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CGIAR

International humanitarian organisation operating under the Geneva Conventions. Historically active in Nepal on conflict-related missing persons and detainee protection.

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CGIAR Initiative: Fragility, Conflict, Migration

Hunger and severe malnutrition are surging in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCASs), which often struggle to sustain resilient food, land, and water systems (FLWSs). For the 1.5 billion people living in FCASs (1), livelihood challenges and rising food, fertilizer, and input prices (2) are compounded by climate change, unsustainable resource consumption, poor governance, and weak social cohesion (3,4,5). Conflict and forced migration often result from, and further escalate, these challenges. Economic disruptions, such as those caused by COVID-19 and the Ukraine-Russia War, are sparking the risk of food and nutrition crises and poverty and conflict traps. Nearly 670 million people are projected to face hunger in 2030 — 8 % of the world population, and the same as in 2015 when the 2030 Agenda and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched (6). By mid-2021, 84 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide; 80% of them experience acute food insecurity and high levels of malnutrition (7,8). Migration is an important development tool; it can support livelihoods, build resilience, and protect against fragility and conflict — particularly for youth (9,10). However, migration can strain FLWSs and create challenges for those left behind — especially women facing increased work burdens alongside insufficient decision-making authority and limited access to key assets and services (11,12). Currently, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) host 83% of the world’s refugees (9). Host communities struggle to provide livelihood opportunities for all; new arrivals often strain local infrastructure and services, put pressure on natural resources and the environment, and increase competition for jobs.By 2021, most food crises were due to conflict and insecurity (5). On average, 30% of the population in countries facing protracted crises lives in extreme poverty (<$1.90/day), compared to ~6% in LMICs overall (13). Climate change and social inequalities exacerbate conflict. Climate change is rapidly intensifying, increasing pressure on livelihoods and ecosystems (14). In 2020, about 25% of internally displaced people were displaced by conflict and violence, and the remainder by disasters, mostly weather-related (15). Social inequalities further increase risks of hunger and reduce access to benefits from FLWSs, while serving as structural constraints to stability and peace (16,17, 18). Women are disproportionately negatively affected by shocks and crises and have less access to channels of power and influence that could help them benefit from programming addressing these issues. Failure to address interactions between climate stress and human-made crises will escalate both problems. Governments and development organizations demand evidence to address these complex global crises. Poor governance and weak access to basic services, common features of FCASs, severely limit policy effectiveness and require novel solutions.  The recent “Global Food Crisis Report 2022” highlighted the need to fill data gaps so that research and evidence guide proposed policy solutions as well as contextually appropriate implementation (5). And the Committee on World Food Security High Level Panel of Experts has called for a globally coordinated response to both address the humanitarian crisis and build more resilient FLWSs (19).A systems approach in partnership with those working in FCASs — incorporating women’s and youth’s voices — is needed to devise practical solutions that promote gender equity and social inclusion (GESI). CGIAR is uniquely positioned to generate evidence to support more effective and transformative policies and programming to enhance FLWS resilience in FCASs facing migration-related challenges, and to promote social equity, conflict mitigation, and peacebuilding (20). 

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CGIAR Initiative: NEXUS Gains: Realizing Multiple Benefits Across Water, Energy, Food and Ecosystems

