Climate related shocks are among the leading cause of

production and efficiency losses in smallholder crop and

livestock production in rural Africa. Consequently, the

identification of tools to help manage the risks associated

with climactic extremities is increasingly considered to be

among the key pillars of any agenda to enhance agricultural

growth and welfare in rural Africa. This paper describes the

application of a promising innovation in insurance design –

index-based insurance – that seeks to bring the benefits of

Improving On-farm Agricultural Water Productivity in the Karkheh River Basin

(KRB) was a CPWF project that aimed at enhancement of agricultural water

productivity (WP) under irrigated and rainfed conditions in Karkheh River Basin. It

was launched in Iran through the partnership of ICARDA and the Iranian NARES

under the Agricultural Extension, Education, and Research Organization.

The project lasted for more than four years between 2004 and 2008. Whereas

capacity building was an important part of the agenda, PN8 was a participatory,

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.), also called broad bean or horse bean is an annual crop, which mainly grows in the highlands of Ethiopia for human consumption. The objective of this study was to improve the quantity and quality of forages produced from intercropping of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) with forage oats (Avena sativa L.) on forage biomass, straw, grain yields, and straw quality. Farmers have an experience of not weeding faba bean plots to get more weed biomass.

This paper explores the potential benefits of working to improve the resilience of complex adaptive systems in agriculture and aquaculture through engaging in diverse partnerships among different types of research and development institutions, and the people in those institutions. We use five case studies of CPWF research-for- development efforts to draw lessons about achieving effective results in system resilience. The paper gives concrete examples of effective partnerships and the positive changes that resulted for farmer and fisher communities.

The “Improving water productivity, reducing poverty and enhancing equity in mixed crop-livestock systems in the Indo-Gangetic Basin”

was designed and conducted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI),

in partnership with international and national partners, to address the relative neglect of

livestock water needs of crop-livestock farming systems.

The primary objective of this project was to optimize the productive use of water in the

crop-livestock farming systems of semi-arid areas to enhance livelihoods, reduce

The purpose of the project "Increasing livestock productivity in mixed crop-livestock systems in South Asia" is to develop a crop-livestock typology that will ultimately improve the effectiveness of technical and socio-economic interventions aimed at improving animal performance and protecting the natural resource base at farm level in South Asia.