The challenge: Economic vulnerability Malawi currently stands as the world’s most tobacco-dependent economy, with the crop accounting for nearly 70% of its foreign exchange earnings. This narrow reliance has left the nation vulnerable to global market shifts, a…
When farmers participate in crop breeding as citizen scientists, their knowledge and experience can shape which varieties are advanced and released. But participation can also strengthen farmers’ own knowledge, agency and leadership—capacities that can, in turn, make breeding and…
For more than 16 years, maize farmer Oyeniyi Julius in the Akufo farm settlement, Ido LGA, relied on experience to guide his farming decisions. Like many smallholder farmers in Oyo State, he understood the rhythm of the seasons. He…
For decades, Bambara groundnut has been quietly feeding families across Nigeria. In rural communities stretching from the savannahs of the north to the forest zones of the south, farmers (many of whom are women) have relied on this hardy…
For many years, selecting the right seed varieties for farmers in Rwanda was a slow and highly technical process. Before a seed recommendation could reach farmers, it often took up to two years of station-based trials and on-farm evaluations.…
IITA–CGIAR has launched a groundbreaking initiative to enhance bamboo agroforestry and economic resilience among smallholder farmers in Uganda. “Enhancing Bamboo Agroforestry & Economic Resilience for Smallholder Farmers in Uganda”, under the WeWork-green and decent jobs for youth project,…
Location-specific and season-smart fertilizer recommendations for smallholder farmers are a prominent feature of innovative decision support tools (DSTs) currently being developed in the ICT4Ag space. In Ethiopia, a coalition of the CGIAR Excellence in Agronomy Initiative (EiA), GIZ-Ethiopia of…