Water, land, energy, forests and biodiversity are highly interconnected and critical to nutrition, health and food security (Impact Area, IA1), poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs (IA2), gender equality, youth and social inclusion (IA3), climate adaptation and mitigation (IA4), and environmental health and biodiversity (IA5) at multiple scales through multiple pathways.i,ii,iii Similarly, the SDGs are systemic, with interdependencies across goals mediated by water, energy, food and ecosystems.iv However, governments, stakeholders and investors struggle to manage systems change in the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus and ensure changes are robust under climate change. NEXUS Gains addresses the challenge of optimizing trade-offs and building synergies to support SDG achievement through transformations in food, land and water systems nexus.  The transboundary nature of basins makes integrated and sustainable management of water, energy, food and ecosystems challenging (Figure 1; WEFE; note for ecosystems the particular focus on forests and biodiversity). Systems thinking helps avoid unintended consequences that would jeopardize sustainability and possibly exacerbate conflict. Good governance across boundaries and sectors requires strong institutions and actors willing to overcome silos and adopt new tools to support nexus approaches.v,vi,vii,viii Governments, investors and local communities are uncertain about where or how best to maintain, restore and improve ecosystems and biodiversity, regenerate agriculture, and support sustainable irrigation, clean energy, and agro-processing needs.ix Investments are often not coordinated. For instance, investments in water or energy remain often disconnected from policy goals of healthy diets,x re/afforestation often neglect ecosystem services across scales and socioeconomic development pathways. Women, youth and other vulnerable groups continue to bear the brunt of poorly developed WEFE systems.xi They struggle to access information, technology and needed skillsxii and are under-represented in leadership and decision-making - a lost opportunity in terms of their contributions toward sustainable and inclusive development pathways. South Asia’s breadbasket basins Ganges and Indus (focus: India, Nepal and Pakistan) are increasingly challenged by ground and surface water abstractions (among the most unsustainable in the world), climate change (among the most vulnerable countries), deforestation, drastic pollution, severe ecosystem degradation and biodiversityxiii and poor policies, putting 7% of the world’s food production at risk, with potentially devastating impacts on the wellbeing, health and livelihoods of an estimated 1 billion people.xiv Governments are calling for scaling sustainable and inclusive on-farm water management practices for improved livelihoods and nutrition, and jobs; renewable energy as a priority intervention; nutrition and gender equality in access to safe water for multiple uses are systemic challenges. However, policies are incoherent, fragmented and inefficient. In the Blue Nile basin (Ethiopia and Sudan) a rapidly growing population faces increasing food and nutrition insecurity from climate change, demographic change, severe ecosystem degradation and low productivity,xv lack of irrigation, and energy access. Transboundary conflicts over nexus resources are intense (e.g., GERD)xvi and growing with development and climatic change. Aral Sea Basin needs are similar, where glacial retreat, reliance on fossil fuels, and the depletion of the Aral Sea and other hydrological and ecological changes are aggravated by transboundary water conflicts, jeopardizing the region’s future. All focal basins are global hotspots for multi-sector risks based on anticipated stresses from climate change and development paths for the water and energy sectors, crop yields and habitat degradation.xvii These challenges are surmountable if water, energy, food and ecosystems are managed with an integrated approach.  Implementing NEXUS Gains Systems Approach at Basin Scale  NEXUS gains examines WEFE systems in transboundary basins of significant international relevance. Upstream/downstream interdependencies will be quantified, and the complexity of intersecting sub-national boundaries for policymaking and management of WEFE resources addressed by building on existing institutional strengths. Dependencies of interventions from farm to watershed to river basin scales will be analyzed to support social equity, economic efficiency and environmental sustainability across scales, sectors and other divides with a focus on gender, age, income and ethnicity.  The Nexus approach is multicentric, not water centric like integrated water resources management. It aims to connect systems to optimize equitable economic and social welfare and environmental sustainability. Therefore, it considers a broad range of actors and stakeholders to overcome disciplinary and administrative silos. It requires a polycentric and multi-level governance framework, which makes co-development and implementation of nexus solutions challenging as it is interwoven with a complex political economy.  NEXUS Gains focuses on river basins that combine landscape elements and ecological regions connected by water flows. Water balance parameters as a basis for resource management can be quantified for basins. Natural and anthropogenic characteristics determine responses such as floods and droughts, soil surface and groundwater recharge, changes in water level, wetlands, reservoirs and nutrient and pollution fluxes. Digital models help us understand and quantify system interdependencies and predict future conditions in a changing climate under evolving environmental and societal changes (e.g., water availability for food systems, energy production, forests and other land uses, and Aquatic terrestrial ecosystems). 

