Ustadi and CTA have jointly implemented the project “Youth economic empowerment through agribusiness in Kenya (VijaBiz)” in the Nakuru and Kilifi counties in Kenya. The project aimed to create sustainable employment for rural youth through active engagement in agribusiness for wealth creation and poverty reduction. More specifically, VijaBiz built entrepreneurship capacity for 163 youth agribusiness groups in cereals, dairy and fishery value chains in the Kilifi and Nakuru counties.

Livestock production is central to the livelihoods of a billion poor people. Transforming livestock production would have transformative effects on local economies in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Development efforts in the livestock sector have tended to be top-down without enough feedback loops to understand farmer realities and aspirations. This, despite the Farmer First movement that began in the 1990s. The Feed Assessment Tool (FEAST) was developed as a reaction to top down livestock feed development approaches.

This study assesses the impact of a participatory development program called Seeds For Needs, carried out in Ethiopia to support smallholders in addressing climate change and its consequences through the introduction, selection, use, and management of suitable crop varieties. A doubly robust estimator was employed to properly estimate the impact of Seeds For Needs interventions. The results show that program activities have significantly enhanced wheat crop productivity and smallholders’ food security by increasing wheat varietal diversification.

This Chapter describes the approach and impacts of the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) Program. TAAT is an operational framework based upon collaboration between the African Development Bank, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, and many other partners. This

Crop genetic resources constitute a ‘new’ global commons, characterized by multiple layers of activities of farmers, genebanks, public and private research and development organizations, and regulatory agencies operating from local to global levels. This paper presents sui generis biocultural community protocols that were developed by four communities in Benin and Madagascar to improve their ability to contribute to, and benefit from, the crop commons.

This manual provides step-by-step instructions for working on the MTA approach. It is aimed mainly at leading agricultural sector institutions interested in implementing a space for discussion in their region. This approach consists of eight steps, which are carried out with the participating institutions. Given the site-specific nature, some preparatory activities need to be done before each meeting.

Agricultural training programs remain one of the primary mechanisms for disseminating modern and climate-smart technologies with the aim to improve the welfare outcomes of smallholder farmers. With persistent low agricultural productivity in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), the content, effectiveness, and mode of delivery of training programs remain a debate.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought impacts on the food system in several ways, such as on the supply and demand of food or changes in consumer preferences. However, little is known yet about these effects but needs to be analyzed to define actions and policies for crisis mitigation and achieving food system resilience and food security.

Managing climate risk in agriculture requires a proper understanding of climatic conditions, regional and global climatic drivers, as well as major agricultural activities at the particular location of interest. Critical analyses of variability and trends in the historical climatic conditions are crucial in designing and implementing action plans to improve resilience and reduce the risks of exposure to harsh climatic conditions.

This strong correlation between agriculture and climate change has led to the emergence of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) that seeks to balance agricultural productivity within the bounds of our climate. The CSV approach is participatory research for development approach that serve as testing ground for best context-specific CSA technologies and practices. International organizations have identified scaling of agricultural innovations as a priority agenda. In 2015, CGIAR-CCAFS began expanding the CSV approach in Southeast Asia with the establishment of seven CSVs in the region.

Owing to high rates of land and forest degradation, there is consensus that forest landscape restoration is a global priority with the Bonn Challenge and the New York Declaration on Forests committing to restore about 350 Million hectares by 2030, globally. However, there is a need for incentives that motivate these restoration efforts and disincentives aimed at restricting activities that result in further land degradation.

This study estimates that Sustainable Seeds Systems for the Global South received approximately USD 15 billion in funding cumulatively between 2010-2019 across all sources of funders. This is roughly one-third the total funding for seeds innovation in the same time period. Though the trend should get confirmed with further data, the analysis made in this study reveals a slight decline in the trend for investments in sustainable seeds innovation over the last 2-3 years for which data was available.