Cacao – which has been a symbol of abundance since pre-Columbian civilizations – has found its way to the heart of peace building in Colombia: a country that despite challenges and internal struggles, has found cacao and chocolate production to be a culinary adventure leading to increased resilience, stability, and unity in rural communities. The CGIAR Initiative AgriLAC Resiliente has worked with a multidisciplinary
Smallholder farmers here are largely immigrants from the West Nile region of Uganda who came to the area to provide labour in the immense sugarcane plantations of the Kinyara Sugar Factory. The factory occupies vast land with the monocropping of sugar cane; with the result that there is limited land for other, diverse crops, which has led to inadequate and
Today, we face a myriad of water-related challenges, ranging from water scarcity and drought (due to increasing demand and rising temperatures), extreme weather events and storms, and insufficient access to safe drinking water for many people across the world. Some cities – including Sao Paolo (Brazil), Cape Town (South Africa), Jakarta (Indonesia), and Chennai (India) – have been on the
A project aiming to advance climate change mitigation and peacebuilding in Colombia has received praise from a key official of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection, known as BMUV. During a webinar on the Sustainable Land Use Project in Colombia, abbreviated as the SLUS Project, Ruth Irlen, a policy advisor on international forest
Crop diversity is often overlooked in climate discussions, yet it’s crucial to adaptation: we need diverse crops to meet the needs of current and future generations. The climate crisis poses a grave threat to global food systems. Crop failures and poor yields mean lost and blighted lives, migration, and conflict. We must act to adapt agriculture to climate change, or
Small scale farming is positively impacting millions of households in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) while contributing to the recovery and resilience of local food systems, providing access to affordable, safe and nutritious foods. The Alliance through the project: Improving dietary quality and livelihoods using farm and wild biodiversity through an integrated community-based approach in Kenya, has worked with farmers in
According to World Bank statistics, the female share of labor in crop production across Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda is about 40%, but demographic changes are transforming the region. Women farmers play key roles in farmer-managed seed systems, as seed custodians and crop production managers. Women are especially important in community seedbanks, which conserve crop varieties cultivated and
In a world where global challenges such as climate change, food security, and environmental degradation demand collective efforts, the recent symposium held in Nairobi, Kenya, from September 25–27, 2023, shed light on the power of collaboration and innovation in transforming Africa’s economy for the betterment of society and the environment. This can be achieved through collaboration on upscaling innovation and