WASHHealth Nepal

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CGIAR Initiative: Digital Innovation and Transformation

Our food system is unsustainable. In 2020, between 720 and 811 million people faced <a href="https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb4474en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hunger</a>, while one-third of food goes to <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/i2697e/i2697e.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">waste</a>. To realize the transformative potential of digital technologies in shifting food-land-water systems toward climate resilience and sustainability, we identified three challenge areas that CGIAR’s multidisciplinary expertise could help address. <ol><li class="ql-align-justify">The digital divide: The potential of digital technologies is clear, yet their reach is not universal. The Global South – and especially women and rural areas – are underserved by digital technologies and infrastructure. More than 600 million people still live outside of <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/The-State-of-Mobile-Internet-Connectivity-Report-2021.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mobile network coverage</a>, 67% of whom are from Sub-Saharan Africa. Fewer than 40% of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00631-0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">small farms</a> are covered by mobile internet, and only 13% of small farmers in <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/101498" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sub-Saharan Africa</a> have ever accessed a digital service. Across low- and middle-income countries, <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/The-Mobile-Gender-Gap-Report-2021.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">women</a> are 15% less likely than men to use mobile internet. <a href="https://www.uneca.org/?q=fr/node/4024#:~:text=The%20State%20of%20Climate%20in%20Africa%20Report%202020%20anticipates%20longer,rate%20than%20the%20global%20average." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Africa</a> has only-one eighth of the minimum density of weather stations recommended to issue timely early warnings. The cost of deploying and maintaining <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/somic/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rural infrastructure</a> can be two to five times the cost in an urban area, with 10 times less revenue generated. Enabling policies and investments are urgently needed, yet policy makers and investors do not always agree on priorities to address the digital divide.  </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Inadequate information: Real-time monitoring of food-land-water systems is possible at a lower cost and a higher accuracy than ever before using <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-141f720bcb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital technologies</a>, yet decision-makers lack access to timely, reliable, and actionable information across the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2021" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Global South</a>. Weak information systems waste <a href="https://publications.iadb.org/en/value-official-statistics-lessons-intergovernmental-transfers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">budget</a>, exacerbate <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.20151293" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">poverty</a>, and slow <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20151293" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">economic growth</a>. More than 300 million small-scale producers lack access to <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/108489/Actions%20to%20Transform%20Food%20Systems%20Under%20Climate%20Change.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital climate advisory services</a>, and unmanaged risks hinder producers’ adoption of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.05.010" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">improved technologies</a>.<a href="https://www.fao.org/3/i6583e/i6583e.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Existing knowledge</a> is often outdated and difficult to apply in practice. Public, private, and civil society actors are insufficiently coordinated to develop win-win digital solutions leveraging <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2021" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">data and technologies</a>. Siloed data do not support evidence-based policy responses that synergistically manage systems-level issues and risks such as price hikes, pest infestations, floods, and droughts. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Limited digital capabilities: Any technological investments should be supplemented by digital capability initiatives that invest in the “soft” infrastructure to foster the <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/959181623060169420/pdf/A-Global-Study-on-Digital-Capabilities.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital ecosystem</a> and build <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/113555" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">forward-looking skills</a>. Digital literacy and skills levels across the Global South remain <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/ca4887en/ca4887en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">low</a>, particularly for the most marginalized and food-insecure individuals and communities, such as women. Social norms in many cultural contexts determine <a href="https://www.cgap.org/blog/digital-gender-divide-wont-close-itself-heres-why#:~:text=While%20there%20is%20often%20an,among%20other%20factors%2C%20gendered%20social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">women’s </a>access to and use of technology, including mobile phones. Promising pilots of decision-support tools exist, yet research, codesign, and capacity strengthening are needed to channel new evidence to decision-makers, tailor digital advisory content, and serve food-water-land systems stakeholders in their risk management decisions. </li></ol>

Education Nepal

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CGIAR Initiative: Foresight and Metrics to Accelerate Food, Land, and Water Systems Transformation

