Climate resilient crops will become increasingly important, especially in regions where smallholder farmers are vulnerable to climate extremes. Enset, a multipurpose perennial staple crop consumed by over 20 million people in Ethiopia, purportedly provides food security during periods of drought. Here, we find evidence that fre-quent severe drought events led to an increase in enset production area.

Given the challenges brought about by the increasing frequency of climatic stressors (droughts) and other biotic challenges (pests and diseases), breeding for tolerance to these traits is now seen as an indispensable adjunct to the enhancement of yield potential. Drought tolerant (DT) maize varieties that do well under moderate drought and outperform (or do not underperform) commercial checks under normal rainfall are becoming available. This study examines the role of these maize varieties in mitigating the effects of drought on maize yields in drought-prone areas of eastern Uganda.

Bioversity International’s financial mandate includes maintaining accountability and transparency in its finances, and to evaluate and communicate direct impact from our work to our donors, partners and the wider research and development community.

The second phase of the Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA II) project was implemented through a strong collaboration between research and private sector. Private seed companies were provided with a wide variety of training and development activities on good agronomic practices (GAPs). However, the effects of the training activities were yet to be evaluated.

The CGIAR Food Systems Accelerator (CFSA) was launched as part of the activities under the CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and South Africa (Ukama Ustawi), with the main objectives, of strengthening food systems by scaling climate-smart food system innovations (through strategic support of commercially viable and inclusive climate-smart agribusinesses), develop a pipeline of inclusive climate-smart agribusinesses in East and Southern Africa, support inclusive climate-smart agribusinesses (through a 6-month program that provides investment readiness and business development, clim

The Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project is administered by the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). AICCRA is a project that helps deliver a climate-smart African future driven by science and innovation in agriculture. AICCRA builds on 50 years of CGIAR innovation, AICCRA works to scale climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and climate information services (CIS) that reach millions of smallholder farmers in Africa.

This report investigates strategic partnerships in East Africa's agriculture sector, emphasizing the critical role of smallholder farmers (SHFs) in meeting rising demands. It explores the potential of collaborative models between primary companies (dealing in high-demand products) and secondary companies (offering specialized services like soil testing).

This report summarizes the development of the Afghanistan Drought Early Warning Decision Support (AF-DEWS) Tool, a cloud-based online platform with near real-time information on drought conditions, to provide decision-makers with maps and data to enable further analysis. The report provides an overview of how the AF-DEWS Tool was developed and how it can be used to systematically monitor, detect and forecast drought conditions in Afghanistan.

Introduction: Agroforestry plays a vital role in maintaining and developing the resilience and productivity of farms and landscapes. Scientific evidence from the Sahel region suggests that integration of trees and shrubs has the potential to improve temperature and moisture levels whilst providing bio-based fertilizer that contributes to increased yields of annual crops. However, little is known about the factors that influence the diô€€€usion of agroforestry.

Intensive rice (Oryza sativa)-based cropping systems in south Asia provide much of the calorie and protein requirements of low to middle-income rural and urban populations. Intensive tillage practices demand more resources, damage soil quality, and reduce crop yields and profit margins. Crop diversification along with conservation agriculture (CA)-based management practices may reduce external input use, improve resource-use efficiency, and increase the productivity and profitability of intensive cropping systems.

As more Voluntary Sustainability Standards/Systems (VSS) increase their efforts to address gender inequality in agri-food value chains, the timing is ripe to reflect on progress to inform future strategies and research. This paper revisits the body of evidence on VSS and gender equality through the lens of SDG5.5 specifically, to identify if and especially how VSS may support women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership in decision-making in rural communities.

Despite their potential to diversify diets and improve nutrition, little is known about the consumption and utilization of indigenous fruits (IFs) in the Philippines. This desk review compiles and analyses different initiatives targeting the conservation and promotion of these lesser-known fruits, based on secondary data that were gathered from published and unpublished literature between 2012 to 2022. Most of the literature gathered focused on the evaluation of the functional properties of IFs and product development.