Worldwide, cell phones are used by 5.4 billion people. They are becoming increasingly prevalent in the rural areas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), providing smallholder farmers with access to agricultural markets. If they reduce information asymmetries between women and men farmers, they can also contribute to closing the gender gap in agricultural productivity. So far, however, digital innovations have had limited success in transforming agricultural systems. This may be due, in part, to the gender gap in cell-phone use.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of the research centers within the global Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), has a long history of gender research relevant to its mission of reducing poverty and ending hunger and malnutrition. Over the last two decades, gender has been effectively incorporated into all of IFPRI’s strategic research areas and into all phases of research. There is abundant evidence of IFPRI’s role as a leading global think tank on gender issues.

This report seeks to understand the value of genetic improvement for different traits for Tilapia in Nigeria (in economic and non-market preference terms), with the ultimate goal of developing a breeding objective based on underlying economic models (and/ or non-market preferences). This would provide valuable information for the advancement of selection candidates with performance tailored to meet the needs of different groups of Tilapia farmers in Nigeria, including men and women farmers, and broader supply chain participants.

Fruits & vegetable value chains (F&V VC) in Nigeria hold significant potential to continue toward sustainable, inclusive food system transformation. Domestic food system growth, including that of F&V, remains crucial in achieving a healthy food environment and serving as a source of various micronutrients. There is a need for bundles of innovations to address multiple challenges along F&V VC in Nigeria, characterized by a set of challenges that are unique to developing countries and F&V.

Crop varietal and breeding lines selection is predominantly performed in controlled research stations, which may not properly represent African farmers’ crop growing environmental conditions. To address this, the project seeks to test the bean breeding lines in real farmers’ bean farming environments by implementing genomics-assisted on-farm testing using the tricot approach across a wide range of bean-growing environments.

Son La province has recently put in place policies and programs to support expansion of livestock production, however the province still faces low livestock productivity due to low quality and availability of forages and feedstuff. One of the provincial government’s priorities is to increase productivity of cattle and pigs through improved animal nutrition practices such as increased cultivation of improved forages and better feed management and utilization.

Rice is not just a staple food; it's a way of life for millions around the world. Rice cultivation has deep roots in many cultures, and women have historically played essential roles in every stage of its production. For example, women are often responsible for tasks such as planting, weeding, harvesting, and processing. However, their contributions in rice parboiling, a process which involves soaking, steaming, and drying rice grains before milling, are particularly significant.

Baseline survey findings from a randomized control trial that examines the effects of a sustainable land management training delivered to couples or women only in the context of rural Ethiopia where all participants are beneficiaries of a targeted social safety net program. The baseline survey was conducted in June 2023 and results were presented to implementation partners in October 2023.

A clear consensus has emerged that innovations are important for adapting to drought and overcoming other biophysical limitations in smallholder farming systems; however, women are notably marginalized from agricultural innovations. We examine whether and how gendered roles and responsibilities shape the adoption and usage of improved wheat varieties and simultaneously uncover opportunities to address and lessen gender-based differences in agricultural innovations.

The training targeted youth and women sheep fattening groups, aiming to enhance their knowledge and skills in optimizing feed management practices. ICARDA partnered with the National Agricultural Research Centers of Areka, Bonga, and Debre Berhan to deliver the training sessions. The objective of the trainings was to equip participants with the necessary expertise to formulate balanced sheep diets and efficiently process feed, thereby improving sheep productivity and promoting sustainable livestock feeding practices.

Climate change remains a major threat to Ghana’s agricultural productivity and food security especially in developing countries. One of the promising pathways to achieving sustainable food production is building communities resilience to climate risk through technology parks which can serve as platforms to promote climate-smart agricultural technologies.