The report, published for the third time by the Global Water Monitor Consortium, builds on the work of previous years, summarising the state of the global water cycle in 2025, identifying key trends, and analysing major hydrological events. It includes updated metrics on rainfall, temperature, air humidity, river flows and water stored in lakes, soil and underground. It also provides insights into extreme rainfall and temperatures.

A threat to people, ecosystems and infrastructure

The report’s findings point to a global water system under growing stress, where faster hydrological change and rising temperatures are reshaping risks to people, ecosystems and infrastructure:

• The past three years were the hottest on record world-wide, confirming a persistent warming trend.
• Hot days exceeding 35 °C have been increasing by 1.2 per cent per decade, elevating risks to human health, ecosystems and agricultural systems.
• Extreme rainfall intensified globally, with maximum daily precipitation rising by 2.3 per cent per decade, increasing exposure to floods and landslides.
• “Climate whiplash” amplified disaster impacts, with rapid transitions between wet and dry conditions affecting the same regions in quick succession.
• Flash droughts are emerging as an increasingly distinct hazard, driven by rapid declines in soil moisture and water storage over days to weeks rather than gradual seasonal drying.

Shifts in regional risks

Water-related hazards appeared in regions where they had once been rare, including an equatorial cyclone affecting Indonesia and unprecedented glacial lake outburst floods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. Among risks developing for 2026 is drought building across the Mediterranean, the Horn of Africa, Brazil and Central Asia, while above-average flood risk is emerging across the Sahel, southern Africa, northern Australia and much of Asia.

The report reinforces a clear message: as the planet warms, water challenges are escalating, year after year. 

(GWMC/sri)

More information:

Global Water Monitor Consortium website

Across the development sector, innovations and policy ideas with real promise often fail to deliver impact beyond the pilot phase because they are scaled as blueprints, rather than being treated as living systems. Scaling is approached as a final step, something that happens after a solution has been designed, instead of as a process of adaptation which ensures that users, institutions, markets and governance structures are ready to evolve together.

Our food and water systems are facing pressures unlike anything we have seen before. The impacts of climate change, rising demand, political instability and tighter budgets are pushing countries of the Global South into cycles of growing risks. The development sector is also going through its own reckoning, with 360 billion US dollars in official development assistance (ODA) funding lost in 2024 and 2025. The sector is now seeing an increase in accelerators to bring in capital and scale private-sector products. But without structural change to the ecosystem, finance, policies, markets, incentives and institutions, even the most promising innovations cannot scale.

The challenge is not a lack of innovation but a lack of adaptation. When scaling is seen as a linear process, it assumes that what worked once will work everywhere. But real-world systems, especially in Africa and Asia, are complex, and are constantly changing under the pressures of climate, markets and politics. And in food systems of the Global South, farmers’ decisions to adopt a new tool depend as much on credit and trust as on the technology itself.

For years, accelerators have focused on financing innovation scaling as isolated solutions. This approach leads to short-term wins, but rarely creates long-term transformation. It also leaves behind entrepreneurs who could thrive if the ecosystem and enabling environment around them were managed to evolve with their needs. What we need now are accelerators of systems, or mechanisms that connect innovators, investors and institutions in ways that allow good ideas to survive uncertainty and reshape systems.

The Adaptive Scaling Ecosystem (ASEco), developed by the International Water Management Institute and with partners in Ghana, Mali and Ethiopia, is a framework that helps experts rethink how ecosystems could function for innovations to scale and systems to transform.

In practice, this means co-designing scaling pathways and business models with farmers, the private sector and governments to adjust interventions as contexts change. It also means building governance structures that distribute power and knowledge more fairly. The framework treats scaling as a coevolution process where both the innovation and the system around it learn and change together.

ASEco helps rebuild the “plumbing” of innovation by aligning the interests of decision-makers, entrepreneurs, farmers and institutions around a shared way forward.  In Ethiopia, Ghana and Mali, ASEco was put to the test on one of the most promising yet complex technologies in the Global South – solar-powered, farmer-led irrigation.

