A warmer, wetter world is likely to be sicker. The Mekong is a hotspot for human, animal and plant disease, and some of the most important are highly sensitive to climate and climate changes. These diseases impose enormous burdens on human health and the agricultural sector and hinder broader development. Better tackling of climate-sensitive disease requires better information and tools. We identify a portfolio of climate-based information systems that target important diseases and are used successfully in other countries, using action research to adapt them for Vietnam and Laos and ensuring delivery through partnerships.

The expected outcome of the project is farming communities are able to take practical action to reduce disease risk and/or benefit from risk-mitigating action by health providers. The impacts are better health, reduced economic loss from disease, increased food security and ecosystems protected from disease spillover and misuse of agricultural chemicals.

Project outcome statement

The research portfolio consists of surveillance and early-warning systems successfully used elsewhere targeted to important climate-sensitive diseases in Vietnam and Laos. We will build capacity in using these systems through existing partnerships ensuring outcomes. These include the following:

1. The national task force on food safety in Vietnam, supported by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), will use hot spot maps for targeting surveillance and use of climate-based tools in its training and sensitization, in particular on leptospirosis and Japanese encephalitis.
2. Rubber farmers in Laos will get mobile Climate Forecast and Advice messages based on information from 20 sets of auto-meteorological stations pledged by the National Climate Center in China who will also provide capacity building and training in their use.
3. Thousands of health officers and farmers trained by a World Bank project in disease surveillance/reporting in Vietnam will form the core of the participatory disease surveillance and response system. They will send information and receive advice on climate-sensitive disease from model predictions and global platforms. In Laos, the network of primary animal health workers trained by the non-governmental organization Veterinarians without Borders will play a similar role.
4. Unlike other tools, mycotoxin forecasting has so far only been used in developed countries. While adapting the tool we will explore delivery and outcome pathways with our partners.

Project activities

The project has five activities which will be undertaken by five teams.

1. Developing and disseminating maps of hot spots of climate-sensitive animal and zoonotic diseases and Vietnam and Laos
2. Developing and piloting a real-time prediction system for Japanese encephalitis and leptospirosis in people and animals in Vietnam and Laos
3. Exploring the potential for weather-based forecasting for aflatoxin mitigation
4. Climate service and early warning system for rubber plantations in northern Laos
5. Dissemination and application of developed tools of pest forecast

Partners

Agrifood Research Finland
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Vietnam National University of Agriculture
World Agroforestry Centre

Funder
CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security

Agriculture intensification poses significant public health risks, including the potential for zoonotic disease transmission, the emergence of new diseases and the overuse of veterinary antibiotics, which contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance in pathogens affecting humans and animals.

The peri-urban ecosystem in India provides a relevant environment for addressing the challenges of zoonotic diseases and for promoting synergies between health, environment protection and development.

This is a research initiative at the peri-urban human-animal-environment interface for improved local healthy food production, healthy livestock and enhanced public health.

Two major research projects will form an initial basis of the research initiative’s activities: the first focuses on the zoonotic potential of bovine tuberculosis and the second on antibiotic use in peri-urban smallholder dairy farms as risky and unsustainable means of increasing food output.

Each of the studies will culminate into proofs of concept of changed incentives and better practices. These initial research projects in the peri-urban ecosystem will provide a basis for expanding the work of the initiative to identify and address other key development and public health issues in this setting.

General objective
The general objective is to contribute to stronger evidence-based cross-sector policy and local capacity for integrating public health and livestock health, urban planning, local food production and social development in peri-urban settings of India.

Specific objectives
The specific objectives are to:

1. Establish a policy-relevant research program within an India research initiative on peri-urban human-animal-environment interface housed at the Public Health Foundation of India.
2. Generate evidence and improved understanding of interactions between disease risk, livestock and human health and sustainable development in different types of peri-urban settings of the country.
3. Influence the coordination of policy and practice that supports safe food production, healthy livestock and improved public health.
4. Create and maintain sustainable multidisciplinary and multi-actor partnerships for policy-relevant research aiming at decreasing health and environmental problems from livestock agriculture and overcrowded conditions in peri-urban ecosystems.

