Colombia produces more sugar per month on one hectare of land than any other country. This privilege is due to the productivity of sugar cane grown in the Cauca River valley, where 14 processing plants operate almost all year round to produce sugar, honey, bioethanol, and electrical energy. The cane is supplied by 2,750 growers, owners of 75% of the 240,000 hectares planted, and by the sugar mills themselves (25% of the area). The sugarcane chain provides more than 286,000 direct and indirect jobs. In 51 municipalities in 5 departments, 6 out of every 10 families depend on this productive activity. In 2016, the Fénix Program, now known as the Integra Program, was created in the Cauca River Valley. Since 2020, this initiative has been led by the Colombian Sugarcane Research Center, Cenicaña, as an opportunity to proactively prepare for the future. Between 2016 and 2023, 255 producers have joined the program (41,300hectares in 430 farms), and nearly $1,125,000 has been invested for the Program.

During the past decade (2013-2023), the Agricultural Extension in South Asia (AESA) Network (www.aesanetwork.org) has functioned as a platform for those passionate about Extension and Advisory Services (EAS). It serves as a space to share experiences and perspectives related to strengthening the contribution of EAS to agrifood systems transformation and to learn from these insights. We have consistently published the experiences and insights of our contributors in various formats, including blogs, good practices, meeting notes, face-to-face interviews, and book reviews. This second volume represents our ongoing effort to compile the next 100 blogs(101-200) published between 2019 and 2023.

This study assesses the use and benefits of the Plantwise Knowledge Bank (PWKB) using mixed methods. Focusing on website activity for 2021, study findings show that the PWKB has diverse users within national plant health ecosystems from both Plantwise and non-Plantwise countries. Plantwise countries are countries who have implemented elements of CABI’s Plantwise programme. Most users in 2021 were from Plantwise countries in Asia, with users from other regions also contributing significantly to the site traffic. Furthermore, there was an increase in number of users, visits and page views as compared to past years, with the site having more men than women, visitors. Most users were repeat visitors who found the site organically via mobile phones.

  A core activity of the Plantwise Plus programme in Ghana involves working to raise awareness around gender-related inequity and related issues within the country’s agricultural sector. To evaluate the indicators of change that have resulted from work in this area to date, an assessment, involving insights from national-level stakeholders, extension agents, and farmers, was conducted between December 2022 and March 2023. Findings indicate that there have been changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour around ensuring that the agricultural extension system in Ghana is more focused on the needs of women farmers. Changes are being implemented at all levels, with further work and actions to be done to move the extension system from gender sensitive to gender transformative.

Food and Nutritional Security (FNS), understood as the availability and access to quality food, is fundamental for human development; The sustainability and progress of the agricultural sector are essential to maintain a food supply in quantity and quality. In the department of Córdoba, multidimensional poverty is twice as high for rural areas (51.9%) as compared to urban areas (23.3%). In that sense, rural producers boost the local economy, contribute to generating jobs and with SAN. Many of these producers are located in areas of difficult access, far from populated centers. Therefore, they face high costs in inputs and commercial animal feed diets, which end up increasing production costs. Under this context, the Ministry of National Education (MEN) and the University of Córdoba are linked to increase competitiveness and success in “integral farms.” In this initiative, alternative plant diets are used for animal production and thus contribute to the SAN, agricultural products are optimized to, finally, improve the quality of life of rural communities in four municipalities of the coastal subregion of the department of Cordoba.

Land degradation remains a major challenge in Kenya’s agricultural landscapes. It is estimated that about 0.25% of the country’s arable land is lost through soil erosion and other land degradation mechanisms each year. Land, water, and atmospheric degradation have placed serious consequences on all living organisms, food security, rural livelihoods and the socio-economic wellbeing of most households in the country. The situation is attributed to unsustainable land management practices caused by a weak extension support system, particularly in light of emerging external challenges such as climate change. Practical Action, through AESTANET, has responded to the challenge by developing this training toolkit to guide extension support and information dissemination on suitable soil and water conservation measures, composting technologies, agrobiodiversity, kitchen gardening,agroforestry, farmers seed systems, crop livestock integration, bio-fertilizers, ecological pest management,conservation agriculture through improved fallows, principles of soil health management and value addition. This toolkit presents the techniques applicable in different agricultural production systems and environmental conservation and management in a simplified format to be easily understood and applied by both extensionagents and farming communities.

