Alliance Research Lever 2: Multifunctional Landscapes

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    Contaminacion cruzado en cacao
    (Video, 2025-06-01) Atkinson, Rachel; Yovera Espinoza, Fredy Franco
    A video explaining the risk of cross contamination by pesticides in organic cacao farms, and how to reduce the risk
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    The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT Annual Report 2022: People at the heart of food systems
    (Annual Report, 2023) Bioversity International; International Center for Tropical Agriculture
    Discover research, case studies, and highlights encapsulating the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT's mission to transform people's lives during a climate crisis. Highlights span: Land, Crops, Food, and Markets.
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    Women’s leadership in community-led forest governance in India
    (News Item, 2025-06) Kachhap, Apurwa; Ravani, Khanjan; Rana, Meenu; Misra, Deepannita; Madappa, P.S.; Morgan, Miranda; Elias, Marlene
    Forests are critical to sustaining the lives and environments of rural communities in India, home to the largest forest-dependent population in the world. Rural women tend to be particularly reliant on forests for fuelwood, food, fodder, medicine and more. For this reason, women are often the primary stewards of these common resources, relying on gender-specific knowledge of harvesting, processing, use and management. Yet women continue to face gender-based discrimination and marginalization in forest governance, and are less likely than men to take on meaningful leadership roles. This article explores how some women have managed to overcome these barriers to play active roles in forest governance and management, and what the outcomes of their leadership have been.
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    Women as stewards of environmental and social transformations in tropical forests
    (News Item, 2025-06) Rogelja, Todora; Kroese, Luca; Bulkan, Janette; Elias, Marlene; Monterroso, Iliana; Öllerer, Barbara; Wallin, Ida
    Women are driving transformative change across the tropics, yet their critical roles in forest management, conservation and resource use often remain unrecognized. From gathering non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to safeguarding sacred groves and leading community initiatives, women’s contributions are essential to the social and ecological fabric of forest-dependent communities. However, their access to resources and decision-making power remains limited. By discussing the essential roles that women play as environmental stewards, the articles in this edition of Tropical Forest Issues present the significant impacts that women can have on shaping the future of tropical forest landscapes.
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    AVENIR progress and impact assessment: Descriptive report
    (Report, 2025-05-09) Muriithi, Cyrus; Ouedraogo, Issa; Chege, Christine; Kinyua, Michael; Nouwodjro, Paul; Diouf, Latyr; Maina, Wilson; Siagbe, Golli
    This assessment of the AVENIR project activities demonstrates significant progress in building climate resilience and improving livelihoods among smallholder farmers in Senegal's Sedhiou and Tambacounda regions. Through its integrated approach combining climate-smart agriculture, economic empowerment, and capacity building (reaching 11,500 beneficiaries, 70% women and youth), the project has achieved measurable impacts across key outcome areas. The knowledge diffusion strategy shows success, with trained farmers serving as effective information nodes - each sharing agricultural knowledge with an average of 21 community members (median of 10 indicates most share with fewer individuals). Regression analysis confirms the program's efficacy, revealing farmers in intervention areas share knowledge 29 times more frequently than controls, with nutrition and integrated pest management training emerging as most impactful. Household resilience has strengthened significantly, evidenced by a composite Resilience Capacity Index of 47%, driven by key resilience pillars. Notable successes include Bakel department achieving 62% and Goudomp 54% resilience scores through integrated farming systems, and women demonstrating growing leadership with 11% participation in water resource management. Economic empowerment indicators show promise, particularly in agro-processing where bissap value chains generate average household earnings of 130,129 CFA. Nutrition outcomes improved substantially, with 36% of women now meeting minimum dietary diversity standards (MDD-W), rising to 61% in department like Bakel. While climate-smart agriculture adoption shows positive trends (79% manure management in Bounkiling), persistent challenges include uneven technology uptake (5.45% drip irrigation adoption) and geographic disparities in food security (39.9% severe insecurity in Tambacounda). The project's climate information services demonstrate strong potential (47% adoption in Goudomp), particularly when delivered through mobile platforms and community radio. These findings validate AVENIR's integrated approach while highlighting opportunities for targeted scaling - particularly in strengthening women's economic participation, expanding proven knowledge transfer systems, and addressing regional disparities through localized adaptation strategies. The results provide a robust evidence base for optimizing interventions during the remaining implementation period to maximize sustainable impact.
