At the core of measuring gender transformative change is the understanding that discriminatory social institutions and unequal power relations need to change, and that there is value in assessing how deep and enduring any changes have been to date. Social institutions that embed and (re)produce unequal power relations between women and men in a circular reinforcing process are the root causes of gender inequality. These institutions comprise formal and informal rules and norms that organize social, political and economic relations. The transformation of social institutions to make them more gender-equitable fosters more cooperative forms of power and relationships, affirming people’s capabilities, aspirations, critical awareness and dignity.

Accessibility to digital innovations and literacy in digital tools are paramount to unleashing the potential of rural communities to reap the dividends of current digital agriculture economy. This will contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). While Internet use is growing, significant barriers continue to exist, with the digital literacy gap widening and the digital literacy in rural areas lagging behind. In response, FAO has launched a number of initiatives to strengthen its leadership in promoting digital innovations and farmers’ digital literacy for the transformation of agrifood systems. Driven by development initiatives of integrating digital agriculture as a core strategy to transform agrifood systems by deploying a multitude of digital tools in most countries, agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS) have been undergoing a rapid digitalization process over the past decades.

Women farmers in developing countries, including Pakistan, face challenges in accessing agriculture extension advisory services, with most of those services geared towards the needs of male farmers. Alongside other challenges faced by women farmers, this contributes to the gender gap in agriculture productivity in developing countries, whereby women-managed farms are 20–30% less productive than farms managed by men. It has been estimated that closing this gap would help to boost agriculture production by 2.5–4%, improve food security and improve the welfare of rural households (FAO, 2011). In the context of the launch of CABI’s new PlantwisePlus programme in Pakistan, which aims to enhance the knowledge and uptake of climate-smart plant health practices through responsive digital advisory tools, this report presents the results of an assessment of the current state of gender-sensitive extension services in Pakistan, and provides recommendations for making improvements.

This report presents the findings and recommendations of the enquiry into sustainable finance in agrifood systems conducted by the Shamba Centre for Food & Climate for the members of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development. The enquiry explored two questions.(i) How are donors working to make their financing more catalytic?(ii) How are donors using their concessional financing to crowd in commercial financing from development finance institutions (DFIs) and the private sector? The central message is that, if donors and DFIs take higher risks with their grants and lending, every donor dollar has the potential to mobilize four dollars in commercial finance. When this happens, agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will have more financing, domestic lenders will participate and markets will deliver affordable borrowing prices. This is the catalytic power of aid.

Feed the Future’s EatSafe: Evidence and Action toward Safe, Nutritious Food (EatSafe) seeks to improve the safety of nutritious foods bought and sold by millions of people intraditional food markets in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), EatSafe’s formative research gathered existing evidence on the interplay among foodborne diseases, traditional markets, and behavior change.The scope of this review focused on traditional markets, which provide millions of people with nutrient-rich commodities like animal-source foods and fresh produce. However, these same foods are the leading cause of foodborne disease globally. The insights identified in this review were used to design EatSafe’s food safety interventions in three markets in Ethiopia and Nigeria. This synthesis brings together EatSafe’s formative research on food safety in food systems and insights into food safety concerns specific to traditional markets.

There is limited evidence of what types of food systems interventions work. Evaluating these types of interventions is challenging due to their complex and dynamic nature and lack of fit with standard evaluation methods. In this paper, we draw on a portfolio of six evaluations of food systems interventions in Africa and South Asia that were intended to improve nutrition. We identify key methodological challenges and formulate recommendations to improve the quality of such studies. We highlight five challenges: a lack of evidence base to justify the intervention; the dynamic and multifaceted nature of the interventions; addressing attribution; collecting or accessing accurate and timely data; and defining and measuring appropriate outcomes. In addition to more specific guidance, we identify six cross-cutting recommendations, including a need to use multiple and diverse methods and flexible designs. We also note that these evaluation challenges present opportunities to develop new methods and highlight several specific needs in this space.

In October 2018, the HLPE was asked by the CFS to prepare a report that takes stock of its contributions, in order to inform future CFS actions on FSN for all in the context of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the HLPE was asked to urgently prepare an issues paper on the potential impact of the pandemic on global food security and nutrition for an extraordinary meeting of the CFS on 19 March 2020. The key findings and recommendations from this issues paper have been updated and included in this report.

This study assessed extension agents’ use of mobile applications (apps) for extension service delivery in Ebonyi State Agricultural Development Programme (EBADP). The study involved 100 field extension agents. However, the use of mobile apps for extension service delivery were limited as a result of unavailability of network coverage in rural area (84%), lack of institutional policy for application of mobile apps in extension service (75%), low ownership of smartphones among farmers (73%), poor farmers’ knowledge on the use of mobile apps (67%), and poor internet connectivity (66%). Government should initiate e-extension policy, making mobile apps extension services mandatory for public extension organizations; extension organizations should develop specific mobile apps that will support extension service delivery; and organizing training programmes for extension agents on the use of mobile apps for extension service delivery.

