by Zakaria Hasan, CIMMYT Born in the remote village of Hatash Haripur in Kushtia, Bangladesh, Md. Al-Helal’s early life was defined by hardship. His father, a daily laborer, and his mother, a homemaker, struggled to make ends meet. Forced to leave school at 13, Al-Helal began working at a small engineering workshop for less than 50 cents a week. What
The Scaling Week in Latin America and the Caribbean strengthened a shared vision: scaling with responsibility and inclusion is the path to building more resilient, equitable, and sustainable agri-food systems. By Daniela Arce Gómez, Communications Coordinator, Climate Action Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) at the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, and regional communications focal point for the CGIAR Scaling for Impact program in
By Kaniz Tamanna, Zakaria Hasan and Bharathi Parupalli, CIMMYT Shorifa Khatun (38) has overcome societal constraints to become a flourishing seedling entrepreneur in Shailkupa Upazila, Jhenaidah District, Bangladesh. Her entrepreneurial success story was enabled by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia-Mechanization Extension Activity (CSISA-MEA), an initiative working on the empowerment of women in the nation’s agricultural landscape. In 2021, Shorifa
By Kafil Uddin, CIMMYT and Zakaria Hasan, CIMMYT In Chakaria, a coastal upazila in Cox’s Bazar, farming has long been labor-intensive, costly, and vulnerable to natural calamities. Far from the country’s light engineering hubs, local farmers often struggled to access agricultural machinery and spare parts. Yet, from these challenges emerged the inspiring journey of Md. Abdul Matlab (42), a farmer-turned-entrepreneur who
An innovative early warning system powered by artificial intelligence is poised to transform how Africa confronts a silent but deadly threat to its food supply: aflatoxin contamination in maize. The Aflatoxin risk Early Warning System (A-EWS) uses machine learning and satellite data to predict and map contamination hotspots, offering a powerful new weapon in the fight for food safety. The tool was
Their 50-year modelling unveils a mixed picture: yes, land can regain fertility and resilience if we feed soils more; but under warming and increasingly erratic rains, these benefits weaken and vary greatly across territories. A lesson in science and field realities, published on October 1, 2025, and authored by Wuletawu Abera, Amsalu Tilaye, Degefie Tibebe and Assefa Abegaz. View original article
BRAINS enters its second year, uniting 15 African countries to boost climate resilience through beans, beneficial insects, and fruit trees—scaling innovations, empowering farmers, and transforming agriculture into a digital, inclusive movement. What began as an unlikely combination of beans, beneficial insects and fruit trees is now blossoming into one of sub-Saharan Africa’s most innovative agricultural transformations – a powerful
Climate change makes life incredibly difficult for smallholder farmers, but the programs meant to help them adapt, known as Locally Led Adaptation (LLA), often face a major hurdle: fairness. Too often, project benefits are ‘captured’ by powerful local figures or community elites, leaving the most vulnerable groups—like women, young men, and the poorest families—behind. This makes existing inequalities worse and