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    The cost of soil erosion in sub-Saharan Africa: Insights for policy
    (Brief, 2025-06-13) Bolo, Peter; Kinyua, Michael; Waswa, Boaz; Kihara, Job
    Soil erosion is an urgent environmental concern. Nearly 494 million hectares in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are experiencing some form of land degradation. Of these, about 227.4 million hectares (i.e., 46%) are affected by water erosion, wind erosion (186.5 million; 38%), loss of nutrients via chemical degradation (12 %), and physical deterioration (4%). With losses of about 50 kg of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) per hectare per year, and 50–66% of yield – costing SSA approximately USD 68 billion annually – soil erosion impacts the socio-economic wellbeing of millions of households across SSA. Regenerating degraded soils and building soil health is critical for sustainable food systems transformation. Across Africa, agriculture needs to aim for zero erosion and runoffs by embracing complementary soil management practices (e.g., combined conservation agriculture and integrated soil fertility management -ISFM), and structural measures (e.g., contour farming, terracing, and zai pits). Policy efforts should focus on provisioning incentives for long-term sustainable management efforts against soil erosion through complementary soil management interventions and supporting farmers and other stakeholders with enabling conditions for implementing appropriate agriculture practice bundles (see section on Policy Intervention Areas).
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    Tree crop Information needs and use among farmers and extension agents in Ghana
    (Report, 2025-04-22) Ofosu-Ampong, Kingsley; Jizorkuwie, Abdul-Latif; Schmidt, Paul; Wuletawu, Abera
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    Understanding the effects of organic versus conventional farming on soil organic carbon characteristics – a chronosequence study
    (Journal Article, 2025-07-01) Koorneef, Guusje J.; Pulleman, Mirjam Margreet; de Goede, Ron G.M.; Barré, Pierre; Baudin, François; van Rijssel, Sophie Q.; Comans, Rob N.J.
    Organic farming aims at producing high quality, nutritious food while sustaining the health of soils and ecosystems, for which it relies on ecological processes. The amount and quality of soil organic carbon (SOC) influence many soil ecological processes that underlie ecosystem services. However, the effect of organic farming on the amount and especially the quality of SOC is not yet clear. We therefore investigated the long-term influence of organic arable farming on SOC characteristics in topsoil (0–15 cm). We sampled a chronosequence of certified organically managed commercial farms (0–34 years of organic farming) on clay-dominated soils, paired with nearby conventional counterparts. A similar chronosequence (0–69 years of organic farming) was established on sand-dominated soils. Alongside soil samples, we collected basic information on soil management such as crop rotation and fertilization. Total SOC content and soil properties that influence SOC were measured (i.e., pH, content of silt, clay, iron oxides and aluminum oxides). Four different techniques were used to characterize SOC quality, i.e., permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), Rock-Eval thermal analysis, size fractionation into particulate (POM) and mineral-associated (MAOM) organic matter, and elemental C:N analysis. In the clay chronosequence, particularly for soils with a low Fe oxide content, we found that organic farming can increase the total SOC content and labile organic carbon fractions over time, thus resulting in a lower overall SOC stability. We also found indications that the effects of management on SOC quality depend on the total SOC content. In the sand chronosequence, the duration of organic farming did not affect the content nor quality of SOC, potentially because management practices influencing SOC cycling were not distinctive for organic vs. conventional farming in the sand but were in the clay chronosequence. Despite our strict farm selection criteria, large variations in environmental soil conditions, farm-specific practices, and land use history challenged the identification of individual processes that drive the observed changes in SOC dynamics in response to organic farming. This variation also highlighted the importance of intrinsic soil properties for SOC dynamics, and the need to develop soil-specific farm management recommendations. Despite this complexity, this study has clearly revealed the potential of organic farming to change SOC cycling towards a higher and overall more bioavailable SOC content, thus strengthening associated ecosystem services.
