Alliance Research Lever 5: Digital Inclusion
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/107453
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Item Segunda fase de implementación de la plataforma Terra-i para el Valle del Cauca(Report, 2023-12-20) Tapasco Alzate, Jeimar Alirio; Reymondin, Louis; Paz Garcia, Paula Andrea; Tello Dagua, Jhon Jairo; Perez Escobar, Jorge Andres; Enciso Arango, Angelica Maria; Phanith, ChouTalleres de consolidación del conocimiento en el manejo de la herramienta de alertas tempranas y capacitación en el uso de la herramienta de cuantificación de área boscosaItem A FAIR and project-oriented template for open science data workflows(Template, 2025-04-15) De Sousa, Kaue; Laporte, Marie-AngeliqueItem Terra-i, a Bioversity–CIAT-developed environmental monitoring tool supports reduced deforestation globally(Case Study, 2025-04-07) Reymondin, Louis; Paz, Paula Andrea; Nguyen, Thuy; Tello, Jhon Jairo; Perez, Jorge Andres; Luong, PhuongTerra-i has become crucial in proactive environmental management, offering near real-time deforestation alerts. Institutions gain precise data to drive conservation strategies by leveraging high-resolution sentinel imagery. Its expansion from Latin America to Africa and Asia countries underscores its scalability and adaptability. In countries where deforestation alerts have been implemented, such as Colombia, Ethiopia, and Vietnam, calibrated and validated alerts support law enforcement, while global organizations use their insights for broader policy frameworks. Strengthening local capacities and fostering informed decision-making, Terra-i continues to shape sustainable land-use practices worldwide.Item Scaling Agroclimatic Services: Reaching 810,000 farmers with Climate-Resilient Solutions across three Latin-American countries(Case Study, 2025-04-01) Giraldo, Diana; Aye, Irma; Navarro, CarlosMainstreaming Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees (MTA, in Spanish) across Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico has significantly enhanced agroclimate information dissemination, directly benefiting 214,000 farmers and indirectly reaching around 600,000 farmers through channels such as radio broadcasts and digital platforms. Strengthened institutional frameworks and strategic partnerships have facilitated the co-production and delivery of actionable climate data, helping farmers with informed decision-making for implementing climate-resilient agricultural practices. Sustained funding and policy commitments further reinforce the long-term impact of these initiatives.Item Post-composing ontology terms for efficient phenotyping in plant breeding(Journal Article, 2025-03-21) Menda, Naama; Ellerbrock, Bryan J.; Simoes, Christiano C.; Karaikal, Srikanth Kumar; Nyaga, Christine; Flores-Gonzalez, Mirella; Tecle, Isaak Y.; Lyon, David; Agbona, Afolabi; Agre, Paterne A.; Peteti, Prasad; Akech, Violet; Asiimwe, Amos; Fauvelle, Eglantine; Meghar, Karima; Tran, Thierry; Dufour, Dominique; Cooper, Laurel; Laporte, Marie-Angelique; Arnaud, Elizabeth; Mueller, Lukas AOntologies are widely used in databases to standardize data, improving data quality, integration, and ease of comparison. Within ontologies tailored to diverse use cases, post-composing user-defined terms reconciles the demands for standardization on the one hand and flexibility on the other. In many instances of Breedbase, a digital ecosystem for plant breeding designed for genomic selection, the goal is to capture phenotypic data using highly curated and rigorous crop ontologies, while adapting to the specific requirements of plant breeders to record data quickly and efficiently. For example, post-composing enables users to tailor ontology terms to suit specific and granular use cases such as repeated measurements on different plant parts and special sample preparation techniques. To achieve this, we have implemented a post-composing tool based on orthogonal ontologies providing users with the ability to introduce additional levels of phenotyping granularity tailored to unique experimental designs. Post-composed terms are designed to be reused by all breeding programs within a Breedbase instance but are not exported to the crop reference ontologies. Breedbase users can post-compose terms across various categories, such as plant anatomy, treatments, temporal events, and breeding cycles, and, as a result, generate highly specific terms for more accurate phenotyping.Item Kitui county leverages ADD-IT app for JICA-backed nutrition initiative and conducts dietary assessment across 322 households(Case Study, 2025-03-26) Morimoto, Yasuyuki; Maundu, Patrick; Irie, Kenji; Kenjiro, Ban; Takemura, Tomo; Minakuchi, KosukeIn January 2024, the Kitui County government of Kenya, supported by IFNA, AUDA-NEPAD, and JICA, adopted the Semi-Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (SFFQ)—a