 Two generations ago, the challenge facing agriculture was daunting but clear: the world needed to rapidly increase staple food production to meet rising demand. That challenge was largely met but new ones arose, and today the challenges facing food, land and water systems are more numerous and complex: over 700 million people still live in absolute poverty, millions more young people seek jobs every year; nearly 2 billion people suffer from moderate or severe food insecurity, while 4 in 10 adults globally are overweight or obese; gender gaps persist; natural resources are under stress; and water resources are polluted and depleted (<a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/24797GSDR_report_2019.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(225, 227, 230);">Messerly et al 2019</a>; <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Mahler et al 2021</a>; <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">FAO et al 2021</a>; <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">UNEP 2012</a>; <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Our World in Data 2021</a>). Climate change compounds all these challenges, increases uncertainty, and means that we can no longer rely on historical experience to guide decision-making (<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">IPCC 2021</a>).  Addressing these interlinked challenges requires transformation of food, land, and water systems. Transformation means moving from our current state to a fundamentally different state in the future, but what is that desired future state, and what actions are needed to get there? Synergies between impacts are possible, for example between poverty reduction, improved nutrition, and increased equity. But trade-offs between policies and investments to achieve these impacts are often unavoidable, given limited resources and disparate decision-making domains, and the choices facing national governments and their development partners have become increasingly complicated (<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Hasegawa et al 2018</a>; <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Balié 2020</a>). What is the appropriate balance between self-reliance and global integration, for example, or between immediate welfare gains and long-term sustainability? Decision-makers at global and national levels have expressed their need for better evidence on the questions and challenges they face, which courses of action should be undertaken, and which policies and investments might minimize trade-offs and achieve collective goals (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejb2p52qrun9qrj/Country%20consultation%20on%20Foresight%20and%20Metrics%2025-Aug-2021.pdf?dl=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">see country stakeholder consultations</a> and <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/hz3mw8gylzh8zu9/Regional%20consultation%20on%20Foresight%20and%20Metrics%2027-Oct-2021.pdf?dl=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">regional stakeholder consultations</a>).  These difficult questions highlight the need for cross-cutting capacity to understand system-level interactions and outcomes – across multiple spatial and political scales (from sub-national to global), across multiple time periods (from the next year to the next generation), and across multiple thematic and decision-making domains. A growing body of analysis is exploring future challenges and options to address them, but very often these studies are focused on individual commodities, challenges, locations, or time horizons, and thus miss important interlinkages. Integrated analytical approaches increasingly bring multiple domains together over longer time horizons, but these are typically focused on broad global and regional scales, with insufficient attention to the diverse concerns and needs of low- and middle-income countries (<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Willet et al 2019</a>; <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Springmann et al 2018</a>; <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Van Zeist et al 2020</a>).  Building on these methodological advances and combining them with multi-disciplinary scientific expertise and close engagement with decisionmakers offers major opportunities for improvement. Innovative use of data, state-of-the-art analytics, and deep and ongoing dialogue with national, regional and global partners – with particular focus on poor and vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries – offer better insights into alternative transformation pathways that can inform choices and sharpen decision-making today. This is what the Foresight and Metrics Initiative seeks to provide.  

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CGIAR Initiative: Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia

Home to one-quarter of humanity — one-fifth of whom are youth – South Asia has the world’s largest concentration of poverty and malnutrition.[i] The Green Revolution positioned South Asia to produce one-quarter of the world's consumed food, but the region’s agrifood systems today face formidable poverty reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation, environmental health and biodiversity challenges. Significant hurdles remain to securing an adequate and affordable supply of diverse foods necessary for sustainable healthy diets (SHDs).[ii] Social, economic, and geographic inequalities create barriers from production to consumption, disproportionately affecting the poor.[iii] Unhealthy food consumption is rising, with many nutritious foods too costly for the poor.[iv]South Asia’s predominantly rice-based farming systems span the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP).[v] While crucial to food security and political and economic stability,[vi] parts of the IGP are threatened by unsustainable groundwater withdrawal — the region extracts one-quarter of global groundwater — due to food and energy policy distortions.[vii] Natural resource degradation, low resource use efficiency, and agriculturally-based nonpoint source air pollution undermine sustainability and human health.[viii] South Asia’s farmers are both contributors to and victims of climate change and extreme weather.[ix] In association with off-farm employment opportunities, these issues contribute to rural out-migration — particularly of youth — resulting in rising labor scarcity and increased production costs. This in turn disproportionately affects resource-poor and women farmers.[x] Outside of the highly-productive ‘breadbasket’ of the western IGP, many farmers suffer from weak markets, poor access to extension, limited access to irrigation, and insufficient policy support.[xi] These issues contribute to nearly 22 million hectares being fallowed across South Asia following the harvest of the monsoon-season rice crop,[xii] indicative of a significant missed opportunity sustainable intensification and diversified farm production. Many of South Asia’s agricultural policies and the research systems supporting them focus primarily on the production and related value chains of single crops in isolation, with less emphasis on developing an evidence base around the multisectoral farm, market, and policy interventions needed to sustainably intensify and diversify farming systems equitably without overstepping environmental boundaries.[xiii] Although agriculturally-focused nutrition interventions are frequently proposed to improve diets in rural communities, causal linkages between farm production and nutrition are not always direct, underscoring the need for integrated approaches considering household food production alongside market purchase.[xiv] In addition, poor nutrition awareness among rural households, low affordability of nutritious diets and limitations to women’s empowerment interact to prevent progress.[xv]These obstacles must be overcome through coordinated efforts to transform agrifood systems in ways that ensure that people can equitably access and consume healthy diets produced within environmental boundaries, while also securing livelihoods and reducing poverty.[xvi] Food systems are urgently needed that generate profits and incentivize farmers to produce nutritious foods, while also reducing prices for consumers purchasing healthy products by shortening and reducing inefficiencies within value chains.[xvii] These objectives — which are also governmental and donor priorities in Bangladesh, Nepal, India, and Pakistan — require coordinated research and action across the public and private sector.[xviii] In response, TAFSSA will partner across sectors to generate actionable evidence spanning the production-to-consumption continuum. TAFSSA will also amplify the effects of other CGIAR Initiatives working in South Asia to achieve productive, environmentally sound agrifood systems that support equitable access to SHDs. (Additional references and supporting evidence can be found online in <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/gje6of3nsrax06q/ANNEX%202.1.pdf?dl=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex 2.1</a>)

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CGIAR Initiative: Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming Systems