Study sites
Bangalore, Guwahati and Mumbai

Donor
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Partner
Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)

• Produce doubled haploids in cassava and banana/plantain using centromere engineering
• Produce Agrobacterium binary vectors to replace endogenous CENH3 with altered variants in cassava and banana
• Create transgenic cassava and banana lines expressing altered CENH3 proteins in place of endogenous CENH3 (putative haploid inducers).
• Cross putative haploid inducing lines to wild-type cassava and banana, and assay for haploid progeny

The overall objective of the program is to increase feed availability in action areas of the target countries in East Africa by use of climate-smart Brachiaria grasses for increased animal productivity and for generation of extra income to smallholder famers by 2015.

Specific Objectives:

1. To determine the role of endophytes in improving adaptation of Brachiaria grasses to climate change (drought) and to develop novel methods to detect endophytes

2. To quantify the contribution of drought and low soil fertility adapted Brachiaria grasses to mitigation of climate change

3. To integrate improved Brachiaria grasses in mixed smallholder crop-livestock systems and determine their role in improving milk and meat production in grazing and cut-and carry forage systems while reducing land degradation

4. To facilitate the creation of forage seed production enterprises with guaranteed markets among smallholder farmers.

ILRI and its partners initiated a major engagement in Tanzania to generate solutions and evidence for the development at scale of pro-poor smallholder dairy value chains. Activities from several donor-funded projects are being integrated to characterize the current institutional context and technical challenges, and to begin evaluating options that will allow emerging dairy farmers and actors along informal milk marketing chains to improve their productivity and livelihoods, while increasing the supply of milk and the critical nutrients it contains to their communities and nearby urban centres.

Objective

The overall objective of the project is to assess the presence of a range of potential pathogens (production diseases and zoonoses) in smallholder dairy cattle in two research sites in Tanzania (Morogoro and Tanga) based on an in-depth diagnostic examination of serological and milk samples.

As the project develops, an additional satellite project is being initiated to explore the effectiveness of different communication mechanisms for smallholder cattle farmers in Tanzania.

Expected outcomes

• An exhaustive inventory of pathogens found in a sample of dairy cattle from the two research sites
• Prevalence estimates for a range of key dairy cattle diseases (including production diseases and zoonoses) in these sites
• An assessment of the reliability of disease information collected through questionnaires and participatory epidemiology techniques
• At least one joint peer-reviewed publication, with findings also disseminated locally

Partner institutions

• Landeslabor Berlin-Brandenburg
• Sokoine University of Agriculture

Funders

• CGIAR
• Irish Aid
• The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany

• To support Colombian agriculture to adapt to climate change phenomenon
• To contribute to reduce yield gap through applying site specific agriculture for prioritized sectors
• To prove and validate technological options for main crops adaptation
• To contribute to create sustainable and environmentally friendly productive systems
• To establish payment for ecosystem services schemes

• Understand the socio-economic factors that determine current management of fallows and the overall planning and diversity of farms and farming landscapes
• Develop improved and diversified fallows to enhance the restoration of soil fertility, increase plot level productivity and profitability, and contribute to agroecosystem resilience in the face of climate change at a representative site with typical hillslope soils in the Central Andes
• Examine the role of farmscape composition and organization in overall farm productivity and agroecosystem functioning for farming in landscapes in three sites with contrasting socio-economic and environmental conditions.