The potential is enormous. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, more than nine million hectares of land could be transformed by smallholder irrigation, turning dry seasons into growing seasons and farmers into entrepreneurs, while also reducing energy costs and pollution. But scaling a revolution is never simple, and solar-powered irrigation raises hard questions. How can we make the technology more accessible? How do we prevent exhausting aquifers? And how can we align policies and avoid deepening social inequalities?

In Ghana, where 2.3 million hectares are suitable for solar irrigation, ASEco helped to build 17 new distribution networks, connect more than 2,600 value-chain actors and identify close to 900 new customers, contributing to an 80 per cent jump in sales in just one year. A market segmentation study showed that “one-size-fits-all” products were holding the company back; redesigning for different farmer segments opened the door to entirely new markets.

In Ethiopia, a series of demand–supply workshops supported the expansion of solar irrigation into four new regions and reached nearly 300 farmers with solar pumps. In Mali, scaling partnerships reached more than 6,200 farmers, one quarter of them women, with users reporting income gains of up to USD 5,262 US dollars per hectare. These results were not the outcome of a single technology, but of an ecosystem deliberately aligned around innovation, finance, institutions and real farmer needs.

For decades, success in development and scaling of solar powered, farmer-led irrigation has been measured by hectares covered, pumps installed or farmers reached. But the true impact lies in the stability, fairness and sustainability of the systems that remain when projects end.

With recent funding cuts, many international organisations have had to focus on short-term emergency response rather than resilience-building efforts. Research for Development organisations have a responsibility and an opportunity, to change this mindset. We can influence how donors and governments define impact by reframing our own work, by asking research questions that prioritise resilience, equity and long-term value, by designing programmes that adapt to uncertainty, and by demonstrating that a dollar spent on prevention and system-strengthening goes far further than a dollar spent on an accelerator grant.

ASEco provides the practical pathway for this shift. It offers the evidence base and methodology to show that adaptive solutions not only survive complexity, but generate far greater returns for farmers, institutions and ecosystems over time.

The lessons from Ghana, Ethiopia and Mali point to the same truth: innovations do not scale in a vacuum, they scale in ecosystems. For policy-makers, that means designing programmes which leave room for feedback and flexibility. For donors, it means rewarding learning as much as success and allowing for solutions to shift overtime. For researchers, it means embedding co-design, iteration and scaling into every stage of innovation. If we want lasting impact in a world shaped by climate change and uncertainty, we must stop chasing quick wins and start building resilience from the ground up, with solutions, institutions and communities growing stronger together.

More information:

The Adaptive Scaling Ecosystem (ASEco)

Further reading:

Rural 21 no 04/2022: Financing sustainable agri-food systems

Rural 21 no 01/2020: Water for food and agriculture

Rural 21 Dossier on "Water"

Ms Tesdall, are young people getting the attention they need in politics?
Genna Tesdall: Ten years ago, when I first started advocating for youth issues, the battle was to get youth beyond the role of “being seen and not heard”. We’ve made huge progress in that area; now youth are consistently consulted, even if often in a tokenistic manner. We are able to bring forward platforms on human rights, agroecology and a just transition. What’s harder is to press back on the politicians when they are not honouring their commitments to these platforms; since the engagement is tokenistic, it’s a great way not to get invited the next time. So our position in advocacy is not secure.

Neither are we naive as youth activists – corporate interests are playing a huge role. Corporations are very able to fund everything that they want to do for their activities, and these usually don’t align with a human rights and agroecology-centred approach. So that's a huge challenge, because who gets listened to is also a factor when it comes to who can fund more people to go and talk to the politicians.

You are also campaigning for a general transformation in agriculture. What would have to change?
Genna Tesdall: We believe that there should be people's leadership in the agricultural system. What does that mean? For one thing, it means an agroecology and human rights-based approach. In practice, we see increasing farm sizes and a growing need to invest more capital to be able to even start farming or be a farmer. It should be possible for a young person to enter agriculture, to be able to access a plot of land and start farming, even if they're not inheriting land from their father or grandfather. What's holding so many young people back is that we don’t have access to productive assets. Young people should be able to take leadership positions and really have a leading role in this transformation. Of course, we advocate for an agroecology approach as well. We really believe that helps because it's centred a lot around people's leadership and community leadership. In many cases, our current agricultural system doesn't respect most people, it doesn't respect most living beings.

