News Overview

Women make up a larger share of agricultural employment in countries with lower economic development, where limited education, infrastructure, and off-farm job opportunities constrain options. In many sub-Saharan African countries, women represent over 50% of the agricultural labor force. Similarly, about half of the agricultural workforce is female in several Southeast Asian countries. Yet, women’s access to assets and resources such as

By Tarig Alhaj Rakhy, Shima Mohamed, Khalid Siddig, Hala Abushama, Oliver Kiptoo Kirui, and Paul Dorosh May 29, 2025 Sudan has now entered its third year of armed conflict, resulting in economic collapse and a deepening humanitarian crisis. As of April 2025, over 8.6 million people have been internally displaced, and over 3 million have fled to neighboring countries. Famine has been confirmed in 10 areas and internally displaced person (IDP)

Dhaka, Bangladesh (30 April 2025) – The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) took center stage at the Gobeshona Global Conference 2025, hosted by the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) on 30th April 2025, with a dynamic virtual session titled “ Agri-Food System Innovations for Food Security. ” This webinar was arranged to connect local and international researchers,

By Lucia Carillo and Katrina Kosec  CGIAR Science Week—an April 2025 event at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Kenya that brought together global leaders in research, policy, and development—included one standout session. The session, titled “Science and Innovation for Resilient Food Systems in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings,” drew attention to the pressing need for research-driven solutions in the world’s

A Sudanese Armed Forces soldier walks past small stalls selling basic goods and some food, seen through a blast hole in the wall of the Aalia Specialist Hospital in Omdurman, Sudan. The hospital was under siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for months and heavily damaged in the process. [Photo Credit: Ivor Prickett/Panos Pictures] By Tarig Alhaj Rakhy, Shima Mohamed, Khalid Siddig, Hala

While many in the Northern Hemisphere may be preparing for a summer beach getaway, the Independent Science for Development Council (ISDC) will be heading to Edinburgh for its first in-person meeting of 2025. At the top of its agenda: finalizing the external review of 13 CGIAR Program and Accelerator Inception Reports. In an era of constrained funding and difficult trade-offs,

A landmark study published in Nature’s Communications Biology by IITA scientists showcases how CRISPR-based gene editing offers hope for East Africa’s banana farmers. Scientists at IITA-CGIAR have made a major breakthrough in the fight against Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW), a devastating bacterial disease threatening banana crops across East and Central Africa. The findings, recently published in Communications Biology, the prestigious journal from the Nature portfolio, demonstrates how gene

Banana breeding is a slow and time-consuming process, and it is currently taking almost a decade in Tanzania to develop new varieties due to the crop’s complex genetics, sterility, and long generation cycles. In efforts to improve banana breeding through research, there is a great need for research institutes to increase collaboration with the National Agricultural Research System in data