• To address nutrition and health, food security, environmental stresses and market challenges that will contribute to improve the livelihood and create income of resource poor small holder families in Eastern, Central, Southern and Western Africa
• To identify and develop opportunities, strategies and technologies to improve bean productivity and product quality in ways that contribute to more resilient and sustainable land use by resource poor farmers
• To improve food, nutrition security and health of vulnerable communities
• To link farmers to equitable and sustainable bean markets

Reach a diverse clientele of end users with adapted and preferred bean varieties, environment stress management options, and micronutrients bean based products
Strengthen Capacity building and knowledge management for policy and advocacy

• Determine and map the actual distribution (incidence and severity) of legume pests and diseases in W. Kenya – both individually and in combination
• Ascertain extent and pattern of biotic stress problems on legumes being deployed at scale in comparison with legumes being grown in parallel under “normal” farmer conditions
• Conduct rapid assessment of the impact of agroecological variables (pest/disease dispersal mechanisms, host diversity, host resistance and host patch size, barriers and corridors, multi-trophic interactions, habitat management at plot and landscape levels, and climatic and edaphic factors) on pest/disease dynamics with the aim of refining a framework for ecological pest management and applying it to the pest complex that is identified through the survey.

• To establish a baseline of the current status of BNF, identify farm enterprises and niches for targeting N2-fixing legumes in the impact zones, and establish mechanisms for Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and impact assessment
• Select multi-purpose legumes (providing food, animal feed, structural materials and high quality residues) for enhanced BNF and integrate improved varieties into farming systems.
• Select superior rhizobia strains for enhanced BNF and develop inoculum production capacity in sub-Saharan Africa through collaboration with private sector partners
• Deliver legume and inoculant technologies to farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
• Develop and strengthen capacity for BNF research, technology development, and application.

Project researchers will examine the geographic dimensions of RTB crops, including an analysis of production, area, yields, abiotic and biotic constraints, among others.

Data will be analyzed at finest spatial resolutions available as well as country, agroecological zone and combinations of all of these.

Relationships between developing-country poverty patterns and each RTB crop will be examined. Using publically available data sets, the team will analyze trends related to these crops and how these might impact on the RTB program.

A preliminary yield gap analysis will survey the literature, analyze FAOSTAT country data and review yields from trial data on experiment stations. A socioeconomic matrix will be developed as a tool for subsequent expert consultations. All of the information used in the analysis will be packaged into an information resource, including interactive maps, available on the RTB web site.

• To finalize and document on-going activities and outputs
• To transform CIALCA into a platform that creates greater positive impact on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the Great Lakes Region through more diverse, productive, and eco-efficient farming systems, resulting from a broadened research for development portfolio in the context of the Humidtropics and more effective partnerships integrating all major research and development actors.

Specific objectives:

• To complete on-going CIALCA-II activities towards specific outputs and outcomes, including the finalization of on-going student projects
• To document the impact of CIALCA and the effectiveness and efficiency of various approaches used
• To strengthen the Knowledge Resource Centre (KRC) towards a primary Humidtropics venue for accessing information on the Great Lakes Region and developing information tools related to CIALCA products
• To transform CIALCA into a Humidtropics platform
• To develop and pilot a research for development agenda for CIALCA+ in the context of the Humidtropics

The proposed innovations in rural financial services will promote smallholders’ emergence from subsistence to the cash economy. The project’s income diversification and risk reduction roles promote food and income security.

The project also has a strong knowledge management component, both in its own right and in terms of support to existing International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-funded projects and other pro-poor livestock projects in southern Africa.

Target group

The target group is composed of (a) smallholders facing grazing constraints in dry or remote locations; (b) smallholders with access to fodder/feed but no capital for livestock purchase in irrigated areas; and (c) rural traders and those developing small enterprises for rural economic development.

Goal

The overall goal of the project is to improve and make sustainable smallholder livelihoods from cattle production and marketing. The project will add value to past and ongoing investments in physical infrastructure and institutions by helping to improve the enabling environment and encouraging private-sector investment and commercial involvement.

Objectives

The objectives of the project are to:

• Provide smallholders with a viable cattle value addition mechanism that is coordinated with market requirements;
• Design and demonstrate effective financial instruments and suitable products for enabling smallholder value addition in cattle systems; and
• Generate and disseminate knowledge, and encourage its uptake, throughout the southern African region.

