Cowpea is an important and climate-resilient grain legume for human and livestock nutrition worldwide. Its grains represent a valuable source of protein for rural families in Sub-Saharan Africa while its haulms offer nutritious fodder for livestock, especially, in the Sahel regions. Cowpea production, unfortunately, faces

In southern Africa, conservation agriculture (CA) has been promoted to address low agricultural productivity, food insecurity, and land degradation. However, despite significant experimental evidence on the agronomic and economic benefits of CA and large scale investments by the donor community and national governments, adoption rates among smallholders remain below expectation. The main objective of this research project was thus to investigate why previous efforts and investments to scale CA technologies and practices in southern Africa have not led to widespread adoption.

The biomedical domain has shown that in silico analyses over vast data pools enhances the speed and scale of scientific innovation. This can hold true in agricultural research and guide similar multi-stakeholder action in service of global food security as well (Streich et al. Curr Opin Biotechnol 61:217–225. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2020.01.010, 2020).

Between November 2022 and January 2023, the WP1 team in Honduras strategically consulted stakeholders of the coffee supply chain to obtain an overview and insights into bottlenecks and innovations at market linkages of the export coffee supply chain in Honduras. Simultaneously, a literature review on respective bottlenecks and innovations was conducted. The workshop engaged participants through plenary discussions, short online surveys that were accessible via QR-codes and through small-group discussions where participants self-selected based on interest.

While most of the literature on park management and nature conservation has focused on the negative implications
for local people’s livelihoods, fewer studies have empirically analysed local people’s strategies in responding to these
policies and renegotiating their position to continue their traditional livelihoods using their traditional knowledge
and legal systems. This study contributes to the current literature on nature conservation by focusing on the impacts

This report is part of a collaboration between the Zamorano University (Honduras) and CIMMYT for the mechanization work related with Advances Research Institute (ARIs). The objective of this collaboration is to characterize the current state of agricultural mechanization in Honduras for the production of basic grains (maize, beans, sorghum) and to identify the challenges faced by producers in accessing and adopting mechanized technologies in the region. For this, a directory of actors that distribute, manufacture, or refurbish agricultural machinery was compiled.

Sequencing technologies have rapidly evolved over the past two decades, and new technologies are being continually developed and commercialized. The emerging sequencing technologies target generating more data with fewer inputs and at lower costs. This has also translated to an increase in the number and type of corresponding applications in genomics besides enhanced computational capacities (both hardware and software).

In Ethiopia, a group of stakeholders, including representatives from local governments, research institutions, the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers' unions, the private sector, and NGOs, developed the planning framework that formed the basis for Ethiopia's Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plan (CSAIP). The CSAIP outlines seven priority investments identified by stakeholders to meet the goals of productivity, adaptation, and mitigation. This Info Note briefly summarizes these prioritized investments, key considerations for success, and the monitoring and evaluation plan.

Maize (Zea mays) stover produced in the drier lowland areas on the volcanic foot slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro serves as an important additional fodder for smallholder zero-grazed dairy cattle farming in the humid highland areas of the region. The obtained cattle manure is used to replenish nutrients and manage soil fertility in banana-based agroforestry homegardens of the highlands, which contributes significantly to sustaining crop production, thus food security and the livelihoods of the community.

Bambara groundnut is one of the crops with inadequate molecular research to show its full potentials. Previous studies showed morphological diversity with inadequate information to confirm genetic variations. In the quest to reveal the genetic potentials, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of the selected accessions was extracted through leaf samples at 3 weeks old, using Dellaporta Miniprep for Plant DNA Isolation procedure. The high quality DNA was sequenced using Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) markers to unlock diversity among Bambara groundnut of Nigerian origin.

The Enhancing the Science-Policy-Investment Linkages and Decision Support for Climate-Smart Agriculture Planning learning materials highlights and expands upon key methods, tools, and actions to actively strengthen decision contexts in scaling climate-smart agriculture in Africa. These learning materials and content are built to include both technical skill building resources as well as process and approach guidance to help uncover more equitable, holistic, and resilient pathways to increase climate-resilience in our food and agricultural systems.

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in food systems can result in greater food security and better nutrition, as well as more just, resilient and sustainable food systems for all. This chapter uses a scoping review to assess the current evidence on pathways between gender equality, women’s empowerment and food systems. The chapter uses an adaptation of the food system framework to organize the evidence and identify where evidence is strong, and where gaps remain.