Are young people more open to the transformation you are advocating?
Genna Tesdall: You see that young people tend to be on that curve of early adopters. Young people have generally less vested interest in the system. We do not already own land, we don't already have a retirement plan, we do not already own houses or businesses. And so we also have the latitude to dream what that new world could look like and really make it feel like our own as well. And everyone loves their own idea – including youth! So that's a great way to make change happen in our view. Of course, we don't want to be adversarial against past generations. I think that would maybe distinguish some of our activities from other activities, because we really do believe we have a lot to learn from each other, and we want to work in cooperation. But while acknowledging that we're in a vulnerable position, we're going to speak up. We're going to say how we want things to happen. And sometimes that's going to be different than how things have been done in the past.

Nevertheless, in many countries, it is difficult to get young people to take an interest in agriculture …
Genna Tesdall: Currently, we do not have a strong eye on what is going to happen to our food supply, to food processing, to food distribution, if we are not allowing people to have good livelihoods in these areas. We know food systems have some of the most dangerous and indecent working conditions, like exposure to dangerous machinery, toxic pesticides, low wages and precarious wages. Then you wonder why people aren't in these professions. These poor conditions are not a working environment I would wish for my child, for example. So we have to take that on, or we're going to have a really big challenge with food production. And that may seem really far off, but it's not that far off.

So what constitutes a fair and good food system in your eyes?
Genna Tesdall: In our eyes, a fair and good food system is one that respects human dignity, the dignity of living beings – it respects the human rights approach but also provides good, decent livelihoods for people where they feel that they can also be a little bit creative with what they are doing, that they can put their talent to work. Think about the things that make you feel like you have a worthwhile profession or worthwhile life. This is what we want to be able to imagine for young people in the food system. We imagine that then going to smaller structures, so that you can really have a community-level organisation.

What do you think your network’s greatest strength is?
Genna Tesdall: YPARD was founded around 20 years ago to connect young people all around the world in agriculture. It can feel very lonely when you're in the food and agricultural sector. As a young person, first, trying to make a career and connecting with your peers can be really empowering because you can ask those silly questions or ponder those difficult aspects of being in this sector. And then also have the courage to just try something out together. And I think that's the real beauty. You make your own mistakes, you have your own success, and then, hopefully, you learn from your mistakes, and then you continue more on the path that gave you success.

And what are you trying out at the moment? 
Genna Tesdall: We're working a lot with what we're calling community solutions, fellowships and internships. A group of young people getting together and saying, hey, there's a problem in my community, and I want to solve it. And so with this solution, they apply to the project. It can either be in its idea stage, or it can already be in the process of implementation. And then they get a fellowship of about ten months and they're coached. They are offered learning modules that are related to their project, and of course are then connected to others in the sector, both in their country and around the world, so that they can help them get that project off the ground. So we're building their professional skills, but also their networks and that project at the same time. We're in about the third iteration of this type of model. And, of course, we're learning a lot from doing this model, but we see that there's so much demand. When we opened up our last call for applications, we had six slots, and in about three days, we got 500 applications. So this is a good sign for us that we should continue doing things in this direction and keep tinkering on the concept.

What brought you into agriculture?
Genna Tesdall: My grandparents were farmers in rural Iowa. When I was around ten years old, my grandparents passed away and the farm was sold off. I think that had I been a little older, I would have been the one to say “please let me farm it”. But that was not how things worked out. Even so, I had always been really interested in farming and agriculture, and had this connection. That is what brought me to it. At the same time, I grew up in a university town. I had a lot of friends who came from international backgrounds. That led me to this this career in development cooperation.

Where do you see YPARD in ten years’ time?
Genna Tesdall: Personally, I would love to see being able to start more learning centres in communities to help make this vision of localisation happen more strongly. Our new strategy says that we want to work more on localisation at the country level, at the local level. What exactly does that work look like? I can imagine having great learning centres for people where people can come have an experience, learn more about different agricultural techniques and connect. We have these models all around the world, but there's still so much need for them. They sound like such a simple idea, but there are still so many areas that don't have them. Sometimes we don't have to invent something crazy and new, we just have to do something well.