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    Achieving agroecological food system transformation
    (News Item, 2025-03-20) Fuchs, Lisa Elena; Awiti, Alex; Nyawira, Sylvia; Chege, Christine G. Kiria; Guettou Djurfeldt, Nadia
    While agroecological solutions exist at farm level, scaling them to broader food, land and water systems entails many hurdles. The CGIAR Initiative on Agroecology was launched in order to clear them. Based on their experience in Kenya, our authors share some overarching insights. A redesign of food systems is urgently needed to achieve ecological, economic and social sustainability. Agroecology offers a transformative pathway that integrates sustainable and resilient agricultural practices with increased agency for smallholder farmers and other food system actors, and pays special attention to women, youth and other marginalised groups. Agroecological solutions are well documented at farm level, but applying them to broader food, land and water systems remains a challenge given insufficient evidence, misaligned policies, inadequate capacity, insufficient attention to intersecting inequalities and limited financing mechanisms. The CGIAR Initiative on Agroecology (see Box) has been aiming to address these barriers by promoting the application of contextually appropriate agroecological principles by food system actors such as farmers, businesses, government entities and policy-makers in so-called agroecological living landscapes (ALLs). The latter are geographically bounded landscapes in which farmers, agroecology practitioners, researchers and other development actors identify, test and promote agroecological innovations across sectors and scales, thus generating evidence on the transformative potential of agroecology and identifying institutional innovations. As we come to the end of a three-year cycle of collaborative implementation and transition to a new CGIAR Science Program on Multifunctional Landscapes, the Agroecology Initiative Kenya research team leads share the following nine key messages.
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    Making agricultural supply chains deliver better for women
    (Journal Article, 2025-04-10) Joya, Fernanda Soto; Shijagurumayum, Meghajit; Wiegel, Jenny; Elias, Marlene; González, Silvia; Rodríguez-Fabilena, René; Licona, Andrea; Sánchez, Liliana; Rodríguez, Ivan; Sosa, Ítalo
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    Ecosystem restoration centered in people
    (Journal Article, 2025-04-01) Mansourian, Stephanie; Djenontin, Ida N. S.; Elias, Marlene; Oldekop, Johan A; Derkyi, Mercy A. A.; Kull, Christian A.; Pacheco, Pablo
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    Situating the “human” in forest landscape restoration
    (Journal Article, 2025-02-24) Mansourian, Stephanie; Djenontin, Ida N. S.; Elias, Marlene; Oldekop, Johan A.; Derkyi, Mercy Afua Adutwumwaa; Kull, Christian A.; Pacheco, Pablo
    Globally, forest landscape restoration (FLR) is gaining ground, alongside other forms of restoration under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. In most cases, projects and initiatives fail to consider human dimensions that influence the processes and outcomes of the restoration effort. These dimensions refer to how and why humans value natural resources; how humans want resources to be managed; and how humans affect or are affected by natural resource management decisions. Using the model of the forest transition curve that shows the trajectory from loss of forests to restored forests, we discuss how FLR intersects in different ways with this transition curve. We conclude that: 1) definitions and their implications are a fundamental challenge for FLR; 2) there is an intrinsic interdependence between people and forests that varies across spatial and temporal scales and that is mediated by institutions; 3) power differentials among stakeholders create imbalances in restoration; 4) conflicts around restoration result from differing interests, power and values. Equitable and durable restoration requires a much greater inclusion of human dimensions along all steps of the process.
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    Best practices for agroecology & climate change resilience in the dry corridor: Views from five regions in Honduras
    (Brief, 2025-05) Siles, Pablo; Guillen, Jose Francisco; Obando, Diego; Wollenberg, Eva
    KEY MESSAGES - Farmers and technicians identified nine bundles of agroecological and conventional practices that achieve climate change resilience and environmental outcomes. - The most common agroecology technical practices were soil and nutrient management, integrated pest management, diversification and agroforestry. - Agroecological practices mostly increase resilience to variable rainfall. Few reduce the climate hazards of high temperature or extreme rainfall: agroforestry, other tree planting, intercropping, coffee shade management buffer high temperatures and soil erosion control, such as contours and drainage, protects against extreme rainfall. - Drip irrigation and water harvesting practices are a key means for addressing water stress in the Dry Corridor and should be included in agroecological technical packages. - Bundles of agroecological and conventional practices created complementarity and synergies that enabled achieving multiple climate and livelihood outcomes. - Women’s groups favoured practices focused on food safety and security, biodiversity of cultivars, community-level resources, and farm and landscape system interventions. - Economic resilience, due to farm- and crop-level diversification, may be as or more important for resilience of a specific crop like coffee or maize and beans. - Most projects promoting agroecology in Honduras preferred to base their decisions on demonstration sites, self-generated data, or a trusted associate or community member rather than experts, case studies, or scientific data and papers. - Supporting exchange among farmer-support organizations in field regions can accelerate learning and technical capacity about priority practices. - Future research priorities are (1) how well do agroecological practices and bundles support resilience under increasing levels and types of climate stress? And (2) options for economic and social resilience and safety nets when agricultural systems fail.