This Initiative addresses the <a href="https://cgiar-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/performanceandresult_cgiar_org/EZK1Mrs-xcFDoSsihDRenLUBmJIqamygaqJebCZpLJMRmg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Sustainable intensification</a> (SI) of <a href="https://cgiar-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/performanceandresult_cgiar_org/EZK1Mrs-xcFDoSsihDRenLUBmJIqamygaqJebCZpLJMRmg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Mixed farming systems</a> (MFS). By SI, we mean the production of more food on the same piece of land while reducing the negative environmental impact. MFS cover about 2.5 billion ha of land globallyi. In the developing world, MFS supply around 75% of milk, 60% of meat, and 41–86% of cereals consumedii. These <a href="https://cgiar-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/performanceandresult_cgiar_org/EZK1Mrs-xcFDoSsihDRenLUBmJIqamygaqJebCZpLJMRmg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">farming systems</a> occur in nearly all agro-ecological zones, with an enormous variety of climatic and soil conditionsiii and livelihood patternsiv. In MFS, livestock provides draft power for crop cultivation and manure to fertilize the soil, while crop residues provide livestock feed. Livestock is sold to compensate for low crop yields in unfavorable years. Mixed systems allow farmers to diversify risk from single crop production, use labor efficiently, access cash, and add value to products. Integrating crops and livestock has the potential to maintain ecosystem function and health, and to help prevent agricultural systems from becoming fragile by enhancing biodiversity and thus increasing capability to absorb shocks to the natural resource basev.  Population growth, urbanization, water scarcity, soil degradation, climate change, evolving food consumption patterns, and food price volatility are pressures that act on these systemsvi, deepening inequalities in resource access, and leading to conflict and migrationvii. Social inequalities are a persistent feature of agrifood systems including MFS. They relate to deeply entrenched inequitable norms that produce unfavorable outcomes— primarily for women, youth, and marginalized actors— and obstruct progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)viii.  Farmers’ local experience and knowledge enable them to adapt to many challenges. However, the increasing speed at which many changes are happening will likely exceed their capacityix. The challenges can be mitigated through SI, which responds to the need to both feed growing populations and counteract environmental degradationx. Sustainable intensification requires integrated systems research to identify context-specific pathways towards resilient, scalable MFS that preserve natural capital, offer equitable benefits for all, and attract young people to venture into profitable agribusinesses. The components of MFS interact both with each other and with the external environment, including climate and landscapexi. However, there are knowledge gaps on the biophysical and socio-economic interactions and dynamicsxii, which can undermine many development-oriented interventions aiming at driving MFS towards SI.  A predominantly commodity and biophysical research approach has been leading to improvements in single system components, but frequently amplifies the <a href="https://cgiar-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/performanceandresult_cgiar_org/EZK1Mrs-xcFDoSsihDRenLUBmJIqamygaqJebCZpLJMRmg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">trade-offs</a> between different livelihood objectives if the interactions between crop, tree, livestock, and social sub-systems are not properly addressed at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales. This has affected the capacity to scale many of the technologies and practices promoted by CGIAR and partners in landscapes dominated by MFS.  Current research to support SI of MFS is often disconnected, falling short of the effectiveness and scale needed to achieve important global targets such as the SDGs. Also, attention to how SI may (re-)produce inequalities has remained lowxiii. For One CGIAR to make significant contributions that result in multiple desired impacts at sufficiently large scales will require well-coordinated, prioritized, and focused efforts that strategically integrate multiple elements of the sub-systems in MFS. SI of MFS provides a viable avenue to achieve this.  

LivelihoodsHealth Nepal

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CGIAR Initiative: Sustainable Animal Productivity for Livelihoods, Nutrition and Gender Inclusion