This is an abridged and edited version of an interview first published at www.foodfortransformation.org. Genna Tesdall was interviewed by Jan Rübler.

Further reading:

Rural 21 Dossier on "Youth"

“A synergy is created when we combine Indigenous knowledge with modern technologies,” said lead author Dr Gilbert Nchongboh Chofong, Senior Research Associate at the Julius Kühn-Institut in Brunswick/Germany. “Our review shows that by using a combined, participatory approach, focusing on traditional techniques and modern approaches, stakeholders can unite to improve disease management, strengthen sustainable agriculture, and build more resilient food systems across Africa now and in future.”

Local communities have long identified disease-resistant traits in plant varieties, cultivating them through seed selection, conventional breeding and intercropping. Today, modern research employs smart breeding techniques (e.g. screening for molecular markers) that develop genetically improved crops for enhanced plant yield and resistance to plant viruses and other diseases. By integrating techniques, embracing both traditional wisdom and cutting-edge approaches, the strategy aims to improve plant health, reduce food shortage and foster economic growth in Africa.

Broadening the application of the One Plant Health strategy

Furthermore, the strategy can be applied to address broader environmental problems. An integrated approach can help to tackle challenges such as deforestation, land degradation, soil pollution and water scarcity, the authors maintain.

Collaboration is key to the strategy, which emphasises coordinated efforts among diverse participants, including researchers, farmers, local communities and policy-makers.

Strengthening the integration of Plant Heath in One Health

The paper aims to promote the integration of plant health and phytopathology into the One Health concept and encourage practices in agroecology to address broader health challenges. By researching the interconnectedness of human, animal and ecological well-being, the study explains how we can better limit the impact of emerging plant pathogens on health in general. Plant health remains underrepresented within One Health, making the study particularly important within the framework, the authors stress.

(CABI/wi)

Full paper reference:

One Plant Health Concept: Addressing emerging plant viruses and food security in Africa.

More information:

The “One Health" Concept of WHO

More about CABI Digital Library

Rural 21 issue no 4/2020 : One Health

Rural 21 issue no 1/2024: Indigenous peoples - why rights and resources matter
 

In his opening remarks, Boris Erg, Director of the European Regional Office of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), emphasised the need to join forces to protect nature and stressed the importance of Bonn as a “global hub for sustainability”. The city’s role in addressing the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, and particularly in supporting the three Rio Conventions, adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro/Brazil in 1992, was also emphasised by CIFOR-ICRAF Chief Executive Officer Elaine Ubalijoro, who noted that climate, biodiversity and land were inseparable, and that landscapes were essential to all three aspects.

Boris Erg (IUCN) opening the meeting. Photo: Louise Bazelaire/IUCN

In the panel session, Andrea Meza Murillio, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), noted that the current large number of political crises were making dialogue between NGOs, governments and other actors all the more important. “More efforts and more commitment are needed,” Murillo said. “Above all, the connections between the Rio conventions have to be understood to enable planning in a more integrated way.” She gave the example of a single plan presented to the three Conventions setting out from the perspective of land. “It is important to know where measures are to be taken,” Murillo emphasised. “Land brings cohesion. It has to be protected, also with regard to land-use changes leading to emissions. Furthermore, dialogue is needed when it comes to rangelands and pastoralists.” Murillo also emphasised the need for policies to achieve coherence and synergies with view to lasting system change.

Better alignment needed

Robert Spaull of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPDES) emphasised that given the large amount of evidence available, an evidence gap did not exist generally regarding the issues addressed by the Rio Conventions. Spaull also referred to strong ambition on the part of the parties involved to achieve the goals the conventions were working towards. “However, delivering on these goals is fragmented and often inefficient,” he noted, adding that “policies and efforts across sectors must be better aligned to avoid counterproductive overlaps and achieve global targets”. Backing Murillo’s statements, Spaull maintained that achieving true progress required changing both policies and the underlying practices, mindsets and approaches driving climate, biodiversity and land-use decisions.

