Irrigation is an important mechanism to mitigate risks associated with the variability in rainfall for the smallholder subsistence farming system. This study analyzed how practicing small-scale irrigation (SSI) impacts the key livelihood assets on farm households’ human, physical, natural, financial, and social capitals in Ethiopia’s upper Awash sub-basin. The household-level survey data, collected from the 396 sample households, was used to carry out the current study. A Propensity Score Matching (PSM) analytical model was applied to match the SSI user and nonuser groups.

Background
Digital technologies are promoted as transformational for smallholders in Africa through the potential to enhance access to knowledge, increase productivity and food security. Despite the anticipations for agricultural digitalization in Africa, smallholders' engagement with digitalization is empirically underexplored. Hence, we surveyed 1565 rural farmers in Northern Ghana to explore how farmers interact with digital tools and services, and the variations in their engagements.
Results

Climate variability and extreme weather events such as floods and droughts continue to increase due to climate change. These changes will have significant impacts on low- and middle-income countries. Without transformative climate adaptation solutions, millions of smallholder farmers will face severe losses because of increased climate variability.

Governments in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are keen to expand irrigation to improve food security and are placing particular emphasis on adoption and use of smallholder private groundwater irrigation. Yet private irrigation is a multi-stage technology, the adoption of which is affected by fiscal support and extension services offered on different investment stages but also by uncertainties around actions that need to be undertaken in these stages.

In multifunctional landscapes, expanding economic activities jeopardise the integrity of biodiverse ecosystems, generating conservation-development trade-offs that require multi-stakeholder dialogue and tools to negotiate conflicting objectives. Despite the rich literature on participatory mapping and other tools to reveal different stakeholder perspectives, there is limited evidence on the application of such tools in landscape-scale negotiations.

Purpose: This study examines the adoption drivers of scale-appropriate mechanization in Nepal's maize-based farming systems. The authors also assess the contribution of scale-appropriate mechanization to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of zero hunger (SDG2) and no poverty (SDG1). Design/methodology/approach: Propensity score matching (PSM) and doubly robust inverse probability-weighted regression adjusted (IPWRA) methods were applied to estimate the effects of mini-tiller adoption.

Application of biocontrol products containing atoxigenic isolates of Aspergillus flavus to reduce aflatoxin content in crops is an effective strategy for managing aflatoxin in several regions throughout the world. We report the development and validation of two aflatoxin biocontrol products, Aflasafe TZ01 and Aflasafe TZ02, for use in maize and groundnut in Tanzania, a country frequently affected by aflatoxin contamination. Each product contains four atoxigenic A. flavus genotypes native and widely distributed in Tanzania.

This paper explains the need for digital tools and how they enable commercialization and scale, the impact on users, and the risks and benefits with examples of projects and partners along the value chain. This approach is being applied across all HarvestPlus activities and digital projects are researched and reported as part of the CGIAR Digital Innovation Initiative.

Legumes play a significant role in food and nutritional security and contribute to environmental sustainability. Although legumes are highly beneficial crops, it has not yet been possible to enhance their yield and production to a satisfactory level. Amid a rising population and low yield levels, per capita average legume consumption in India has fallen by 71% over the last 50 years, and this has led to protein-related malnutrition in a large segment of the Indian population, especially women and children.

Introduction: Sheath blight (SB) is the most damaging fungal disease in rice caused by a soil-borne pathogenic fungus, Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn (R. solani). The disease resistance in rice is a complex quantitative trait controlled by a few major genes. UKMRC2 is a newly developed elite rice variety that possesses high yield potential but is susceptible to sheath blight disease indicating a huge risk of varietal promotion, mass cultivation, and large-scale adoption. The aim of our present study was the development of varietal resistance against R.

This chapter assesses ACM’s potential as a pathway to address the flooding problem of Greater Jakarta, significantly exacerbated by land subsidence and climate change. It is based on a thought experiment by the authors to envision application of this approach to the problem and is not the result of empirical work. A background of Jakarta’s flooding is first provided and subsequently its framing as a ‘wicked problem’. Results of the thought experiment are then discussed, focusing on three questions: (i) Can ACM be applied, given Jakarta’s flooding governance structure?

Colfer and Prabhu build on concerns highlighted in the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use, recognizing the ‘wickedness’ of climate change and other problems bedeviling the Earth and its peoples. This chapter, in response, argues for the use of collaborative, bottom-up approaches where learning and adaptation are central features. These authors build on the longitudinal experience – some of two decades or more – of multiple teams of researchers who have worked at the community level using the ACM approach and highlighting their many enduring accomplishments.