Outputs

• New organizational arrangements, equipment and consensus on the design of new transaction arrangements;
• New contract and transaction forms designed, a loan product developed and a trial conducted using action research; and
• Knowledge disseminated

Activities

• Capacity- and institution-building: Organizational support to traders and producers, promotion of the project, engagement of value chain participants and certification of traders.
• A proof-of-concept of a value chain finance product: Value chain analysis and participatory activity design, formulation of effective financial instruments and supporting contracts, introduction of a new product and testing, and action research.
• A scaling-up phase focused on communication and knowledge management: Outcome mapping, information and experience exchange with projects in neighbouring countries, and a regional conference.

• Identify and characterize orthologs of maize SD genes in rice, and other cosexual cereals as time permits
• Identify and map unisexual traits in related monoecious species of rice
• Characterize mutant alleles of rice SD orthologs using existing genomic resources and zinc-finger knockout technologies
• Extend unisexuality traits, initially to rice, with technologies applicable to other cosexual cereals
• Train young scientists in plant biotechnology, genomics and cereal transformation

Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan export a large proportion of their livestock to the Middle East and other international markets. However, transboundary animal diseases pose a great risk for further development and sustainability of inter-regional livestock trade.

Some of these disease (for example, Rift Valley fever and brucellosis) can be transmitted to humans, thus presenting a public health risk. As a result, importing countries are increasingly concerned about the risk of these diseases being introduced into their countries via livestock or livestock products.

For instance, in 1998-99 and 2000, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East banned imports of livestock and livestock products from the Horn of Africa following outbreaks of Rift Valley fever in the Horn of Africa.

Objective
The objective of this project is to promote inter-regional livestock trade between the Greater Horn of Africa and the Middle East and harmonize interventions for transboundary animal diseases in the IGAD region in line with the standards of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). This will contribute to reduced poverty and enhanced regional economic growth and integration between East Africa and the Middle East. Specifically, the project aims to promote the development and implementation of harmonized animal health regulations in the Greater Horn of Africa region. This will be achieved through the development of:

• a framework for surveillance of transboundary animal diseases;
• harmonized laboratory testing procedures for these diseases;
• standardized and coordinated approaches to disease control;
• standard procedures for quarantine stations in the region; and
• technical and coordination capacity of the member states and the IGAD region.

Goals of this project are:-

1. The domestication and use of the best “germplasm” for agroforestry
2. Making trees more productive on farms
3. Improving tree-product marketing for smallholder farmers
4. Making land healthier through agroforestry
5. Using agroforestry to reduce the impact of, and help people and landscapes adapt to, climate change
6. Developing policies and reward systems for multi-use landscapes that provide “environmental services”

Expected outcomes include:-
1) Securing community-based land and forest tenure over large areas of nine community territories in Jambi (led by WARSI)

2) Integrate all Geo-referenced communities’ territories into provincial spatial planning

3) Landscape analysis of biodiversity, watershed functions and carbon

4) Livelihoods’ analyses that support environmental services

5) The maintenance and improvement of multiple environmental services, that is, biodiversity, hydrology and climate regulation in a sustainable landscape, are promoted through integrated, inclusive and informed land-use planning at district level

Project Activities include:

1) Analyze sociology-economic and biophysical data with households implementing climate smart practices based on the menu of practices.

2) Continue to build capacity of farmers and farmer groups and development and extension practitioners for increased crop-livestock-tree productivity using climate smart practices through farming and demonstration sites.

3) Measure progress in ecosystem characteristics monitoring changes using the Land Health Surveillance Framework and employing Greenhouse Gas Flux measurements

Expected outputs

1) Increased capacity development and implementation of climate smart agricultural practice for increased sustainable crop productivity;

2) Increased productivity and land health (including biological diversity and risks to water quality and quantity)

3) Measurement and monitoring to access carbon stocks and net emissions within farming systems and landscapes

Project Objectives are:-
The overall objective of the project shall be to contribute to the transition of small-scale farming systems from subsistence farming to intensified semi-commercial farming of fruit, nut and oilseed trees and of small scale private or community tree nurseries and micro-processors to more business oriented and profitable enterprises.

