News Overview

By Moureen Awori, Communication and Visibility Expert (IITA), with contributions from Ngowenani Nohayi (IWMI) and George Mahuku (IITA) Uniting to drive transformative change in Eastern and Southern Africa, the CGIAR Scaling for Impact (S4I) program under Area of Work 5 (AoW5): Learning for Impact, recently brought together a diverse group of regional partners, led by the International Institute of Tropical

How can forgotten Amaranthus varieties, traditional Baobab ‘foodways’ and niche Fabirama tubers contribute to food systems transformation in Africa? Today, wheat, maize and rice provide approximately 50% of our plant-derived calories; yet, diversification through ‘neglected and underutilized species’ (NUS) could support the creation of climate-resilient and nutrition-sensitive food systems. NUS are the traditional, wild or semi-domesticated species that formed the basis of diets for generations,

A major scientific breakthrough from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) could help groundnut farmers worldwide avert billions in crop losses from stem rot, a disease that slashes yield by up to 80%. In a study published in the Plant Genome journal, ICRISAT and partners mapped 13 genomic regions and 145 candidate genes linked to stem

By Thanh Duong, food environment and consumer behavior team from Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT As Vietnam’s “rice bowl”, the Mekong Delta not only feeds millions but also drives the country’s agricultural exports. Yet, behind this abundance lie urgent diet and nutrition challenges: rising obesity rates, persistent diet-related diseases, and widening inequalities. Addressing these issues requires looking beyond production to consider how

When Said Skounti, a young researcher from Morocco, walked into the Africa Climate Mobility Academy (ACMA) in 2024, he carried two things with him: a half-finished paper on the impacts of climate change on the cultural heritage of nomadic communities in southeastern Morocco, and a quiet frustration. He had the data, but no map for how to navigate peer review and

PABRA empowered 92 Rwandan schools with 3.15 tons of high-iron bean seeds, combining agriculture, nutrition, and climate-smart training to improve student health, school meals, and community resilience through the Sustainable School Feeding Initiative. What if the key to better school performance, stronger communities, and healthier futures could start with a single bean seed? In Rwanda, that idea is becoming

At the 2025 Africa Food Systems Forum in Senegal, ImpactSF brought together policymakers, fund managers, investors, and development partners to discuss how catalytic capital can empower agricultural entrepreneurs. Speakers and panelists explored ways to mobilize investment, de-risk agricultural finance, and support the next generation of agribusiness leaders. The session highlighted the partnerships behind the Financing for Agri-SMEs in Africa (FASA)

CGIAR is ‘on the road’ to COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil, this November. But how is the research agenda of the world’s largest publicly funded research partnership for food security transforming to meet contemporary and future climate challenges? Climate change is no longer a distant threat. An additional 189 million people will face hunger in a world that is