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Markets for craft and medicinal products derived from the bark of three tree species were assessed in rural and urban areas of Zimbabwe. Bark crafts from Adansonia digitata (baobab) are widely sold in these regions. The number of sellers has increased since the 1980s and has remained relatively stable since then. Competition for local purchasers is provided by domestic and imported substitutes. Most baobab craft items are relatively bulky and the export market for them is largely limited to affluent travellers from South Africa. This is a relatively localized market. Seasonality in baobab craft production and sales is pronounced in the rural area. Prices are transparent and arbitrage appears to occur. This is not the case in the markets for the bark of Warburgia salutaris, which is used as a traditional medicine. There are relatively few sellers, prices do not exhibit regionally consistent patterns and this species appears to have become locally extinct. Bark of Berchemia discolor is not highly commercialised in this region; no sales of this bark were observed in the course of the study.

This report forms part of an AICCRA knowledge series on Food Systems, providing key insights and perspectives from the Food Systems Summit Dialogues and the CAADP 3rd Biennial review process.

The Situation Analysis and Needs Assessment is part of the baseline study of CCAFS climate-smart villages in Southeast Asia. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and collection of secondary data were conducted from the village to provincial levels. The Pailom village, one of CCAFS benchmark sites, is located in Champhone district, Savannakhet Province, Laos. Savannakhet province is lowland at the western part and the upland at the eastern part. The province, including Pailom village, frequently experiences drought and crop damage from pests and diseases. Rice production is the main source of people’s livelihood. Due to lack of irrigation and low fertile soil, rice yield is low, ranging from 1.5 to 4.5 tons per hectare. The increasing population growth and negative impacts of climate change contribute to the yearly food shortage in the area. The number of migrant workers from the rural area of the province to the cities and neighboring countries, especially Thailand is increasing. There are not many organizations operating in Pailom village and it is equally uncommon to find organizations working on food security and food crisis issues. Information networking for agricultural activities is mainly established between farmers. There is poor dissemination of agricultural information or technical support from agricultural extension workers and responsible agencies. The identified priorities of farmers in Pailom village include strengthening and promoting agricultural research extension to gather information on fertilizer management, sustainable agricultural production techniques, pest and disease management, and adoption of drought and salinity resistant crop varieties and appropriate husbandry techniques.

This report presents the findings and recommendations from a gender assessment and learning review of IFAD’s Adaptation in Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP). This review is a reality-check into how ASAP-supported projects are translating project design commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment into implementation practice. It is intended to provide reflections on how implementation practice is likely to contribute to outcomes for gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 provides clear recognition of the obligations of all parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to human rights, gender equality, empowerment of women, and intergenerational equity. The agreement states, for example: “Parties acknowledge that adaptation should follow a country-driven, gender-responsive, participatory and fully transparent approach” (p.25). At the same time, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that comprise the substance of the commitments that underpin the Paris Agreement, and related climate policy frameworks and plans (e.g. the National Adaptation Plans), are weak and inconsistent in integrating an understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment and the ways in which gender differences matter for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The challenges and opportunities for agriculture when it comes to both climate change adaptation and mitigation loom large in the NDCs and the NAPs. For some years, key organizations and donors in small-scale agriculture and rural livelihoods have worked hard to understand the specific challenges that women as well as men face in increasing incomes, productivity, resilience and food and nutrition security. Organizational policies, guidelines and investments have been developed to address the challenges of providing clear access for women and men to opportunities for economic empowerment, and commitments have been made to support progress towards gender equality through investments in development ...

This working paper explores a generic method that can be used to benchmark nitrogen (N) input requirements for crop production and the efficiency by which inputs are used. Two types of N benchmarks are introduced: one for short-term and another for long-term assessments. We explain the underlying assumptions, data requirements and types of applications. Both benchmarking methods are especially suitable for regional, national or global analyses. The proposed methodology is illustrated for cereal production (maize, wheat, rice, millet and sorghum) in ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa, under current and optimal nutrient management, for today and towards 2050. We show that agronomic nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) can be two to four times larger than currently observed in on-farm trials for the long- term benchmark. Potential improvements in N input requirements are related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation potentials, using scenarios that include population increase and dietary change, potential yield increase and avoided land reclamation. Here, we show that when following the current trajectory of yield trends while maintaining the low current nitrogen-use efficiency, GHG emissions from cereal production will be three times larger than sustainable intensification of cereals in sub-Saharan Africa. The proposed N benchmarking method is most useful for regional or larger scale analyses and less useful for field assessments. Nonetheless, this might fill a gap in higher scale analyses, especially for estimating potential improvements in NUE and reducing GHG emissions. This working paper presents work in progress. In the future, we will test the proposed methodology on different case studies to evaluate its potential and finetune its operation.

The stress of climate change on wheat production means farmers urgently need more heat and drought tolerant varieties. CGIAR Research Program on WHeat (WHEAT) scientists combined genetic diversity with physiological and molecular breeding and bio-informatic technologies, to deliver 3 lines specifically bred for increased heat/drought-tolerance in Pakistan. As reported in 2018, 100,000+ Pakistani farmers grew one or more of these 3 lines, Pakistani NARS partners released 6 new drought and heat or drought-tolerant wheat lines in 2019.

Gandaki Province is centrally located in Nepal with most of its area being hills and high hills (64%). There are 11 districts in Gandaki Province with one metropolitan city, namely, Pokhara; 26 municipalities and 58 rural municipalities. Gandaki Province contributes about 9% to the GDP of the whole country. In terms of agriculture production, Gandaki Province is food deficit and relies on other provinces for the supply of pulses, fruits, vegetables, and livestock products. Of the total area of the province, 24% of the land area is cultivable; around 24% of the cultivable land is fallow land (117,076 ha), which remains a great challenge for the upcoming days in terms of food production and enabling food security in the province. The prevalent climate is varied in the province starting from the plains of Nawalpur to the high Himalayas of Manang and Mustang. The highest maximum temperature has been recorded in Kaski district (30.7°c) and lowest minimum temperature has been recorded in Manang district (-4.6°c) over the time period 1971 to 2014. Similarly, the highest annual precipitation has been recorded in Kaski district (2,710.5 mm) while the lowest annual precipitation has been recorded in Mustang district (257.8 mm). Varied climatic risks are prevalent in Gandaki Province such as temperature and rainfall risk, ecological risk, flood, landslide, drought and Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) risk. Lamjung district is very highly prone to the combined risk index of all these risks. Similarly, Gorkha, Tanahun, Manang, Myagdi, Parbat and Baglung districts are highly prone to the combined risk index. The Nepalese economy is highly dependent on the agriculture and forestry sector which contributes around 33% of the national GDP. Agriculture is climate sensitive, which makes the Nepalese economy vulnerable to climatic variability. Although Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to erratic climate phenomenon, Nepal’s contribution to greenhouse emissions is negligible. Food production and food ...