News Overview

BY JORDAN KYLE, KATRINA KOSEC, SUDHA NARAYANAN, AND KALYANI RAGHUNATHAN OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Tusu lives in the village of Saradha in Mayurbhanj district of the eastern coastal state of Odisha in India, and recently constructed a farm pond on her land through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This important personal achievement might have gone

The food insecurity situation in the Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly dire. A recent blog of just 10 days ago and based on an assessment by the World Food Programme pointed out that during October and November, 80 percent of the population in Gaza was displaced and more than 80 percent suffered food deficiencies. A new assessment by the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) for

BY BRIAN MCNAMARA OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Recent events such as the war in Ukraine and the El Niño weather cycle have demonstrated how shocks triggering changes in production and distribution of food in one country or region can reverberate around the world, eroding food security for millions if not billions. Efficient, agile, and diverse trade networks can help countries and

BY HAILEMARIAM AYALEW, JOSEPH KARUGIA, JOHN OLWANDE, AND CLEMENS BREISINGER OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 The Kenyan National Fertilizer Subsidy Program (NFSP), implemented during the short rainy season in September 2022, has emerged as a pivotal policy in the government’s efforts to expand food production and mitigate soaring food prices. The program offers subsidized fertilizer at half the price of

BY JENNIFER JOHNSON OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 The global prevalence of overweight and obesity has nearly tripled since 1975, and these conditions now affect more than 340 million children and adolescents ages 5-19 and nearly 39 million children under 5. These conditions are linked to rising rates of noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This has become

Finding more effective ways to deliver vital information and innovation to farmers. DLEC’s Impact Carrying out these three types of activities in various settings allowed DLEC to develop and deliver evidence-based recommendations to improve extension service delivery. Ultimately, monitoring efforts showed that DLEC was able to provide improved EAS practices for 1.3 million farming households, primarily in Ethiopia, Rwanda,

BY ISABEL LAMBRECHT, SARAH PECHTL, MOHRU MARDONOVA, AND KAMILJON AKRAMOV OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Tajikistan, the poorest country in Central Asia, is making significant efforts to spur economic growth and improve the well-being of its people. The national economic strategy aims to increase domestic incomes by 2 to 3.5 times between 2016 and 2030 and includes a number of

BY OLIVER K. KIRUI, KHALID SIDDIG, HALA ABUSHAMA, AND ALEMAYEHU SEYOUM TAFFESSE OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 The continuing conflict in Sudan between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), underway since April 2023, is inflicting devastating impacts on the country’s economy and on livelihoods. Model estimates show that production declines across different sectors have resulted in