ransformation to a more sustainable and equitable livestock sector in Africa and Asia can secure and enhance the critical role livestock plays to support and improve livelihoods. Livestock is a fast growing, high value agriculture subsector, accounting for 15-80% of agricultural GDP in low and middle-income countries. In Africa and Asia, demand for livestock products is expected to grow 200-300% by 2030 depending on the region and commodity. This provides an opportunity for hundreds of millions of small- to medium-scale livestock producers who can meet the demand and provide nutrient dense foods for their families, countries, and regions.i The African Development Bank echoes other development leadersii<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: inherit;">﷟HYPERLINK "file:///C:\Users\KMarshall\OneDrive%20-%20CGIAR\Documents\2021%20Various\CGIAR%20Initiative%20on%20'Sustainably%20improving%20livestock%20productivity%20for%20improved%20livelihoods\Proposal%20on%20new%20template\SAPLING%20proposal%20Working%20Doc%20Sept%2028%20submission%20cleaned%20version%20%20KM%202.59%20pm.docx#a"</a> iii iv in highlighting now as the time to “reposition livestock as a business activity with the potential to significantly improve food and nutrition security and drive inclusive [economic] growth.…” v   Failing to capitalize on this opportunity and meet demand could lead to a shortfall in livestock-derived foods (LDFs), which are a unique source of high-quality proteins and bioavailable essential micronutrients. Relatively small amounts of LDFs can substantially increase the nutrient adequacy of diets.vi vii But malnutrition remains high in livestock dependent communities.viii    This is in part because productivity is low; annual milk yield of a cow in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia is 6% and 12%, respectively, of a cow in an OECD country. Within production system yield gaps are high for all species.ix  In Ethiopia, for example, there is a 20% yield gap for sheep from genetics alone.x Widespread constraints to achieving sustainable productivity include: non-optimal use of livestock genetic potential; lack of optimal adaptive and productive livestock genetics; lack of resilient, resource efficient feeds and forages available year-round in sufficient quantity and quality; poor animal health management and husbandry; and a combination of insufficient and underutilized animal health technologies.xi xii xiii These combine to increase pressure on natural resources and GHG emissions intensities.xiv At the same time, value chain governance structures prevent producers from fully benefiting from markets, investing in sustainable productivity and commercializing their farms.xv   Failure to address constraints to livestock productivity and the growing risks from climate changexvi xvii and other shocks like the COVID-19 pandemicxviii can limit productivity gains while putting sustainability at risk. Increasing yields can contribute to lowering emissions intensities while enhancing livelihoods.xix xx But research is needed to better understand trade-offs between productivity, environmental impacts and livelihood outcomes.xxi xxii    Women, who often look after livestock, have limited control over resources and decisions.xxiii xxiv Youth, who supplement household labor are marginalized from income-generation opportunities and assets.xxv Research is needed to identify livestock development solutions that achieve equitable access and benefits.  Advances in improved forages, animal breeding, herd health, and markets have demonstrated sustainable gains in on-farm productivityxxvi xxvii xxviii xxix but need to reach impact at scale. Bundling combinations of new and scale-ready technical innovations with the right institutional arrangements and policy support has the potential to increase sustainable productivity.xxx xxxi But deep and early engagement with stakeholders in iterative co-design approaches is needed to increase impact and accelerate scaling. SAPLING will engage stakeholders to generate evidence on innovation packages that support livestock producers, including women and youth, to transition to sustainable, resilient livelihoods and productive enterprises. This is expected to catalyse investment by public and private sectors and enable a supportive policy environment, enhancing scale potential.30   

Health Nepal

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CGIAR Initiative: Excellence in Agronomy for Sustainable Intensification and Climate Change Adaptation

Smallholder farming represents over 80% of the world’s farms and produces around 50% of its food supply i;ii;iii. These farming systems are often characterized by degraded soils and/or scarce nutrients and water, low and stagnating crop yields and reduced product quality and profitability iv;v, exacerbated by climate change, low resource use efficiencies, declining soil health vi;vii, and gender inequalities viii;ix, all related to the CGIAR Impact Areas. Smallholder farmers seasonally make critical agronomic decisions regarding crop choice, planting dates, and pest, disease, weed, soil fertility and water management, often based on subpar practices and information. The Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) initiative focuses upon improving the ability of men and women farmers to make appropriate decisions and apply new, climate-adaptive, and gender- and youth-responsive solutions.  Traditional agronomic research increases knowledge through experiments that enhance our understanding of basic processes, but with limited connection to stakeholder demand and often based on outdated approaches. The development, deployment, and uptake of interventions also remains hampered by social, economic and institutional constraints, further confounded by adherence to conventional supply-driven scaling strategies x;xi. As such, realization of genetic gains is also hindered by suboptimal agronomic practices xii. In response, EiA research objectives are (i) To determine how agronomy research and development (R&D) can leverage advances in diagnostics, data science, geospatial analysis, remote sensing, and behavioral sciences to develop widely applicable and locally-relevant gender- and youth-responsive solutions at scale and (ii) To assess the effectiveness of the Use Case model, constructed around actual demand for agronomic solutions, and implemented through a co-creation process with demand partners, the science community, and other service providers Appropriate application of diagnostic approaches, modern agronomic and spatial data science methods, and new digital approaches can amplify agronomic advances and accelerate impact at scale through better-targeted, site-specific advisories. However, there is also need for systematic research to understand how farmers can better use these tools, backed by targeted field research to improve crop yields, profitability and quality, resource use efficiency and soil health – and make agile decisions to minimize climate-related risks.  EiA offers a new model and research culture, seizing these opportunities to deliver agronomic gain at scale xiii by facilitating efficiencies through globalized networking and aligning R&D priorities with demands from scaling partners through context-specific Use Cases. It utilizes standardized analytics and decision support approaches in partnership with non-CGIAR Advanced Research Institutes (ARIs) and builds on Use Cases involving multi-actor partnerships. EiA’s priority research themes are: (i) Sustaining soil productivity and ecosystem services; (ii) Climate change adaptation; (iii) Precision cropping system management; and (iv) Perennial crops for livelihoods and conservation. This vision is drawn from experience gained from CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) and projects including ACAI1, AfricaRISING, AfSIS, CIALCA, CocoaSoils, CSISA, N2Africa, and TAMASA xiv;xv;xvi;xvii;xviii;xix. Assessment of national and regional priorities supports productivity improvement through efficient use of land, soil, and water resources, with a focus on reversing natural resource degradation, climate adaptation, and digital service provision [<a href="https://bit.ly/39Hi9wM" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(225, 227, 230);">EiA_Regional Priority_report_2021</a>]. EiA also aligns with priorities of key funders xiv;xx, and is responding to interests from other One CGIAR Initiatives and ARIs [<a href="https://bit.ly/3EVuWu8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">EiA_Interactions_Other_Initiatives_2021</a>; <a href="https://bit.ly/3lZFjEx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">EiA_Cooperation_with_ARIs</a>]. 