key feature of the Alliance's ADD-IT app. The pilot project aims to improve the nutritional status of children under two years old and their mothers. The dietary assessment was conducted across 322 households in two communities. County officials and 20 community health promoters (CHPs) identified dietary gaps to raise awareness of individualized challenges and guide evidence-based improved dietary practices.Item Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda(Journal Article, 2025-03-19) Donovan, Jason; Rutsaert, Pieter; Mawia, Harriet; De Sousa, Kaue; Van Etten, JacobStep-change innovation in seed product design by public sector crop breeding has led to major contributions to global food security. The literature, however, provides few insights on how to identify forward-looking innovation opportunities. Inspired by discussions in the product innovation literature, this article describes our application of product concept testing in the context of hybrid maize in Uganda and Kenya. We identified the following eight maize seed product concepts based on interactions with seed companies, crop breeders, and farmers: ‘Resilience’, ‘Drought escape’, ‘Food and fodder’, ‘Home use’, ‘Green maize’, ‘Livestock feed’, ‘Intercropping’, and ‘Family nutrition’. These were described and presented to 2400 farmers using videos, where each farmer saw three concept-presentation videos. Farmers were most likely to have selected the resilience (Kenya and Uganda), drought escape (Uganda), and intercropping (Kenya) concepts. Farmers showed mixed interest in other concepts, such as home use and food and fodder, suggesting that investments in product production and promotion would be required in addition to investments in breeding. These results provide new entry points for conversations among transdisciplinary teams at regional and national levels on the current and future opportunities for crop breeding to respond to farmers’ requirements for new seed products.Item Evaluación y estimación de curvas de calibración de dispositivos para medir humedad de suelo(Journal Article, 2024-01-09) Gonzalez De Leon, Aquileo Daniel; Sandoval Mejia, Luis Alberto; Arevalo Valderrama, Gloria Elizabeth; Gomez, Oriana Michelle; Caro, Brian StivenLas medidas de adaptación al cambio climático requieren de la toma de decisiones informadas. Sin embargo, la agricultura de pequeña escala muestra bajas tasas de adopción de tecnologías por su costo y falta de conectividad. Objetivo. Evaluar tres prototipos de dispositivos para agricultura de pequeña escala y de bajo costo para medir humedad de suelo en diferentes texturas, determinar las respectivas ecuaciones de calibración y los efectos de conductividad eléctrica y temperatura en la medida de humedad. Materiales y métodos. Se evaluaron tres prototipos de dispositivos de medición y registro de humedad de suelo, en suelos con diferencial en contenido de arcilla/arena y conductividad eléctrica en parcelas productivas de la Universidad Zamorano, en Honduras; y Finca demostrativa en Popayán, Colombia, durante el primer trimestre de 2022. Se tomaron como referencia sensores comerciales para la comparación del desempeño de los prototipos, mediante análisis de regresión de las lecturas por hora de los sensores durante 90 días. Se recolectaron las variables de conductividad eléctrica (dS/m) y temperatura para determinar la influencia en la precisión de la lectura de humedad. Resultados. Los dispositivos de medición y registro de humedad presentaron un mejor desempeño en suelos con menor contenido de arena. La medición de los dispositivos sobrestimó entre 0,19 y 0,52 puntos porcentuales la lectura de humedad por cada grado adicional de temperatura del suelo, y que por cada dS/m adicional de conductividad eléctrica la lectura se debe ajustar entre 8 y 55 puntos porcentuales. Conclusiones. El prototipo A fue el dispositivo más exacto, mientras que el prototipo B fue el más preciso, con respecto a los sensores comerciales. Los dispositivos de humedad presentaron un mejor desempeño en suelos con menor contenido de arena. Los tres modelos evaluados obtuvieron el mejor desempeño en suelo franco con contenido medio de arcilla.Item Impact of agricultural credit on productivity, cost and returns from cocoa production in Ghana(Journal Article, 2024-09-19) Boansi, David; Gyasi, Michael; Nuamah, Stephen; Tham-Agyekum, Enoch Kwame; Anyuki, Fred; Frimpong, Richmond; Gbafah, Albert; Gyan, Charles BosompemThis study identified the determinants of cocoa farmers’ access to credit in Ghana and estimated the impact of credit access on yield, yield gap, gross income, cost of production, and net income using propensity score matching. A total of 384 cocoa-farming households were included in the analysis. Only 33.3% of cocoa farmers accessed credit for production and cooperative unions were the main source of credit