Malnutrition in all its forms, from undernutrition to micronutrient deficiencies and overnutrition, is a global public health burden. It is estimated that 2 in 3 women of reproductive age are affected by nutrient deficiencies. Uganda is a low-income country in which 41% of the population lives below the poverty line, and where about 82% of the population cannot afford a healthy diet. There is a continued need to engage all actors and options to address the malnutrition burden the world faces. On average, people spend one-third of their adult lives at work, whether formal or informal; therefore, the workplace offers an important opportunity to increase access to and knowledge about healthy nutrition. Workforce nutrition is an opportunity to deliver proven benefits for employers, workers, and communities. Policy frameworks often do not recognise the role of employers in enabling good nutrition for workers, even as part of labour policies. Further improved action in the policy arena would include explicitly mentioning the role of the employer and drafting, implementing and ensuring accountability mechanisms against these policies are in place.

To serve farmers and agribusiness operators better, we need to prepare new generations of agriculture development professionals, change our extension curriculum and pedagogy and prepare competent extension professionals. To improve training of extension professionals, the editors of this manual conducted three comprehensive studies on essential competencies of extension professionals in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. These studies identified essential job competencies of extension professionals, assessed whether these key competencies were covered in current UG extension curriculum, determined the gaps in essential job competencies of extension professionals and recommended competency-based curriculum with 11 process skills and core competencies and 97 subcompetencies for their inclusion in the UG agricultural extension curriculum.

Jordan’s agricultural extension service is seriously under-staffed and its effectiveness is consequently compromised. Reservations are being expressed about the performance and capability of the agricultural extension system in Jordan. The performance of this sector has been disappointing and has failed to transfer agricultural technology to the farmers. The main objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of Jordan’s agricultural extension services. Approach: The effect of extension services on olive productivity in the study area was investigated. A total number of 60 olive producers were selected to be interviewed for this study. This number was enough to achieve the study objectives.

Agriculture is multi-functional, producing economic goods including food, feed, fibre, and fuel, as well as providing several intangible or non-tradable services to society free of cost. Non-tradable services, unlike economic goods, remain unpriced; as a result, farmers are not compensated monetarily for the benefits of the several non-tradable services they provide through agriculture. Recognizing the monetary value of non-tradable ecosystem services is crucial to incentivize farmers to adopt eco-friendly technologies and practices for the sustainable development of agriculture. Through a meta-analysis of the existing evidence on ecosystem services, this study attempts to estimate the value of ecosystem services by using direct and indirect valuation methods—for example, carbon sequestration, methane emission, nutrient availability, biological nitrogen fixation, and water saving—generated by several important technological and agronomic interventions, namely the direct seeding of rice (DSR), zero-tillage in wheat, leguminous crops, organic manure, integrated nutrient management, and agroforestry, based on studies conducted in India.

Agricultural advisory services such as “training and visit” schemes used to operate —except in rare cases— like a stream flowing from the “wise” (researchers and technicians) to peasant farmers in order to fulfil the priorities of the State and its financial partners. Those days seem far away. Austerity and structural-adjustment measures brought an end to most of the State-run schemes that operated those services. A number of development actors then began providing advisory services to farmers: professional agricultural organisations, State agencies, investors, input suppliers, NGOs, telephony companies, etc. But how are those services structured? What is their purpose? Whom are they for?

Agricultural advisory services are the most important knowledge-delivery institutions for accelerating the adoption of advanced technologies, and for improving farmers’ learning abilities for their implementation. These technologies have implications for the larger goal of agricultural development and farmers’ welfare. This study explores the spillover effects of an innovative public-sector program in India that provides agricultural advisory services. At the Farm Science Centre (known locally as Krishi Vigyan Kendra [KVK]), scientists demonstrate modern technologies and develop capacity-building programs. This paper examines the extent of direct and spillover benefits of KVKs. It also evaluates the impact of KVKs on the adoption of improved technologies for primary beneficiaries (those who receive the benefits directly from KVKs), and for those farmers who receive information flow from them.

The study assessed digital platforms used to link agriculture investors with smallholder farmers in Nigeria. Content analysis and in-depth interviews were used for the study. Three digital platforms, namely the ThriveAgric, EZ Farming and Farmcrowdy were purposively chosen for this study. Results showed that ThriveAgric is user friendly; EZ Farming and Farmcrowdy provide risk assessment scores for easy monitoring. Also, ThriveAgric uses the Agricultural Operating System (AOS) to track farmers’ activities. EZ Farming uses social media platforms for adverts and campaign while Farmcrowdy innovatively used the platform to render advisory services to the farmers. ThriveAgric and Farmcrowdy invested in crop and livestock production while EZ Farming areas of investments were crop, livestock, fisheries, farm equipment and hydroponics. Smallholder farmers’ derived benefits were mainly observed in the aspect of reduction in post-harvest losses. Untimely delivery of agricultural inputs and cost of running the platforms were identified as major impediments to the effective deployment of the platform by the farmers and operators of the platforms respectively. Cost66sharing mechanism should be incorporated into the partnership to ensure sustainability and a win-win situation. Also, regular review of the initiative by all the stakeholders is strongly recommended.