Bird- and bat-mediated biocontrol benefits the productivity of tropicalcommodity crops such as cacao, but the ecological interactions drivingthese ecosystem services remain poorly understood. Whereas birds and batsprey on herbivorous arthropods, they may also prey on arthropodmesopredators such as ants, with poorly understood consequences for pestbiocontrol.
On September 21st, 2022, scientists from various African countries specializing in plant breeding for cassava, yam, cowpea, maize, soybean, and plantain were welcomed to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan for a three-day training on Gender Responsive Breeding. The primary goal of this training was to highlight the significance of gender and social inclusion in plant breeding research. The training provided an introduction on the definition and the application of gender- and social inclusion concepts to the breeding pipeline's design and implementation.
Zambia has historically qualified as a regional model of stability and peace. However, this status is being undermined by several socio-political factors, including deeply entrenched patterns of social inequality and gender discrimination, high levels of poverty and youth unemployment, as well as recurring episodes of electoral violence. Climate and extreme weather events compound most of these vulnerabilities and even create new ones, generating societal dynamics that will likely increase social tensions with greater risk of insecurity.
Despite their crucial role in combating hunger, malnutrition, and poverty, many plant species cultivated as fruits, vegetables, roots, and tuber crops remain neglected and underutilized worldwide, and Sri Lanka is no exception. Integrating these crops into farming systems has the potential to create nutrient-dense, climate-resilient, and sustainable agricultural practices.
The Gender Equality Initiative (HER+) conducts innovative gender and social science research to develop actionable solutions to enhance climate resilience and the empowerment of women in Africa and Asia. As there is no one-size-fits-all solution to these challenges, HER+ identifies and models diverse scenarios for co-creation of socio-technical innovations. According to Barret et al 2022, co-creation of bundled approaches is essential to enable new technologies and practices to emerge, adapt, and be upscaled within and across diverse contexts.
The One CGIAR Research Initiative on “Rethinking Food Markets and Value Chains for Inclusion and Sustainability†commissioned a meta-study to review the available evidence and to identify knowledge gaps regarding the impacts on employment in agrifood value chains (AVC) integration and modernization processes in developing countries. This review included 290 texts, mostly journal articles, but also book chapters and reports.
On 23 June 2022, WorldFish held a consultation workshop in Baucau Vila to introduce its planned action research program (Box 1) in Baucau and Lautem municipalities to its diverse partners, including national, municipal and local government representatives, community members, and local and international NGOs. This brief provides a summary of the workshop and demonstrates the first steps towards co-developing a
municipality-level food systems coalition for sustainable and nutrition-sensitive transformation that includes
aquatic foods.
Agricultural and food policies are increasingly asked to do more to improve the dietary quality of populations in lower and middle income countries (LMICs), especially severely malnourished rural populations. However, the appropriate strategy for improving diet quality remains an open question. Agriculture has traditionally focused on food security and poverty reduction, mostly through investments in staple crops, while social protection programs have also sought to improve diets through poverty reduction.
WorldFish operates a transdisciplinary research-in-development program in Timor-Leste, hosted by the national government and the Directorate General of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Resources (DG-FAMR). Two new projects started in Viqueque Municipality in 2022, working to support aquatic foods systems with nutrition-sensitive, inclusive and climate adaptation approaches. A workshop provided a platform to engage and consult with national, municipal and local partners, stakeholders and communities, aiming to strengthen partnerships at the municipality level.
This working paper presents the results of an inventory of agroecology-related initiatives implemented in Tunisia since 1999. A total of 26 different initiatives were analyzed through a rapid review of grey literature, scientific papers as well as electronic resources found on project/organization websites.
Introduction. In the world, 33% of soils are degraded, and 2.9 million people are affected by land degradation, with problems associated with food security, conflicts over natural resources, and migration with different impacts on men or women. To support sustainable soil management, it is necessary to include women's contributions to soil Sciences; their achievements and academic performance still need to be represented. Women in Science represent 30% worldwide. In Mexico, only 24 % of top academic positions are women.
Climate change has become a significant threat to Western African countries in recent decades, including Senegal. Further, there has been an increasing occurrence of extreme events such as droughts. Droughts, directly and indirectly, have detrimental impacts on human health and often trigger nutritional status in the respective region. Children under the age of five are more vulnerable to Droughts in terms of malnutrition. In Senegal also, drought has unforeseen impacts on health systems and impacts the nutritional dynamics of children.