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    Orientaciones sobre proyectos de agroecología en Honduras
    (Brief, 2025-05) Guillen, Jose; Siles, Pablo; Wollenberg, Eva
    KEY MESSAGES – Al menos 13 organizaciones están promoviendo prácticas agroecológicas en el Corredor Seco de Honduras. – Las definiciones de agroecología varían considerablemente entre las organizaciones, pero en general incluían prácticas que apoyan la sostenibilidad ambiental. – Las prácticas agroecológicas más comunes que se promovían incluían la diversificación, el uso de semillas de cultivares tradicionales, el uso de bioinsumos, el manejo de la fertilidad y la conservación del suelo. – La mayoría de las organizaciones afirmaron que las prácticas que promovían abordaban la adaptación al cambio climático, aunque la base de estas afirmaciones no siempre era clara, lo que sugiere que se necesita una mayor capacitación en prácticas agronómicas para la adaptación al cambio climático. – La mayoría de los proyectos operan a escalas de cientos o varios miles de agricultores, por lo que, aunque estos proyectos pueden generar impactos significativos a nivel local, la extensión técnica nacional sobre prácticas agroecológicas y adaptación al cambio climático sigue estando fragmentada. – Los esfuerzos para escalar las prácticas agroecológicas orientadas a la adaptación al cambio climático deben coordinarse con los proyectos existentes y aprovecharlos. – Un mayor intercambio entre organizaciones que trabajan en agroecología, a través de eventos como Días de Campo, puede apoyar la coordinación y el fortalecimiento de capacidades técnicas.
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    Agency and behavior change in agricultural research for development: New directions for guiding agri-food system transformations
    (Journal Article, 2025-08) Freed, Sarah; Voss, Rachel C.; Falk, Thomas; Rietveld, Anne M.; Alary, Véronique; Chimonyo, Vimbayi G.P.; Frija, Aymen; Guettou-Djurfeldt, Nadia; Lestrelin, Guillaume; Singh, Sonali; Ndiwa, Aurillia Manjella; Zingwena, Taurai
    CONTEXT Agri-food system transformations require change across sectors and actors within the system. Initiatives contributing to these changes need to connect system change processes to individual and collective agency and behaviors. OBJECTIVE We propose a conceptual framework on agency and behavior change for transforming agri-food systems (ACT framework). ACT emphasizes agri-food system actors' behaviors with attention to their power, agency, and the influence of structural agri-food system elements. Researchers can apply ACT to assess an initiative's contributions to changes in system elements through individual and collective behaviors. METHODS We conducted literature reviews and key informant interviews for 29 initiative case studies. Using ACT, we identified patterns in terms of initiatives' targeted actors, behaviors, and the factors shaping actors' agency and behavior. We then applied ACT in an initiative in Zimbabwe to develop a theory of change that links behavior change pathways with broader systems transformation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The reviewed initiatives focused heavily on shaping producers' behavior through knowledge transfer, less often considering other actors and structural challenges and opportunities. Key informants frequently reported enablers and impediments to achieve initiative outcomes that were associated with structural system elements. Few were able to articulate their initiative's theory of change and underlying assumptions. SIGNIFICANCE ACT can support a more diverse and theory-based exploration of agri-food system initiatives' target actors, behaviors, and factors shaping behaviors. Development professionals can apply the ACT framework to design more effective TOCs that attend to diverse actor groups and leverage the factors influencing these actors' agency and behaviors.
