ghana. The objective of this research was to provide empirical evidence of trait preferences of farmers and other actors in the maize value chain in northern Ghana, based on which research strategies for maize improvement could be formulated. Participatory rural appraisal was conducted in 2016 to determine key traits preferred by maize value chain actors across the three regions in northern Ghana.

The African eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum L.) is an important traditional vegetable cultivated in tropical regions for its edible fruits. In the Benin Republic, S. aethiopicum is mainly cultivated by rural farmers for food and for its use in traditional medicine. Assessing varietal diversity, endogenous knowledge, production constraints and farmers' preference criteria are of great importance for promotion and conservation purposes. Using rural appraisal tools and methods, an ethnobotanical study was conducted in 680 households across 92 villages.

A desirable tester that elicits greater genetic difference in Striga resistance among test crosses in a breeding program has not been reported. Therefore, this study was conducted to characterize 30 Striga resistant yellow endosperm maize inbred lines and three testers with varying resistance levels to Striga using DArTseq SNP markers and agronomic traits to identify a suitable tester for resistance hybrid breeding. Marker-based and agronomic trait-based genetic distances were estimated for yellow endosperm maize inbred lines and testers with varying resistance levels to Striga.