This issue brief introduces a conceptual framework to describe the factors that inform farmers’ varietal uptake choices, by integrating choice behavior alongside more contextual and technical aspects of seed uptake. The framework was developed to support qualitative data analysis for generating behavioral intelligence about farmers’ decision-making about crop varieties, which may be of use to government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and companies that operate in the seed sector.

Mangrove forests are one of the most impactful carbon-trapping ecosystems, they are effective at locking away vast amounts of "blue carbon" and the IPCC (IPCC, 2022) report encourages the protection of coastal vegetative ecosystems as part of integrated coastal resource management. Mangrove also strengthens resilience to climate change by reducing the impacts of sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, cyclones, and floods. Mangrove forests in Vietnam are currently under threat from expansion of shrimp aquaculture.

The database contains information from interviews with government, research, social movement and international cooperation actors on the inclusion of gender and intersectionality in Colombian land, climate change and food policies
Methodology: Semi-structured interviews, discourse analysis (2024-01)

A rapid assessment of the Green Leave Vegetables (GLV) value chain in the Kiambu Living Landscape shows that huge potential exists for agroecological transition in this region. At the farm level, farmers are already applying selected agroecological principles, such as a decrease in the use of external inputs, crop and economic diversification, biodiversification, and soil management techniques, among others.

We assessed how people adapt to climate change in the context of forests through a systematic review of the international empirical research literature. We found that drought, precipitation variability, extreme precipitation and flooding, and extreme heat were the climatic stressors to which responses were most frequently documented. Individuals and households received the most research attention, followed by national government, civil society, and local government. Europe and North America were the geographic foci of more research than other regions.

USAID has played a crucial role in shaping global shifts in agriculture and sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) through the decades. The agency has constantly fostered agricultural innovation - from the Green Revolution in the 1960s to the market-economy transition in the 1990s1 . USAID’s more recent work has followed the priorities of the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, the US government's flagship global hunger and food security initiative.

The report describes the stakeholder engagement workshop convened to introduce the AqF Initiative (in particular the AquaPlans work package) to the traditional leaders, community representatives and stakeholders working within the Kafue flats. Participants were drawn from Royal Highnesses from seven chiefdoms of the Kafue flats, Community resource Board representatives, development agencies, extension officers from government line ministries, NGOs and the academia.

Sri Lanka is blessed with ideal conditions for cultivating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. The country has around 80 varieties produced in different agroecological zones. There are several government and private organizations supporting vegetable farmers and farmers are organized into formally registered organizations. However, the average consumption of fruits and vegetables in Sri Lanka is around 150 g per day and per capita consumption is approximately 112 g per day, which is 50% lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations (SAARC 2017).

Identification of the data gaps can help determine the appropriate methods to improve aquaculture farm operation, production and market access, as well as community capacity. The data gaps can be addressed by
creating a national aquaculture database in collaboration with various stakeholders including government bodies, research institutes, private entities, and aquaculture farmers.

International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) organized a state consultation workshop on 14 December 2023 on ‘Policy Coherence in Food, Land, and Water (FLW) Systems: A case study of Odisha’ at Bhubaneswar as a part of the CGIAR Research Initiative on National Policies and Strategies Initiatives (NPS). The Food, Land and Water (FLW) project aims to identify key state-level policies in the food, land, and water systems that have a practical scope for improving coherence and hold most potential for creating an impact.

The CGIAR Initiative on Aquatic Foods partnered with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Water Research Institute (CSIR-WRI), the Fisheries Commission, and collaborated with local government departments and local communities to implement fish cage culture in selected small reservoirs in Ghana. This brief highlights the technical and institutional principles that were applied in these sites for inclusive and sustainable aquatic food production in the year 2023.

The new Kenyan government faces a complex domestic and global environment, and it is widely expected to address key food and agricultural challenges with a new set of policies and programs. This policy brief presents key recommendations from a forthcoming book, Food Systems Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future, which provides research-based “food for thought and action” to support the Kenyan government’s efforts to improve food security.