ClimateHealth Nepal

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CGIAR Initiative: Seed Equal

Smallholder farmers, especially women and disadvantaged groups, are particularly vulnerable to climate-related and other challenges, compromising their ability to meet their own food, nutrition, and income needs, much less contribute to local and national food security. More frequent and severe droughts and erratic rainfall due to climate change threaten agricultural production. Due to inadequate seed supply and delivery systems misaligned with user and market demand, smallholders use ‘old’ varieties or recycle seed, leaving them more vulnerable to pests and diseasesi. Productivity varies by gender, with these challenges disproportionately affecting womenii. Until gender disparities in access to information, technologies, markets and other opportunities are addressed, efforts to realize agriculture’s potential to sustainably achieve food, nutrition and income security will have limited impact.   With increasing population and climate pressure, inclusive and climate-smart intensification of food production is urgently needed for One CGIAR and partners to deliver in key impact areas—nutrition, poverty, gender, climate, and environment—and the second Sustainable Development Goal: Zero Hunger by 2030. Improved varieties, innovations, and approaches developed and promoted by CGIAR and partners have potential, when contextualized considering social, economic and political factors, to transform agri-food systems and reduce yield gaps, ‘hunger months,’ and other disparities. However, limited access to and use of affordable, quality seed of well adapted varieties with desired traits remains a bottleneck.  Achieving One CGIAR’s goals requires a long-term, end-to-end investment in CGIAR breeding driven by market intelligence, supported by partnerships that deliver genetic gains equitably in farmers’ fields. This requires enabling policy environments incentivizing varietal turnover and quality seed useiii and integrating and leveraging formal and informal seed systems to the benefit of all.   To this end, SeEdQUAL will build on decades of work on seed systems by CGIAR and partners, and leverage synergies as governmentsiv, breeders, fundersv, and communities recognize the need to accelerate demand-driven seed system development and reach farmers at the last mile. Success hinges on better understanding and responding to seed user demands, including women and young farmers, and value chain actors specializing in niche markets with high potential. Seed systems that respond dynamically to such opportunities and deploy innovative methods (e.g. ICT tools) and aligned approaches (EGS production and policies) will increase and expand the benefits of seed access and use, especially for disadvantaged groups. SeEdQUAL, together with key innovation, delivery and scaling partners, will develop and promote new technology solutions, more effective business models, and policy reforms to create sustainable and inclusive seed systems.  

Health Nepal

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