accessed by the farmers. The study finds significant positive impacts of agricultural credit on yield, gross income, and net income, while yield gap decreases significantly (by 12.2–16.7%) with access to credit. Policy efforts to improve cocoa farmers’ access to credit could therefore enhance the productivity and profitability of cocoa production. It was found that male-headed households with access to credit derive greater benefits than their female counterparts. This may be attributed to differences in resource endowments and marginalization (between male and female heads). In addition, it was found that with access to credit, cultivating more than one cocoa farm could make cocoa production more productive and profitable. This indicates more efficient and profitable use of credit on fragmented farms, than on non-fragmented farms. However, under credit constraint, the practice of land fragmentation could be counterproductive.Item Mainstreaming agro-climatic advisory with crop-nutrient recommendations for 5,756 Filipino rice farmers in the Bicol region(Case Study, 2024-03-17) Girly Balanza , Jane; Wei, Xiaojing; Swaans, CornelisBy the end of 2024, the Bioversity-CIAT Alliance delivered 20,576 agro-advisories via SMS to more than 5,756 rice farmers, enhancing their ability to adapt to changing climate conditions and improve crop productivity [5]. In collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) the Alliance successfully integrated the Agro-Climatic Advisory Portal (ACAP) with the Rice Crop Manager Advisory Service (RCMAS) in the Bicol region under the CGIAR Climate Resilience Initiative. This provided near real-time weather forecasts and tailored nutrient management recommendations.Item Weather protect insurance: Empowering 138,734 cooperative members to recover from climate-related shocks.(Case Study, 2024-03-17) Leyte, James Dizon; Aguila, Lea May; Swaans, CornelisAn Alliance partnership-developed Weather Protect Insurance (WPI) mechanism generates an eight-fold return on insurance investment, empowering farmers and strengthening agricultural sustainability. WPI enhanced financial resilience for 138,734 cooperative members (80% farmers), across 222 cooperatives in 74 provinces, in the Philippines, ensuring payouts within 10 days of climate events. Among the 600 farmers surveyed in 2024, 81.75% received payouts for insurance, accelerating recovery. While 20.5% adopted climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices, full adoption could further increase yields and profits by 2%.Item Climate resilience platform and ACLIMATAR adaptation tools empower 400+ companies to build climate-resilient agricultural supply chains.(Case Study, 2024-03-17) Talsma, Tiffany; Bunn, Christian; Schmidt, Paul G.; Castro Llanos, Fabio Alexander; Nguyen, Nga Thanh; Basel, Ashleigh; Ha, Ly Nguyen; Perea, Carolay; Millar, Brendan; Craparo, AlessandroThe Alliance and partners developed the Climate Resilience Platform (CRP) and ACLIMATAR as complementary, free tools with a shared vision to equip agricultural supply chains with climate adaptation insights for improving cropping-system resilience. CRP has been selected by four key networks representing 400+ companies; and ACLIMATAR has been used by portfolio managers such as Rainforest Alliance for cocoa and coffee farm adaptation. CRP and ACLIMATAR amplify the wide dissemination of critical climate-resilience knowledge and tools, foster collaboration, and accelerate the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices worldwide.Item 300,000+ African farmers overcome banana Xanthomonas wilt using Alliance-developed single diseased stem removal with other measures.(Case Study, 2025-03-17) Blomme, Guy; Ocimati, Walter; Kikulwe, Enoch; Johnson, VincentAn Alliance partnership has finalized a bundle of highly effective, low-cost, and user-friendly banana Xanthomonas wilt disease (BXW) control technologies including Single Diseased Stem Removal (SDSR), to protect East and Central Africa’s multibillion dollar banana production and >3 million farmers’ livelihoods across the region [1]. SDSR has been adopted by > 300,000 banana farmers on >100,000 ha of bananas in Burundi, eastern DR Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, providing 96% recovery in control costs and reducing BXW incidence to below 1% within 10 months, compared to traditional methods [2,3,4,5].Item A report of the stakeholder mapping and crop prioritization workshop for the BOLDER Project on Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS)(Report, 2024-01-09) Awori, Moreen; Mubiru, Daudi; Otieno, GloriaThe Report provides a summary of the proceedings of a stakeholder mapping and NUS crop prioritization workshop held in Arusha Tanzania as part of the implementation of the project on Building Opportunities for Lesser known Diversity In Uganda, Tanzania, Benin and Ghana.Item