Damon James of UNFCCC underlined the importance of the Paris Agreement as a multilateral, universal framework for progress. “It is important as a driver, and it has reshaped response,” James noted. “Nearly every country is now part of the effort and has made progress, also through the national climate plans.” He also referred to the increasingly important role of renewables in the energy sector. Nevertheless, plans had to be more interlinked. Referring to projections presented at the UNFCCC Conference in Belém/Brazil in 2025 that temperatures are set to rise by 2.5° C this century, James stressed the urgent need for countries to accelerate shifts to clean energy and to strengthen their national climate plans. He agreed with Spaull that implementation was lagging and emphasised the significance of transformation across sectors and of coordinating isolated, sectoral efforts.

Linking Indigenous and local knowledge with science

Other aspects taken up in the subsequent discussion included tension between various actors in transformation processes. Referring to relations between local communities and Indigenous Peoples, Murillio reported that efforts were being made to align the role of local communities as stewards of landscapes with Indigenous Peoples’ organisations. More discussion was required, e.g. regarding critical minerals, instead of addressing such issues in silo approaches. James emphasised the importance of just transition pathways. And Spaull stressed the importance of accessing the widest diversity of knowledge available. Here, it was vital to focus on linking Indigenous and local knowledge with science. Dialogue had to be established between Indigenous Peoples and science.

Further issues in the discussion included assessing which elements of an individual Rio Convention could be adopted by the respective other two Conventions. Conflicting issues were also referred to, such as the importance of growing more forests while bearing in mind the threat of invasive species. It was observed that forests indeed play a role in all three Rio Conventions.

Communicating the context of the Rio Conventions to the broader public was another key aspect at the meeting. Here, the role of media reporting was stressed in pushing for climate action and pressuring governments to make more efforts. It was important to demonstrate what civil society was doing, and that generally, people did care about climate and were taking action on climate issues.

Supporting governments in planning and taking action across different sectors was a further issue in the discussion. Here, the importance of providing knowledge and guidance was stressed, also with regard to the key role of science and research. Safeguarding funding to ensure that multiple goals were delivered simultaneously was another aspect addressed in the context of a transformative approach in tackling the issues concerning the Rio Conventions.   

Mike Gardner is a free-lance journalist based in Bonn, Germany and is German, Swiss and Austrian Correspondent for University World News.
Contact: mike.gardner(at)zaehlwerk.net   

Further reading:

Rural 21 no 4/2024: Land matters

Rural 21 no 1/2024: Indigenous people – why rights and resources matter

Rural 21 no 2/2021: Biodiversity

IWMI explains that the agreement is part of the Solar Energy for Agricultural Resilience (SoLAR) project. Led by IWMI and supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the SoLAR project aims to unlock investments to scale solar energy solutions for agriculture. Now in its second phase, SoLAR operates across India and Bangladesh in South Asia and Ethiopia and Kenya in East Africa.

Agriculture is a major driver of Ethiopia’s economy, and solar irrigation is increasingly seen as a viable option to support rural livelihoods. Ethiopia’s entry into SoLAR comes as the country accelerates efforts to expand clean irrigation.

Through this new partnership, IWMI and ESEDA are working to integrate solar energy into national programmes. They will test gender-inclusive financing models and generate on-field evidence through pilot demonstrations. Furthermore, IWMI researchers are going to introduce knowledge-sharing platforms to improve food security and advance climate adaptation.

Collaboration in research and knowledge exchange

IWMI and ESEDA are collaborating in research on integrating solar technologies into water resource management, too. The focus is on innovations in climate-resilient agriculture and efficient irrigation systems. The partnership also aims to facilitate knowledge exchange through training and capacity-building for farmers, technicians and policy-makers, strengthening awareness and adoption of best practices in solar-powered irrigation.

Piloting PPP businesss models

The Country Project Management Committee (CPMC), of which ESEDA is a member, is a national-level coordination body established under IWMI’s SoLAR project. The CPMC guides implementation, ensures alignment with government priorities and facilitates coordination among key stakeholders, including public institutions, research organisations and private sector actors in Ethiopia. One key component of this collaboration is private sector engagement. IWMI and ESEDA are working together to forge partnerships with private sector actors and pilot Public–Private Partnership (PPP) business models.

