News Overview

By Emily Kilonzi, Berber Kramer, and Carly Trachtman January 15, 2025 Despite breakthroughs in genetic innovation such as drought-tolerant, pest-resistant, and biofortified crop varieties, many farmers continue to grow older, familiar varieties, even as the new alternatives promise higher yields, improved nutrition, and greater climate resilience. This is one reason why research efforts to quantify the impact of genetic innovation often

By Michael Keenan, Jawoo Koo, Christine Mwangi, Naureen Karachiwalla, Clemens Breisinger, and MinAh Kim December 31, 2024 A key objective of research is to ensure that audiences—including scientists, policymakers, and lay readers—find it valuable and apply it effectively. Yet, communicating research to these audiences is rarely straightforward. Readers are inundated with information, making accessible, understandable communication critical. Trust in the credibility of the content

By Zhe Guo, Upeksha Hettiarachchi, and Wei Zhang December 31, 2024 Crop mapping—identifying what farmers are growing on their fields—is essential to agricultural and land use planning and management. It is used to generate yield estimates and crop acreage statistics, predict food prices and assess damages from disasters and also to evaluate ecosystem health—all functions essential for agricultural export nations such as

Simplemente agotado … how tired!! Sunburned, running low on water and my trousers caked with mud—that’s how my first day of field research in the Yeguare River valley, Honduras, ended back in 2002. From that day on, for two years, I imagined myself aboard Darwin’s Beagle or the Victoria, the carrack on which Magellan had circumnavigated the globe. On my daily journey of ecological discovery

Despite rapidly increasing impacts of climate change, the adoption of irrigation technologies in Uganda remains limited, with no more than 2% of Ugandan farms irrigating any of their plots. To accelerate commercialization of agriculture and enhance the climate resilience of the country’s agri-food systems, the government of Uganda—through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries, and with assistance from

The problem of food loss and waste (FLW) undermines global food and nutrition security and makes a significant contribution to climate change, primarily through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing or minimizing FLW requires coordinated action to align stakeholders, promote responsible investments, and incentivize sustainable agricultural practices. This was the theme of an October 22, 2024, World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue virtual side event organized

By Naureen Karachiwalla, Daniel Gilligan, and Sikandra Kurdi December 26, 2024 In many low- and middle-income countries, social protection programs such as cash transfers are seen as essential tools for alleviating poverty. Egypt’s Takaful program, launched in 2015, is a flagship example, targeting poor households with monthly cash transfers to improve their well-being. While cash transfers are increasingly popular and being scaled

By Berber Kramer, Carly Trachtman, and Witold Więcek December 19, 2024 Low adoption and usage of new agricultural technologies remain a challenge in many low-income countries. This is why a significant portion of CGIAR’s research portfolio involves testing inventions that help smallholder farmers overcome barriers to adopting such technologies. However, these studies tend to have limited scope, with researchers working on