News Overview

In East Africa, where beans are a dietary staple, a transformative initiative by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is reshaping the future of nutrition and cooking efficiency through the ‘Rapid Cooking Bean Project’ (RCBP) with reduced cooking time and enhanced nutritional quality in common beans (CROP/2018/132). The project usesadvanced breeding technologies, including pedigree selection, genomic selection

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is honored to announce the appointment of Ms Cathy Reade as Chair of its Governing Board. Ms Reade steps into her role at a defining moment for global development, where the world faces the profound challenges of climate change, food insecurity, and land degradation—but also holds the promise of transformative

At a high-level event in Nairobi on April 8, 2025, the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) and APNI unveiled the PABRA Academy to strengthen research capacity and transform Africa’s bean value chains. Silence. Anticipation. Excitement. Then—applause. Cheers break out. Such was the electric mood at the Biodiversity Bites Dinner in Nairobi, Kenya on 8th April 2025, when Jean Claude

In a world where nearly three billion people still cannot afford a healthy diet, transforming our food systems has become an urgent priority. The official launch of the CGIAR Better Diets and Nutrition (BDN) Science Program during the CGAIR Science Week 2025, marked a significant step toward tackling this global crisis by prioritizing the affordability, accessibility, availability, desirability of sustainable

(BANDUNG & INDRAMAYU, Indonesia, 22-25 April 2025) – As part of efforts to continuously improve the Rice Crop Manager (RCM) Indonesia platform, known locally as Layanan Konsultasi Padi (LKP) , IRRI partnered with BRMP (Badan Perakitan dan Modernisasi Pertanian) Food Crops (formerly BSIP Food Crops) to conduct a Farmer Feedback Survey in West Java. The RCM project team from

Kenya is transforming bean research through a KALRO-Alliance partnership focused on breeding climate-resilient varieties, improving seed systems, and building young scientists’ capacity to strengthen food security and support smallholder farmers. Kenya is taking bold steps to transform its bean research landscape through renewed collaboration, innovation, and capacity building. At the heart of this transformation is a growing partnership between

Given that a significant population of Ethiopia relies on subsistence agriculture, climate impacts are manifesting in various forms ranging from food insecurity and water scarcity emanating from prolonged droughts, climate induced displacement and migration. Agriculture accounts for between 40 –50% of Ethiopia’s gross domestic product (GDP). Increased competition over scarce resources has intensified such as pastoralist clashes over grazing land.

The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT organized the second Scientific Committee meeting of the Himalayan Agroecology Initiative (HAI). This international initiative aims to improve livelihoods and sustainability in the Himalayan region focusing on India, Bhutan and Nepal. HAI applies a food systems approach for developing agroecology roadmaps. HAI is funded by the Special Initiative Transformation of Agricultural and