In 2020 the CGIAR CAS Secretariat is conducting independent reviews of the 12 CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs), including this one of CCAFS. The reviews will provide information on quality of science and effectiveness in each CRP. This review covers the Phase II years of 2017 through 2019, with a view to identifying lessons for future research modalities.

As part of the Learning Platform (LP2) Participatory evaluation of Climate-Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices and technologies across the AR4D Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) network, CCAFS Flagship 2 designed a new Integrated Climate-Smart Monitoring Framework to supports a global, systemic and standardized effort to build context-specific evidence on uptake of CSA options and the associated (perceived) outcomes at household and farm level.

Efficient utilization of incident solar radiation and rainwater conservation in rain-fed smallholder cropping systems require the development and adoption of cropping systems with high resource use efficiency.

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.

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is of great importance to food security, especially in West Africa. However, the loss of soil fertility due to dwindling fallow lands with indigenous nutrient supply poses a challenge for yam cultivation. This study aimed to determine shoot and tuber biomass and nutrient use efficiency of white Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata) grown under low- and high-NPK conditions. Six white Guinea yam genotypes were used in field experiments conducted at Ibadan, Nigeria.

Gender dynamics and norms are crucial for rural livelihoods and achieving food security. While norms related to ownership, management, product distribution, and sales methods are prevalent in dairy production, more research needs to be conducted in this area. This study hypothesized that innovative technologies introduced without considering gender dynamics and norms may limit the extent of transformative change.

Though enormous strides have been achieved in recent decades towards reducing food insecurity in the Global South, continued efforts are imperative in light of rapidly expanding populations and threats posed by climate change. A relatively unexplored area in this arena is the nexus between cultural heritage and food security. Cultural heritage embodies indigenous culture, values, and traditions inherited from previous generations. We focus on rice and identify five pathways through which cultural heritage affects food security.

Climate change is increasingly threatening the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Increased climate variability, including changes in mean temperatures, variation in the onset of rains, and increases in extreme weather events, are directly affecting the growing seasons of commercial and subsistence crops, significantly disturbing socio-economic activities in the agricultural sector and leaving many smallholder farmers in a situation of food insecurity and malnutrition.

A Climate-Smart Village (CSV) monitoring survey was carried out in Senegal from 14 to 24 November, 2019 by CCAFS WA and CCAFS/CIAT team. Prior to the survey, a one-week training workshop was organized in Kaffrine, from 8 to 13 November 2019 to build the capacities of the local implementation team.

Senegal, a country in West Africa and home to over 16 million people is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which interacts with existing environmental and socio-economic challenges. It is a water-scarce country. Decreasing rainfall frequent and intense droughts are exacerbating water-related impacts of climate change with vulnerable communities in rural areas bearing the highest burden of these impacts. Although agriculture is an important contributor to Senegal’s economy, it is largely rain-fed, thus increasing its vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.

Overlooked in national reports and in conservation programs, wild food plants (WFPs)

Gender and Plant Health has often been seen as a very unusual combination, since two disciplines have a different epistemological orientation, use different languages, and have limited experience in working together.