CBCMP II is aimed at strengthening the human and institutional capacity of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL). It also includes strengthening the linkages between MAIL, Provincial Directorates of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock and District Agriculture Offices.The primary objective is focused on improving the ministry’s institutional capacity by providing formal trainings and on the job training (coaching and mentoring) to civil servants in the target locations. 

What are key characteristics of rural innovators? How are their experiences similar for women and men, and how are they different? To examine these questions, this study draw on individual interviews with 336 rural women and men known in their communities for trying out new things in agriculture. The data form part of 84 GENNOVATE community case studies from 19 countries. Building on study participants’ own reflections and experiences with innovation in their agricultural livelihoods, we combine variable-oriented analysis and analysis of specific individuals’ lived experience.

Increasing on-farm production diversity and improving markets are recognized as ways to improve the dietary diversity of smallholders. Using instrumental variable methods to account for endogeneity, this paper studies the interplay of production diversity, markets and diets in the context of seasonality in Afghanistan. Accordingly to the authors improved crop diversity over the year is positively associated with dietary diversity in the regular season, but not in the lean season.

Despite recent improvements in the national average, stunting levels in Afghanistan exceed 70% in some Provinces. Agriculture serves as the main source of livelihood for over half of the population and has the potential to be a strong driver of a reduction in under-nutrition. This article reports research conducted through interviews with stakeholders in agriculture and nutrition in the capital, Kabul, and four provinces of Afghanistan, to gain a better understanding of the institutional and political factors surrounding policy making and the nutrition-sensitivity of agriculture.

The final report outlines key outputs and outcomes of the implemented activities between 7 April 2015 and 6 April 2019 including review of the seed sector in Afghanistan; development of legal, managerial and technical documents for Public-Private-Producers Partnership (PPPP) model in seed sector, revitalization of seed testing laboratories, capacity building of stakeholders and awareness raising among stakeholders. The project was initiated in 2015 with a brainstorming workshop to create awareness about the PPPP concept among stakeholders and document their suggestions.

The 2021 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC 2021) highlights the remarkably high severity and numbers of people in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent in 55 countries/territories, driven by persistent conflict, pre-existing and COVID-19-related economic shocks, and weather extremes. The number identified in the 2021 edition is the highest in the report’s five-year existence. The report is produced by the Global Network against Food Crises (which includes WFP), an international alliance working to address the root causes of extreme hunger.

Gender integration focuses on applying a gender lens to look at how social relations of gender and underlying power dynamics affect men’s and women’s participation in and benefit from development programmes. In Plantwise, gender mainstreaming aimed to (1) understand gender relations and how they affected access to agricultural advisory services and adoption of plant health management practices, and (2) remove gender related barriers to access and adoption and improve gender equity.

The publication reviews forty years of development experience and concludes that donors and partner countries alike have tended to look at capacity development as mainly a technical process, or as a transfer of knowledge or institutions from North to South.

CABI’s Plantwise programme runs local plant clinics in 24 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America where trained ‘plant doctors’ provide on-the-spot diagnosis and advice for farmers who bring samples to the clinics. A database that records each consultation and shares knowledge across clinics and countries continually builds the ability of the programme to respond to farmers’ needs. The programme embodies key principles of an innovation systems approach.

The paper sets out the general concepts and principles of the Agricultural Innovation Systems approach, and its application to agricultural research and development, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It is intended for those interested in applying new approaches to research with farmers, NGOs and the private sector that lead to developmental outcomes.