Building on the Global Foresight Report on Food and Farming Futures, and recent initiatives including the Integrated Monitoring System for African Landscapes, the purpose of this work is to:-

Identify lessons and opportunities for the derivation and use of data from monitoring systems in the sustainable intensification of agriculture (i.e enhancing productivity with less impact on scarce natural resources and which do not contribute to climate change and biodiversity loss)

In particular, this review will systematically

1) Map out key initiatives in data monitoring systems relating to agriculture, ecosystem health and poverty and well-being; including their objectives indicators and metrics used.

2) Gap analysis of systems, indicators and metrics, identifying strengths and weaknesses in methodology and use.

3) Undertake an evidence-based synthesis of applicability at different levels, standardization of indicators, composite metrics, coverage and replicability, validity, cost of indicator systems.

4) Synthesize lessons, guided by an expert panel, drawing of the evidence collated in the mapping and gap analysis.

Activities are:

1. Purchase all equipment required for field work.
2. Organize field work in five ecoregions of India using paired plot design to assess their degree of recovery from degradation in Forest Ecosystems FES ecosystem rehabilitation sites.
3. Work with Ecosystems FES teams and other partners as appropriate, to collect data in all sites.
4. Subcontract with a local labaratory to analyze soils for total Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, (C, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, CEC,) exchangeables bases, Al toxicity and pH.
5. Compile all data into database.
6. Deliver a report with analysis of the dataset.

Deliverables.

1. A wokplan for the postdoctoral scientist
2. A summary report on the implementation of the work in India.

Activities expected of ICRAF include :-

1. Assess availability and quality of remote sensing baseline data for countries in which ASAP interventions are being designed, and provide existing, readily available maps which can be used by project design team, starting with an initial 15 countries.

2. Develop a realistic operational plan that reconciles spatial data, information and knowledge (including models) availability with the relevant needs of IFAD projects and the necessary capacities required to serve those needs, based on an initial list of countries  and projects. This operational plan will be developed in consultative manner with IFAD and based on actual programming need.

3. Implement the operational plan with the wider range of countries and projects contingent on available capacities.

4. Research opportunities and limitations of remote sensing and GIS based data for smallholder climate change adaptation planning and summarise them in at least one knowledge product that can be published and disseminated by IFAD in support of practical programming purposes.

5. Contribute towards the development of a near-real time geoscience labaratory at ICRAF that utilizes remote sensing and rigorous statistical approaches for smallholder adaptation planning under different scenarios.

6. Liase with IFAD and ICRAF staff to assess the effectiveness of the institutional partnership between ICRAF and IFAD and , as appropriate, develop a grant proposal for follow up institutional cooperation.

Activities under W2

The project will address the following research questions.

1) How can forestry and agroforestry management practices be improved to enhance integrated timber and non-timber forest product (NTFP) management and production?

2) What are suitable strategies for effective integrated marketing of timber and NTFPs for smallholders?

3) What policy factors significantly hinder smallholders’ production and competitiveness in timber and NTFPs and how can those factors be addressed?

4) What are the key characteristics of an extension program that can deliver information on best practices for timber and NTFP management, production and value-added marketing?

Activities will be organized in four objectives/components:

• Development and implementation of integrated timber and NTFP production systems to enhance local livelihoods.
• Identification and implementation of enhanced marketing strategies and value chains to improve timber and NTFP market links for smallholders.
• Analysis and improvement of policy frameworks to facilitate smallholders’ production and integrated marketing of timber and NTFPs.
• Enhance expansion of smallholder-managed integrated timber and NTFP production systems.

The Green Prosperity, GP Project, one of three projects included in MCC Compact with the GOI, seeks to promote sustained growth and poverty reduction in Indonesia through investments in renewable energy and sustainable management and use of natural resources. Project activities, which will include both technical and financial assistance for low-carbon development projects will be based on the GOI’s medium- to long-term development plan, its National Action Plan for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Regional Spatial Plans, and intensive participatory land-use planning involving local communities and governments in provinces and districts selected based on their potential for poverty reduction and the attainment of environmental objectives. The tasks included in this assignment are intended to facilitate the launch of the project in the starter districts, document lessons learned in order to inform the project rollout in additional districts throughout the country, and develop and apply a rigorous methodology for selecting the additional districts.

