With climate change, population growth, and land degradation exerting mounting pressures on agricultural systems in developing countries, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) strategies have been prioritized as a means to strengthen smallholder farmers' resilience. However, precise targeting methodologies remain a challenge. This study employs a comprehensive approach, integrating Socio-economic, and Biophysical (SEBP), and the Five Capitals Model analyses encompassing human, social, physical, natural, and financial capital.

A Nepalese farmers of mountain and hill agro-ecosystem mostly grow landraces or traditional varieties of most of the crops. In some major crops like rice, wheat and maize, very old varieties are in cultivation. Insufficient research on minor crops and poor extension networks to disseminate new varieties
of major crops are the major reasons to narrow down the varietal options available to the farmers. Crop
genetic diversity can make farming systems more resilient, but a major constraint is that farmers lack

Focusing on gender, this study describes mixed farming systems using data collected for monitoring, evaluation, learning, and impact assessment (MELIA) from 1268 household heads, 838 spouses, and 2731 plots in Malawi; and 1317 household heads, 1302 spouses, and 4017 plots in Ghana. The study also includes the perception of selected gender norms among household heads and spouses in Ghana.

In smallholder farming systems, traditional farmer varieties of neglected and underutilized species (NUS) support the livelihoods of millions of growers and consumers. NUS combine cultural and agronomic value with local adaptation, and transdisciplinary methods are needed to fully evaluate their breeding potential. Here, we assembled and characterized the genetic diversity of a representative collection of 366 Ethiopian teff (Eragrostis tef) farmer varieties and breeding materials, describing their phylogenetic relations and local adaptation on the Ethiopian landscape.

Improving fertilizer use efficiency has remained a challenge, particularly for small-scale farming in undulating ‘abnormal’ landscapes of East Africa. Milne's 1930s concept on ‘Catena’ was considered as a breakthrough in understanding soil variability and its implication on productivity in East African highlands. However, there is limited information on how the ‘Catena’ features could be used for fine tuning fertilizer recommendations.

African smallholders should adopt climate-smart agriculture to make a sustainable transition towards cleaner, circular and more productive food systems. Farmers must play a key role in that process. However, the adoption and diffusion of climate-smart technologies have been slow. Here, a cross-sectional econometric analysis using primary data on sustainable farming practices in the cereal-legume farming systems of Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania is applied to analyse the drivers and intensity of innovation adoption.

This proposal on how to integrate the development and implementation of CS-MAP into the government’s policy framework was drafted by Former Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Bui Ba Bong. In the policy document, CS-MAP can be integrated into national and sectoral policies and plans, such as in the National Plan to adapt to climate change, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to climate change mitigation in the agricultural sector, and in the national and regional agricultural restructuring plan for the period 2021-2025.