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    An economic evaluation of an intensive silvo-pastoral system in San Martín, Peru
    (Journal Article, 2025-05-20) Junca Paredes, John Jairo; Durango Morales, Sandra Guisela; Burkart, Stefan
    The cattle sector plays a critical role in Peru’s agricultural economy, yet it faces challenges related to low productivity and environmental degradation. Sustainable alternatives like silvo-pastoral systems (SPSs) offer promising solutions to enhance both economic returns and ecological outcomes in cattle farming. This study examines the economic viability of an intensive SPS (SPSi) compared to traditional monoculture grass systems in San Martín, Peru. The SPSi under study is in the evaluation phase, integrates grasses, legumes, shrubs, and trees, and has the potential to enhance cattle farming profitability while simultaneously offering environmental benefits such as improved soil health and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Through a discounted cash flow model over an eight-year period, key profitability indicators—Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benefit–Cost Ratio (BC), and payback period—were estimated for four dual-purpose cattle production scenarios: a traditional system and three SPSi scenarios (pessimistic, moderate, and optimistic). Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to assess risk, ensuring robust results. The results show that the NPV for the traditional system was a modest USD 61, while SPSi scenarios ranged from USD 9564 to USD 20,465. The IRR improved from 8.17% in the traditional system to between 26.63% and 30.33% in SPSi scenarios, with a shorter payback period of 4.5 to 5.8 years, compared to 7.98 years in the traditional system. Additionally, the SPSi demonstrated a 30% increase in milk production and a 50% to 250% rise in stocking rates per hectare. The study recommends, subject to pending validations through field trials, promoting SPSi adoption through improved access to credit, technical assistance, and policy frameworks that compensate farmers for ecosystem services. Policymakers should also implement monitoring mechanisms to mitigate unintended consequences, such as deforestation, ensuring that SPSi expansion aligns with sustainable land management practices. Overall, the SPSi presents a viable solution for achieving economic resilience and environmental sustainability in Peru’s cattle sector.
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    Digital agency in agricultural knowledge systems: Fostering responsible co-development of digital technical advisory tools
    (Presentation, 2025-05-08) McCampbell, Mariette
    Presented by Mariette McCampbell, Inclusive Digital Tools Project of Agroecological TRANSITIONS, at the “Increasing farmer’s digital agency for agroecology” webinar on 8 May 2025, an event of the Transformative Partnership Platform (TPP) for Agroecology and Agroecological TRANSITIONS Project (ATDT). Agroecology promotes sustainable farming systems for not only productivity and ecosystem benefits, but also social inclusion values like co-creation, empowerment, and farmer agency. Social inclusion is not only a fundamental principle for agroecology but also for the application of digital tools in the agriculture sector. When used responsibly, digital technologies can empower and incentive smallholder farmers to innovate for agroecological practices at larger scales than would be possible through conventional technical assistance and performance assessment methods. The purpose of this webinar is to share final recommendations and a framework for enhancing farmer agency in the use of digital tools and to promote inclusivity in farmers’ role in the co-creation of agricultural practices. The three-year, EU-IFAD funded Agroecological TRANSITIONS: Inclusive Digital Tools project will share its conclusions in this webinar with a presentation about farmer agency and co-creation of practices, followed by presentations of examples in Vietnam and Brazil, where the project developed new digital tools for implementing agroecological practices at scale and facilitated their implementation. Learn more & find other presentations & outputs here: https://bit.ly/AgLEDxATDT
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    Mass Spectrometer (MS) troubleshooting guide
    (Manual, 2025) Odenkirk, Melanie T; Jones, Rachel; Prenni, Jessica; Brinkley, Sarah Christine
    This Mass Spectrometer Troubleshooting Guide is designed to support users in diagnosing and resolving common issues encountered during MS data acquisition. It includes four targeted flow charts that begin with specific problems users may observe: (1) empty chromatograms, (2) inaccurate mass values, (3) high signal in blank runs, and (4) instrument communication failure. Each flow chart provides a step-by-step diagnostic path, guiding the user to one of eight possible solutions. Solutions address common causes such as spray instability, method setup errors, system contamination, and calibration drift.