More specifically, in addition to the development of an inception and a final report, this activity will undertake the following main tasks with relation to the start-up of project activities in each of the four starter districts:

1. Land Use and Spatial Planning Needs Assessment
2. Preparation of district guidelines for village boundary setting
3. Facilitation of multi-stakeholder fora
4.  SEA

Expected Project Outputs

1. Recommendation for activities to be carried out under the Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) Activity

2.  Guidelines for participatory administrative boundary setting that will be utilized for implementation of the PLUP Activity

These new technologies are expected not only to maintain, but enhance productivity and the production levels. The scaling –up of high potential agricultural technologies would increase productivity of crops and livestock to meet the growing demand for food and improving food and nutrition security of the poor and vulnerable residing in the remote rural areas of the country. Additionally, it is envisaged that the transfer of high potential technologies would also make agriculture attractive to rural youth and create more livelihood opportunities resulting in less distress migration.

Goal:

The selection of appropriate ready to scale innovative and high potential technologies is the most vital aspect of this event.

ICRAF tasks

1) Developing an analytical framework and a set of technical, economic and social filters for identifying the best practices and prioritizing their cultural acceptability, familiarity, effectiveness, “sustainability” and scalability,

2) Using the framework, review the technologies under key themes (areas), such as the resource management, climate change resilient (smart) practices, knowledge management based applications and market linkage in relation to productivity gains and economies of scale,

3) Develop a scaling up process and implementation road map by involving various stakeholders, and

4) Package the scaling up of flagship technologies / practices in ecologically well characterized “technology fit matched – delineated” areas at scales, especially in external development portfolio supported states

Deliverables

1. Identification of 4-6 best “technologies” (technology models, packages, practices /concepts / processes) from a basket comprising different commodities, systems, methods & processes, etc. and screening them through various biophysical, socio-economic and cultural diversity filters via a task force composed of specialists in these disciplines,

2. Presenting the selected scalable “technologies” in a “Share Fair Workshop” having about 50-60 participants for critiquing and buy in in them and for supporting the scaling up efforts. This group will comprise of the representatives from the Department of Agriculture as well as relevant research institutions, State Governments and line departments, Financial Institutions, Knowledge Commission, CGIAR centers, UN nod other selected international organizations. Officials from other relevant ministries and the Planning Commission will also be invited.
The 2 day “Share Fair Workshop” will set a template for at least an annual workshop to be held each year to take stock and promote the potential technologies, particularly those that have been generated through the support of financial institutions, so that they can be built in the development portfolios of such institutions and provide benefits to a larger pool of clientele,

3. Determine the application domains of the “flagship technologies” by matching the profile of the technologies (technology utilization requirements) with the potential target area qualities and the utilizers (farmers in case of agri. technologies) resource base,

4. Package the scalable (smart agricultural) technologies and prepare a template for their scaling up and provide it to various stakeholders for wider clientele use.

Specific Objectives.

a) Support UNEP with the establishment and operations of an International Expert Panel on Landscapes in Green Economy.

b) Support UNEP with the disseminate of clear and concise information through the organization of a regional conference for Africa on forests and REDD+ in a Green Economy.

c) Articulate key messages on green economy, forests and sustainable land use through articles in the popular media and the internet.

Activities of ICRAF include:-

a) Facilitating the establishment of an International Expert Panel on Landscapes in a Green Economy, including supporting UNEP with finalizing the draft Terms of Reference for experts; support UNEP with the organization of the first meeting of the International Expert Panel on Landscapes in a Green Economy.

b) Support UNEP with the organization of the Regional Conference for Africa, in Nairobi, on exchanging information and experience on the potential of REDD+ and forests for a green economy transition.

c) Draft atlest 5 popular articles for publication based on the results of UNEP’s UN-REDD Programme work on outcome 6 ‘Green economy transformation and REDD+ strategies and investments are mutually reinforcing’

Expected Results and Outputs

Results expected.