Agricultural extension provides the critical connection from agricultural innovation and discovery to durable improvements at scale, as farmers and other actors in the rural economy learn, adapt, and innovate with new technologies and practices. However, lack of capacity and performance of agricultural extension in lower- and middle-income countries is an ongoing concern. Research on agricultural extension and advisory services (in short, extension) has been an integral part of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) since its inception.This brief synthesizes key findings from research funded by and linked to PIM from 2012 to 2021, presenting lessons learned and a vision for the future of extension. A list of all PIM-related extension and advisory services research is provided at the end.

This AAP-PIRA project reviewed the agricultural extension advisory services (EASs) in MSU-AAP Consortium member countries covering Nigeria, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, and Kenya with key research questions: (a) Do extension curricula effectively address the needs of current food and agricultural systems? and (b) What are the critical job skills and core competencies required of extension workers? Overall, the findings revealed that the conventional top-down and supply driven EASs no longer appear to be an appropriate model to address the key challenges -- reduction and untimely governmental funding, declining number of well trained extension staff, inadequate research-extension-farmer-inputs linkages, inadequate policy-legal-regulatory-institutional frameworks, inadequate targeting of diverse groups, lack of coordination among pluralistic EASs providers, inadequate EAS infrastructure, and demand for market-driven and efficient EASs.

The planetary crisis is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced, an existential threat calling into question the future of civilization. Unless collective action is taken to halt and reverse the decline of the planet’s ecosystems, the road to 2030 will be defined by accelerating levels of social vulnerability, povertyand crisis. The polycrisis experienced in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region over the past decade is a case in point, providing critical insights on the role of ecological change in the emergence of complex multidimensional crises. This paper explores lessons and insights from a new generation of integrated local solutions that have emerged across the region to manage risks and build resilience, and makes the case for a new systems orientation to development paradigms and practice to achieve goals of transformational change. In moving towards 2030, a new paradigm is needed in which development is seen no longer as a linear set of goals and targets but as the emergent property of a complex socioecological system.

It is no longer news that climate changes are, quite literally, reflected through water. TheIt is no longer news that climate changes are, quite literally, reflected through water. Thecombined challenges of flood and drought already impact a fifth of the world’s population,disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities and ecosystems. These impacts areprojected to rise drastically absent affordable adaptation solutions. Nature-based Solutions(NbS), deployed at scale and in the right places, have broad applicability to the mitigationof flood and drought and to helping communities adapt to climate change. Nevertheless,the global extent of their applicability remains misunderstood. This report offers guidanceto disaster risk planners and adaptation funders on where and how to effectively harnessnature to adapt to both a wetter and drier future.

This review evaluated the effect of digitalization of agriculture on improved food production and standard of living, identified the training needs of extension staff and clientele for digitalization of agriculture, and highlighted the challenges of digitalization of agriculture in Nigeria.

Financing for Development is at a crossroads. This 9th Report of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development paints a sobering picture. The window to rescue the SDGs and prevent catastrophic climate change is closing. We are falling short on core commitments of the 2030 Agenda such as ending extreme poverty and hunger. Financing challenges—including an investment crisis, driven by a sluggish global economy and tight financing conditions—have hampered our progress, preventing the urgently needed investment push in the SDGs. But amid these challenges there lies opportunity. If we can address the big financing challenges of today—close the growing financing gaps, fix the international financial architecture, and create enabling environments at all levels to finance theambitious transformations we need—then we can still succeed. It will be difficult, but it is doable. This report addresses that.