These pilots aim to demonstrate the economic viability of solar-powered irrigation solutions and help unlock investment for scaling access to climate-resilient and solar-powered irrigation solutions, says IWMI.
(IWMI/wi)

More information:

Link to SoLAR: Solar Irrigation for Agricultural Resilience

Rural 21 no 01/2020: Water for food and agriculture 

Substantial cuts since 2022

“The ongoing cuts by the Federal Government are a moral failure and send a disastrous signal,” says Thorsten Klose-Zuber, Secretary-General of the NGO Help – Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe, because: “Already, around 6.8 million people have lost access to vital support as a result of the Federal Government’s cuts to date.”

Between 2022 and 2026, funding for humanitarian aid was already cut from 3.14 billion euros to 1.05 billion euros – a reduction of almost 70 per cent. The BMZ has also had to reduce its budget by more than 30 per cent since 2022. Among other things, this means cuts to reconstruction efforts in conflict zones. “This work is crucial to providing people in crisis regions with long-term prospects and financial independence,” Klose-Zuber stresses. Cutting funding for this not only costs lives but also jeopardises the stabilisation of entire regions in acute crises.

It is currently unclear to what extent humanitarian emergency aid will once again be affected by the cuts at the Foreign Office. What is certain, however, is that the budgetary parameters for the next three years leave no scope for adequate funding of humanitarian aid.

At least 2.8 billion euros for humanitarian aid

An estimated 239 million people world-wide are dependent on humanitarian aid. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, as of now, only ten per cent of the funds required to meet these needs has been allocated for 2026. According to a study recently published in The Lancet, the collapse in official development assistance (ODA) funding could result in up to 9.4 million additional people dying by 2030.

In view of the critical situation and the vast needs, the development organisation ONE and the umbrella organisation for development and humanitarian organisations, VENRO, are calling on the German government to fulfil its international responsibilities and increase funding for development cooperation and humanitarian aid in the 2027 budget. The two organisations state  that the BMZ requires a budget of at least 11.2 billion euros for the coming year, and that funding for humanitarian aid has to rise to at least 2.8 billion euros.

(ONE/VENRO/sri)

By Hannah Ameye and Vivien Hülsen

Africa is the fastest urbanising region globally. Villages are turning into towns, cities are expanding, and a rising share of people now live somewhere between a small market town and a bustling megacity. This has a direct effect on how people eat.

The conventional wisdom has been that urban households eat better thanks to more diverse diets and less hunger. But the situation is considerably more complicated, and effects depend on who you’re assessing. Our research, based on individual-level data from Malawi, paints a more nuanced picture of how diets shift along the rural-urban gradient.

More food, but not always better food

Our study tracks food consumption and nutrient adequacy for over 2,200 individuals, differentiating between men, women, adolescents and children, across a steep rural-to-urban gradient in Malawi's Central Region. We use satellite nightlight imagery as a continuous measure of urbanisation, allowing our assessment to move beyond a simple rural-urban binary.

First, we find that overall calorie intake rises substantially with urbanisation. This is cause for optimism in a setting with high levels of undernourishment. Further, people in more urban areas consume more animal-sourced foods, legumes, and oils and fats, which translates into better adequacy of carbohydrates, protein, fats, iron, zinc and vitamin B12.

However, it is not just the consumption of healthy and micronutrient-dense foods that increases. In the most urbanised areas, consumption of unhealthy food such as refined grains, deep-fried snacks, sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages and processed foods rises sharply. Simultaneously, intake of whole grains, dark green leafy vegetables, fruits and nuts declines. The result is a diet that is higher in calories and some key nutrients, but whose overall composition does not improve, and for some micronutrients even worsens.

Women, children and adolescents bear the brunt

One of our most novel contributions is the ability to assess how diets change for individuals, which reveals that not all household members are affected in the same way. While men experience increases in a broad range of foods with urbanisation, including some unhealthy foods like sugar-sweetened beverages, women, adolescents and children suffer the sharpest deterioration in relative diet quality.

