Context
Maize production in western Kenya is limited by the spread of parasitic weed Striga hermonthica and depletion of soil nutrient stocks. Nitrogen (N) fertilizer and imidazolinone resistant (IR) maize are key elements in the agronomic toolbox to control infestations and enhance yields
Research question

Land-use-change-induced increases in shallow groundwater levels across parts of the Sahel in recent years have coincided with expanded use of groundwater for irrigation. This study was conducted to assess the potential linkages and livelihood implications based on a field survey of nine villages building on previous hydrological studies. The results show that irrigators lack effective means of production and mostly rely on manual methods. Borehole usage is more profitable and reliable than shallower wells.

Abiotic factors play an important role in most ecological and crop systems that depend on
certain levels of temperature, light and precipitation to initiate important physiological events
(Schulze et al., 2019). Understanding how these factors drive the physiological processes is
a key approach to provide recommendations for adaptation and biodiversity conservation in
applied ecology studies. The package climatrends aims to provide the methods in R (R Core
Team, 2020) to compute precipitation and temperature indices that serve as input for climate

This PowerPoint Presentation was provided to the East Africa Farmers Federation Workshop May 30-31, 2023. The objectives of the presentation are two fold - to look backwards and consider the next steps on agriculture in the climate negotiations and to enhance farmer engagement in climate change.

In this paper we revisit the current debate between red meat vs. alternative protein and explore the respective contribution that those two polarized discourses claim to make in relation to the new international agenda on transforming food systems toward a more sustainable future. To complete this, we combine classical political economy analysis focusing on the access and distribution of power and economic resources amongst different groups of actors, with a more sociological approach relying on discourses analysis.

The first round of the Myanmar Agricultural Performance Survey (MAPS)–a nationwide phone panel consisting of 3,893 households–was implemented between February 2022 and March 2022. The objective of the survey was to collect data on farm characteristics and agricultural assets, area and crops planted, access to inputs, crop marketing, and constraints in agricultural activities.

To prevent climate change from reaching an irreversible point, policies need to align with global mitigation goals. This thesis examines the coherence between agricultural public policies, greenhouse gas emissions, and the economic value generated by various agricultural value chains. It aims to determine the extent to which policy transfers align with greenhouse gas emissions levels in Colombia. The analysis utilizes secondary data from 1992 to 2018, including information on emissions, agricultural policy transfers, production value, and productivity of key agricultural commodities.

This series of socio-legal reviews summarizes the legal and policy documents related to women’s land tenure in seven countries: Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, The Gambia, Ethiopia, Niger, Bangladesh, and Colombia. These synthesis documents, part of the IFAD Initiative on Women’s Resource Rights, are designed for researchers and policymakers seeking to improve women’s land and resource rights in these target countries.

In the low fertility acid soils of the Orinoquian savannas of Colombia, Urochloa humidicola cv. Tully or Humidicola is one of the most widely planted tropical forage grasses for improving livestock productivity. Low nutritional quality of this grass limits sustainable livestock production in this region. In this study, we conducted a phenotypic evaluation under field and greenhouse conditions of one of the first hybrid populations of U. humidicola generated from the forage breeding program of CIAT. Our objective was to identify a set of new hybrids of U.

Climate extreme events have been observed more frequently since the 1970s throughout Ethiopia, which adversely affects the socio-economic development of the country, as its economy depends on agriculture, which, in turn, relies heavily on annual and seasonal rainfall. Climate extremes studies conducted in Ethiopia are mainly limited to a specific location or watershed, making it difficult to have insights at the national level. The present study thus aims to examine the observed climate extreme events in Ethiopia at both station and agro-ecological zone (AEZ) levels.

The primary aim of this study is to explore what the local water sources are, how they are
prioritized, how communities are coping with water scarcity, how water is locally governed
and controlled, and how decision-making dynamics at the household as well as community
levels impact the choice and use of improved and unimproved water sources, as well as the
differentiated impacts these choices have on women and men. Rural households in Kenya
must make a complex set of decisions around water source choices as they lack secure water

The Africa Union Commission (AUC) drafted an African Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (AFSH) and a Soil Initiative for Africa (SIA) for launching at the Africa Fertilizer summit in June 2023. The AFSH is a ten-year (2023-2033) plan to provide guidance on integrated soil fertility maintenance, including the correct use of fertilizer to ensure soil health in Africa. The SIA is a practical initiative to develop an African system for soil management and to implement actions at the continental, sub-regional, and country levels.