Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is the most cultivated grain legume representing 70% of the total food legume planted area in Tunisia (Khamassi et al., 2021), followed by chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). These crops offer an important and inexpensive source of high-quality protein in the diets and a valuable source of nutritious fodder for livestock. However, production levels of these crops remain quite low which is often attributed to abiotic and biotic stresses that are prevailing in the major growing areas.

Nature positive agriculture initiative offers sustainable food production system that meet the demands of growing population as well as facilitating the necessity of environmental restoration, biodiversity conservation thereby improving soil, land and water by scientifically supported solutions. Nature positive implement and equitably support food and livelihoods on the ground through a transformative change, initiating at farm and community-level, mainstreaming the research pathways and solutions in the smallholder agricultural systems.

South Asia’s rice-wheat system is a regionally unique and crucially important cropping system contributing to staple food production. Over a 16-year period, a comprehensive experimental study on the rice-wheat cropping system indicated that, while wheat yields demonstrated a gradual increase over time, rice yields largely reached a stable level across various management approaches.

The research note discusses the Small Farmers Large Field (SFLF) collective action piloted in the states of Odisha and Assamaimed at addressing the challenges faced by small and marginal potato farmers. The model focuses on aggregating farmers to achieve bargaining power, synchronize operations, and improve quality by adopting a single variety of potato. The study uses a mixed method research design to assess the benefits of the SFLF model, including improved quality of inputs, increased mechanization, emerging social networks, and market linkages.

The Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA) initiative implemented the Small Farmers Large Field ((SFLF) collective farming model in two villages of Nalanda, Bihar with 97 potato farmers in Rabi 2022-23. The farmers were providedinput linkages, training in good agricultural practices and output linkages, among other things, to enhance their returns.

The Rethinking Food Markets and Value Chains for Inclusion and Sustainability Initiative aims to provide evidence on what types of bundled innovations, incentive structures, and policies are most effective at creating more equitable sharing of income and employment opportunities in growing food markets, while reducing the food sector’s environmental footprint. Its work is organized in four working groups (Work Packages-WP). One of these groups focuses on food value chains serving domestic markets.

The Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA) district agrifood systems assessments aim to provide a reliable, accessible, and integrated evidence base that links farm production, market access, dietary patterns, climate risk responses, and natural resource management with gender as a cross-cutting issue in rural areas of Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. They are designed to be a district-level multi-year assessments.

The Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA) district agrifood systems assessment aims to provide a reliable, accessible, and integrated evidence base that links farm production, market access, dietary patterns, climate risk responses, and natural resource management with gender as a cross-cutting issue in rural areas of Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. It is designed to be a multi-year assessment. The survey was conducted only in households with adolescents (10-19 years of age).

Women are underrepresented in leadership and have more limited influence than men over decisions in climate change governance processes at multiple scales. The CGIAR Initiative on Gender Equality (HER+) has explored public and private sector approaches to increase women’s agency and leadership in agrifood system governance with the goal of increasing women’s climate resilience. However, further research is required to fully explore the mechanisms through which women’s leadership influences climate resilience.

Over the past centuries, the mid-hills of Nepal have been inhabited and cultivated by nomads, settlers and in the recent decades intensified farming systems. The system is constantly under systemic change due to farmers own actions and policies within the confines of biophysical resource envelope. Without proper design, the farming system has been characterised by high levels of degradation, expansion to marginal fragile landscapes, outmigration and high cost of production. These challenges pose higher productivity, financial and social risks.