1) The understanding of a Scientific, policy and practice community on sustainable land-use and landscape planning, especially of forests, is increased promoting green economy transformations in developing countries.

2) The awareness of scientific, policy and practice community is raised about sustainable use of forests and other forests and other land use and the relationship to the green economy.

Outputs Expected are:-

1) The International Expert Panel on Landscape in a Green Economy established and first meeting convened.

2) Report from Regional Conference and a network of practitioners on exchanging expereince on the role of forests and REDD+ for a Green Economy in Africa.

3) Atleast 5 articles published.

The specific objectives are to:

– Analyse the main drivers that have transformed farming systems (foodcrop and AFS) to identify the more resilient ones likely to withstand future hazards.
– Assess the contribution of AFS to food security and resilience at plot, farm, and landscape levels.
– Identify pathways that better conciliate production with provision of environmental services for rural poverty alleviation.
– Consolidate African research capacities and scientific network in tropical agroforestry.

Main Activities:

1. Management and dissemination of results and recommendations.
2. Characterisation of farming systems and identification of long term
drivers at household and landscape levels.
3. Assessment of synergies between AFS and food-crops at plot, farm,
and landscape levels for productivity and environmental services.
4. Characterization of the AFS main-crop quality for potential value
addition to the farmers’ incomes.

Project outputs

1. Productive and Environmental Interactions between AFS and food Crops at plot, farm, and landscape levels

2. Pathways to improve synergies between AFS and food crops at plot level

Bringing together a wide range of national and international partners from the environment, agriculture, nutrition, health and education sectors, the project will build on growing evidence showing that agricultural biodiversity has the potential to fulfill many of the nutritional requirements needed for a healthy and balanced diet and thus can help reverse the alarming trends in under- and over-nutrition afflicting many countries worldwide. The evidence will be used to conserve and promote the use of these species in the four countries by:

• Raising awareness of their importance
• Creating markets and value chains for their use
• Making sure that future policies and strategies that tackle malnutrition include the sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity as a cost-effective solution to rising diet-related nutrition and health conditions – such as nutrient deficiencies and obesity

The global multi-country-led project will make possible the exchange of experiences, tools and mechanisms and stimulate the identification of lessons learned and best practices that can be built upon as a global project. For example, in Brazil significant linkages have already been established between the agriculture, health and education sectors, which provide models and examples for the other countries participating in this project. Likewise, in Kenya efforts to enhance linkages between farmers and markets based on the nutritionally-superior African Leafy Vegetables provide excellent lessons and good practices for other participating countries. By bringing these experiences and practices together in a global context, the project will be able to facilitate considerable South-to-South cooperation and sharing, as well as potential for replication and scaling-up of these outputs and results beyond the project countries.

National partners

Brazil

• Ministry of Environment (MMA)
• Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA)
• Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger (MDS)
• Ministry of Health (MS)
• National Food Supply Company (CONAB)
• Ministry of Education/National Fund for Education Development (MEC/FNDE)

Kenya

• Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
• Ministry of Medical Services
• National Museums of Kenya

Sri Lanka

• Ministry of Environment
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Health
• Department of National Botanic Gardens
• Universities of Ruhuna, Peradeniya and Wayamba
• NGOs: Green Movement of Sri Lanka, Community Development Centre and Seva Lanka Foundation

Turkey

• Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA)
• Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MOEF)
• Turkish Association for the Protection of Nature (TTKD)

International partners

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the initiative is coordinated by Bioversity International with implementation support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Given the cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary nature of this project, additional support is coming from the World Food Programme (WFP); the Earth Institute, Columbia University; Crops for the Future; the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and AVRDC – The World Vegetable Centre in facilitating both implementation and scaling up of activities.

For further information please visit the project website, download the BFN Project Flyer, or subscribe to the BFN Project Newsletter.

