This study investigates the effect of married couples’ joint decision-making on rice variety selection on rice productivity—a measure of food security. The study uses the 2016 Rice Monitoring Survey and the endogenous switching regression (ESR) method. Results show that rice farms with joint decision-makers (husband and wife) would have higher yields, particularly in households that adopted MRVGen1 (before 1986) rice varieties. Thus, families with joint-decision making have higher food security.

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.

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.

Country profiles are more than a simple compilation of national indicators. They are constructed and designed around a common framework and methodology to identify hotspots of unsustainability in the food systems and prioritize interventions at multiple scales to address these through targeted actions and investments.
An important feature of the country profiles is that they are co-produced with key public and private food system stakeholders engaged in both identifying the data and validating results and emerging key messages.

This paper draws implications for understanding the link between empowerment and resilience among rural and smallholder agricultural communities in developing contexts. While existing evidence shows that women’s empowerment promotes their individual and household well-being, women smallholder farmers continue to exhibit limited capacity to cope with climate change– induced agricultural shocks. This is exacerbated by the existing social systems and structures which hinder women’s resilience and empowerment.

Women are more food insecure than men globally and in every region. This paper investigates the global gender gap in food insecurity and its evolution following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) data collected from over 700,000 individuals across 121 countries, our empirical analysis showed that individuals aged 25– 34, regardless of gender, and women in rural areas had been disproportionally affected by the pandemic.

The Integrated Watershed Development Programme (IWDP) is key for rejuvenation and improvement of waterscarce landscapes in India. Despite policy guidelines, there has been limited success in ensuring community participation and inclusion in IWDPs, especially for women and people from vulnerable social groups. This study attempted to explore the politics of inclusion and exclusion because local hierarchies of caste and gender inhibit decision-making, access to services, participation and benefits from IWDPs.

Aquatic food systems make significant contributions to sustainable development through generating employment; providing community and household food and nutrition security; and strengthening family well-being, socioeconomic growth, poverty alleviation, climate resilience and environmental sustainability. SDG 5 makes an explicit commitment to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” in their own right. Yet gender inequalities and barriers remain prevalent in rural areas of lowincome countries, including where there is a high reliance on aquatic food systems.

Sustainable mechanization can help reduce women smallholder farmers’ time and labor burden while increasing farm productivity and building resilience. However, the reality is that most agricultural innovations and technologies do not cater to women’s needs or preferences and are primarily designed for middle-income male farmers. While the adoption of mechanization in Bangladesh is rapidly increasing, women smallholder farmers face sociocultural constraints that can make operating machines difficult.

Climate change poses a profound threat to the wellbeing and sustainability of farming and farm-based livelihoods in fragile socioecological systems. Climatic challenges to farming have often been addressed by diverse forms of sustainable intensification that aim to maximize farm outputs and resource-use efficiency through climate-smart innovations. However, climate change poses specific challenges to women farmers, who play important roles in agri-food systems, often in the absence of their male counterparts who recursively migrate from the climatically challenged regions.