Adolescents, for instance, show the largest increase in consumption of refined grains and deep-fried foods of any group (see Figure below).

Effects of urbanisation on unhealthy food group consumption (g/day)

Note: The graph shows the regression results of the effects of urbanisation, proxied by nightlight intensity, on the consumption of unhealthy food groups. The bar length indicates the strength of the relationship, with insignificant results at the 10% level highlighted in grey.

Children and adolescents in highly urbanised areas also consume significantly more sweets and juice than their rural counterparts, while eating fewer whole grains, fruits and leafy vegetables that are the foundation of nutritious diets (see Figure below). For both, the strong improvements in macronutrient adequacy with urbanisation are not accompanied by equally strong increases in calcium or vitamin adequacy. One exception is vitamin B12, which is driven by higher animal product consumption.

Effects of urbanisation on healthy food group consumption (g/day)

Note: The graph shows the regression results of the effects of urbanisation, proxied by nightlight intensity, on the consumption of unhealthy food groups. The bar length indicates the strength of the relationship, with insignificant results at the 10 per cent level highlighted in grey.

Women show similar trends with significantly higher consumption of refined grains, starches and fried foods compared to men, whilst improvements in meat consumption and associated nutrients remains lower. The shift away from traditional, nutrient-rich staples towards processed convenience foods appears to hit the young and female members of households hardest.

This matters enormously given Malawi's existing burden of malnutrition. Female overweight and obesity are rising quickly, with obesity among women now exceeding rates of female undernutrition. Urban growth, if unmanaged, risks accelerating this trend while leaving pockets of micronutrient deficiencies untouched.

What drives the change? Income and food environments

We further explore the factors behind these dietary shifts. We find evidence of two key pathways through which urbanisation changes diets: rising household income and changing food environments.

With changing food environments in urban areas, vegetables are often considered inferior food. 
Photo: Vivien Hülsen

Income is the single most important driver. With rising income-generating opportunities in urban areas, purchasing power rises and food spending changes. In settings of high undernutrition, even modest income gains tend to increase food consumption broadly, including both nutritious and less healthy options. Access to a wider variety of foods, and particularly animal-sourced foods, in urban markets also plays a positive role for some micronutrients.

But changing food environments introduce risks as well. Urban markets offer not only greater variety but also a proliferation of cheap, energy-dense processed foods. Preferences shift, too. In Malawi, animal-sourced foods and processed snacks are desirable, while the opposite holds true for vegetables, often considered inferior foods. These attitudes, which intensify with urbanisation, can undermine dietary quality even as incomes rise.

Policy implications: act now, act specifically

Malawi is at a tipping point, similarly to many other sub-Saharan African countries. Urban food environments still contain many nutritious traditional options, with street vendors selling roasted nuts, fresh fruits and traditional dishes. But this window will narrow as globalised fast food and ultra-processed products continue to penetrate lower-income markets.

What is needed is double-duty policies: interventions that simultaneously address undernutrition and prevent the rise of overweight and non-communicable diseases. These cannot be one-size-fits-all. Given the distinct vulnerabilities of women, adolescents and children, policies must be tailored by demographic group.

Practically, this points to several areas of action. Urban planning should prioritise maintaining (and expanding) access to food markets where nutritious foods are available, affordable and safe, including traditional and informal food vendors, while regulating the expansion of cheap, energy-dense processed foods that disproportionately affect women, children and adolescents. Addressing food preferences and the desirability associated with different foods may require more targeted campaigns.

Hannah Ameye is a senior researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, Germany.
Contact: hameye(at)uni-bonn.de

Vivien Hülsen is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at the University of Göttingen, Germany.
Contact: vivien.huelsen(at)uni-goettingen.de

This article is based on: Hülsen V., Ameye H. & Qaim M. (2026). Urbanization and individual dietary quality: Insights from Malawi. Habitat International 172, 103794.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2026.103794

Further reading:

Rural 21 Dossier on "Food security and nutrition"

Rural 21, issue 03/2020: Changing times, changing diets

Rural 21, issue 04/2018: Rural-urban linkages

“Safe climatic spaces” threatened

The study identifies “safe climatic spaces” for cattle, sheep and goat grazing. To date, these agricultural systems have thrived within certain ranges of temperature (from −3 to 29°C), rainfall (between 50 and 2,627 millimetres per year), humidity (from 39 to 67 per cent) and wind speeds (between 1 and 6 metres per second). 