The smallholder sector produces most of Botswana’s meat and over 70% of the country’s agricultural gross domestic product. Although past policy and research have focused on the beef export sector, rather little information has been generated on the circumstances and potential of the 80,000 smallholders who own most of the country’s cattle, and the 100,000 households that earn livelihoods from sheep and goats.  This leaves strategies and investments for rural development and livelihood generation without a basis in data and analysis.

For both cattle and small ruminants, more competitive smallholder systems can improve livelihoods.  Several factors constrain the production and marketing of surpluses by smallholders: poor animal is one example, that is often made worse by the complexities of communal grazing, and by limited access to services.

This 3-year research project asks the following questions, and engages partners in research industry and government to help answer them:

• What are the characteristics of smallholder livestock producers in Botswana and what factors constrain their livelihoods?
• How can livestock-related marketing systems in Botswana be improved for the benefit of smallholders and the rural population?

The project has three objectives:

• To better define smallholder livestock production systems and to identify the factors affecting the productivity of smallholder livestock producers and assess their competitiveness
• To understand and improve conditions for market participation and value addition in markets for livestock, livestock products and inputs
• To strengthen the capacity of agricultural education and extension

Project activities centre on:

• Data collection and analysis
• New thinking arising from new knowledge
• Regular communication of results
• Packaging of results into training and extension materials

Some of the project’s first steps are to:

• Define and measure competitiveness
• Select project sites for a baseline survey
• Identify animal diseases and measure their prevalence

The outcomes from this project will be improved and more sustainable livelihoods amongst smallholder livestock keepers, and increased uptake and use of scientific and economic knowledge by those providing services to smallholders.

Partners

• Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
• Botswana Ministry of Agriculture

Funder

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

• Predict suitability changes in the most important high-value and staple crops (50 species) considering different scenarios of progressive climate change
• Evaluate the socio-economic impact of climate change on farmers’ livelihoods and the level of vulnerability of production systems
• Develop climate change adaptation strategies for the most important production systems and mitigation measures to offset or minimize the adverse effects of climate change to ensure food security.

• Identification, characterization, and collection of coconut germplasm with local farmers.
• Optimization of somatic embryogenesis methodologies (multiplication) and early infestation evaluation focused on the nematode causing the red-ring disease.
• Definition of the entomological complex that affects coconuts, and development of control strategies based on population studies.

• Generate climate change data for the short and long terms and different scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions
• Predict future availability of coffee-growing areas
• Assess the impact of climate change on coffee quality and production
• Identify alternative crops under foreseen climate change scenarios
• Evaluate the effects of climate change under socio-economic parameters
• Design adaptation strategies for the coffee-growing sector

• To avail to partners a set of previously tested soil, crop, and water management options for maize-based farming systems with potential for sustainably intensifying agricultural production and reducing climate-related risk in the target areas

• To identify land degradation hotspots and soil health constraint envelopes and their implications for crop response characteristics to fertilizer application and soil improvement
• To evaluate the availability to smallholder farmers of inputs required to implement above options in the target areas
• To assess the conduciveness of the political, extension, and economic environment for the dissemination of tested soil, crop, and water management options

• To identify QTL for Nitrogen Use Efficiency trait, particularly biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) in Brachiaria and to assess the benefit of BNI trait in cropping system
• To develop a cassava network in Asia to strengthen collaborative research on molecular beeding, seed sytem and capacity building for cassava improvement

• To improve regional dissemination and accessibility of the report entitle “Pathways to Agroecological Intensification of Soil Management by Smallholder Farmers in the Andean Highlands” developed for the Andes Community of Practice of the McKnight foundation.
• To address questions and gather feedback from regional stakeholders on the report and define the next steps for promoting sustainable soil fertility management in the region.

• Identification of methods for developing habitat loss predictions based on statistical analysis of past habitat change using Terra-I
• Provision to The Nature Conservancy of updated continental gridded datasets on habitat loss every 3 months. Website for Terra-I reports, news and methodological information
• Production of a policy brief on habitat loss for Colombia and Paraguay