The Ukama Ustawi Initiative WP5 (Empower & Engage) facilitated a GenderUp workshop in collaboration with Wageningen University and UC Davis in Harare, Zimbabwe at the Monomotapa Hotel on August 8, 2023.

In Ethiopia’s Tana-Beles region, water, energy, food and ecosystems (WEFE) are tightly interconnected, making a nexus approach highly relevant. Through the CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains, researchers from the Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) have been working on nexus tools, including the FABLE calculator and scenario tool at the national level, and the integrated water storage diagnostic in the Tana-Beles, a sub-basin of the Blue Nile River Basin.

Many young researchers working in plant protections lacks skills and knowledge on pest and disease
surveillances, identification, disease/pest measurements, pest and disease dynamics, Integrated Pest and
Disease Management (IPDM) options and different aspects of conducting plant protection research and
generating quality results. Skill and knowledge gaps are pronounced mainly on emerging and new
diseases, new pathogen pathotypes and races affecting food legumes. In addition, the training help

Food legumes play an important role in Morocco's agricultural landscape. They cover approximately 270,000 hectares, representing 4% of the total agricultural area. The productivity of food legumes has persistently remained low and variable, primarily attributed to the susceptibility of the crop to environmental stresses, diseases, insect pests, and parasitic weeds. To set priorities for the development of new varieties and disease management, status and identification of viruses affecting legume crops is essential in the different production areas.

Temperate food legumes (faba bean, chickpea, field pea and lentil) are important food and feed crops in West Asia, north and East Africa regions. The productivity of legume crops is affected by Aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum and Aphis fabae) and pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera). Due to climate and farming systems changes, the impacts of insect pests are increasing, and farmers are discouraged from including food legumes in their cropping systems. Besides direct economic damage, many aphid species play important roles as vectors of legume viruses like Pea seed-borne mosaic virus.

Women are key stakeholders in sustainable and resilient food systems, given their roles as primary food producers and household caretakers (Visser and Wangu 2021). Understanding how gendered roles affect food security and women’s well-being is essential for pursuing sustainable development (Angel-Urdinola and Wodon 2010; Doss, Meinzen-Dick, and Quisumbing 2018; Meinzen-Dick et al. 2019).

Agriculture is key to economic growth and poverty reduction in Kenya as it plays a pivotal role in employment creation, food security, exports, and sustainable development. In 2019, it directly contributed 22.7 percent of GDP, accounted for 20.9 percent of total exports, and generated 43.3 percent of employment (Chapter 2). The sector is thus not only an important driver of Kenya’s economy but also the means of livelihood for many Kenyan people.

Contract farming is one potential mechanism that smallholder farmers in developing countries can use to participate in and benefit from domestic and global value chains (Okello and Swinton 2007; Barrett et al. 2012; Minot and Sawyer 2016; Ruben 2017; Ton et al. 2017). Linking smallholder farmers more directly with national and global consumers should increase both the demand and producer prices for their fresh produce. Increased access to and participation in such value chains increases farm income earned by smallholders.

The 2010s were a decade of strong economic development in Kenya. Gross domestic product (GDP)—an indicator of the economy’s size—expanded by an average of 5 percent per year (KNBS 2022). This exceeded population growth and helped raise household incomes, leading to a decline in poverty rates and, more importantly, in the number of poor people, for the first time in at least three decades (World Bank 2022). Agriculture played an important role in this. The sector grew alongside the rest of the economy, despite facing many challenges, including climate variability (Ochieng et al.

The livestock sector plays a major role in the Kenyan food system, contributing about 12 percent of the country’s overall GDP and 40 percent of agricultural GDP, and employing about half of the agricultural labor force (Kenya Markets Trust 2019a). The livestock sector also contributes 22 percent of food system GDP.

This book has adopted a food systems framework as a new way of conceptualizing and designing food policies and research. Looking beyond agriculture and value chains makes it possible not only to turn food systems into a driver of economic transformation but also to better include health, productivity, resilience, inclusivity, and sustainability as integral parts of system transformation. Such a fresh approach is urgently needed in light of limited development progress over the past years in Kenya and other countries.