A review of select Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) in Uganda(Report, 2025-01-01) Marimo, Pricilla; Otieno, GloriaItem Integrated sustainable landscape management through deforestation-free jurisdiction project in Lam Dong and Dak Nong, Vietnam(Report, 2024-04-01) Reymondin, Louis; Vantalon, Thibaud; Luong, Phuong ThiTerra-i operation and use for near real-time forest monitoring in Lac Duong, Di Linh district (Lam Dong province) and Dak Glong, Dak R’lap district (Dak Nong province)Item Feasibility of biochar technology to support the sustainable intensification and decarbonization of cocoa production in West-Africa(Presentation, 2024) Pulleman, Mirjam; Hougni, Deo-Gratias; Rahn, Eric; Barrio, Julian; Coppus, Ruben; Nguyen, Thuy Thanh; Roobroeck, dries; Talsma, TiffanyDecarbonization represents a major challenge for global commodity value chains, including cocoa. As biochar is increasingly presented as an effective carbon removal technology, it has attracted the attention of the chocolate industry. Moreover, potential agronomic and environmental benefits of biochar production and its utilisation in tropical soils could contribute to sustainable intensification of cocoa cultivation. Yet, scaling of biochar technologies has not yet been observed. We therefore explored the technical and environmental feasibility of biochar production in the context of smallholder cocoa farming in Ivory Coast and Ghana, responsible for more than 60% of the global supply. We combined extensive literature review with expert interviews to inform a carbon accounting model. The model calculates a carbon balance associated with different scenarios of biochar production and incorporation in soil under cocoa cultivation, compared to a baseline representing current practices. Next, we synthesised practical challenges and opportunities for adoption and scaling, based on the same interviews. The carbon removal potential of biochar is fully realised only if its production is coupled with bioenergetic applications that displace GHG emissions from non-sustainably sourced energy. In the most plausible scenario, the woody pruned residues and cocoa pod husks are gasified in improved cookstoves yielding ~20% biochar. Largest uncertainties arose from the use of fossil fuel powered machines for feedstock crushing, biochar grinding, and transport from and to conversion site. Additional challenges for scaling include labour demand, feedstock availability, application rates, equipment reproducibility at local scale, and lack of proven yield response. Opportunities include biochar co-composting in nutrient deficient soils, and application of biochar to seedlings exposed to drought conditions (nursery and replanting) and in light-textured, acidic soils. The study highlights consolidated knowledge and priorities for further research. Low technology readiness for current cocoa farmers, further exacerbated by economic challenges, will need to be addressed for farmers and industry to benefit from the opportunities of biochar.Item Participatory AI for inclusive crop improvement(Journal Article, 2024-07-24) Lasdun, Violet; Guerena, David Tonatiuh; Ortiz-Crespo, Berta; Mutuvi, Stephen Mutisya; Selvaraj, Michael Gomez; Assefa, TeshaleCrop breeding in the Global South faces a 'phenotyping bottleneck' due to reliance on manual visual phenotyping, which is both error-prone and challenging to scale across multiple environments, inhibiting selection of germplasm adapted to farmer production environments. This limitation impedes rapid varietal turnover, crucial for maintaining high yields and food security under climate change. Low adoption of improved varieties results from a top-down system in which farmers have been more passive recipients than active participants in varietal development.Item Mapping climate and agronomic digital advisory services landscape in West and Central Africa (WCA)(Report, 2024-12-31) Singh, Manjari; Ouedraogo, Mathieu; Jimenez, Daniel; Talsma, Tiffany; Ouedraogo, Adama; Kagabo, Desire; Ramirez, Julian; Laderach, PeterItem CGIAR Agroecology Initiative Outcome identification workshop Kiambu ALL(Report, 2024-09-28) Korir, Hezekiah; Ngige, Chris; Adoyo, Beatrice; Anyango, Edith; Bolo, Peter; Onyango, Kevin; Gumo, Pius; Njeri, Rhoda; Ndiwa, Aurillia Manjella; Fuchs, Lisa E.Since 2023, the Agroecology Initiative has engaged with diverse stakeholders in Makueni ALL to co-design and implement innovative agroecological practices in three priority areas: soil, water, and integrated pest management. To assess the Initiative's impact on various food system actors, an outcome evidence workshop was held on September 3, 2024, at DNRC, Makueni. This workshop involved 35 participants from diverse sectors, including farmers, government officials, and the private sector, agro-input service providers, NGOs, implementing organizations.