“Climate change will shift and significantly contract these spaces globally, leaving fewer spaces for animals to graze. Importantly, much of these changes will be felt in countries that already experience hunger, economic and political instability, and higher levels of gender inequity,” commented lead author Chaohui Li, PIK researcher at the time the study was conducted, and now with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Spain.

A challenge for traditional farming systems

“Grassland-based grazing is highly dependent on the environment. What we see is that climate change is going to reduce the spaces in which grazing can thrive, fundamentally challenging farming practices that have existed for centuries,” commented Maximilian Kotz, another of the study’s co-authors and researcher at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and PIK.

Africa a hotspot for impacts on grazing

The authors highlight that Africa will be particularly vulnerable. Grasslands in Africa could decline by 16 per cent in a low emissions scenario, or by up to 65 per cent in a future in which fossil fuels continue to expand, as temperatures on the continent already sit at the upper end of the safe climatic spaces identified as suitable for grazing. 

As temperatures rise, the climate niches currently supporting critical grazing regions in the Ethiopian highlands, the East African Rift Valley, the Kalahari Basin and the Congo Basin will shift southward. Because the African landmass terminates at the Southern Ocean, these suitable temperature belts would eventually extend beyond the continent's edge, resulting in a loss of viable grazing land. 

Adaptation strategies soon no longer effective?

“This shift away from what we’re identifying as the safe climatic space really challenges the efficacy of adaptation strategies that have been used in places such as Africa in times of hardship, such as switching species or migrating herds. The changes are just too big for that,” said Prajal Pradhan, assistant professor of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, PIK researcher and a co-author of the study. 

“Reducing emissions by rapidly moving away from fossil fuels is the best strategy we have to minimise these potentially existential damages for livestock farming,” Li concluded.

(PIK/wi)

Link to study:

Li, C., Kotz, M., Pradhan P., Wu, X., Hu, Y., Li, Z., Chen, G., (2026): Climate change drives a decline in global grazing systems. PNAS. 

Expressed in financial terms, the report says that many societies have not only overspent their annual renewable water “income” from rivers, soils and snowpack, they have depleted long-term “savings” in aquifers, glaciers, wetlands, and other natural reservoirs. This has resulted in a growing list of compacted aquifers, subsided land in deltas and coastal cities, vanished lakes and wetlands, and irreversibly lost biodiversity.

“Investment in water is also investment in mitigating climate change, biodiversity loss, and desertification.”

A systemic challenge

While not every basin and country is water-bankrupt, Madani says that “enough critical systems around the world have crossed these thresholds. These systems are interconnected through trade, migration, climate feedbacks and geopolitical dependencies, so the global risk landscape is now fundamentally altered.”

A simple illustration of water income and water expenses in a human–water system. Water bankruptcy is the outcome of both insolvency and irreversibility conditions, i.e., when water use (expenditure) exceeds water supply (renewable and non-renewable assets) for an extended period resulting in irreparable damages to the underlying natural capital that contributes to water production and stability of the hydrological cycle.
Source: UNO-INWEH

Hotspots

• In the Middle East and North Africa region, high water stress, climate vulnerability, low agricultural productivity, energy-intensive desalination, and sand and dust storms intersect with complex political economies.
• In parts of South Asia, groundwater-dependent agriculture and urbanisation have produced chronic declines in water tables and local subsidence.
• In the American Southwest, the Colorado River and its reservoirs have become symbols of over-promised water.

Vulnerability to water-related challenges

Baseline vulnerability of different nations to water-related challenges. This index reflects the susceptibility of a region to water-related challenges, considering its environmental, social, and economic conditions. Map produced based on data from Water Resources Vulnerability Monitor.
Source: UNU-INWEH

A shared global risk

“Millions of farmers are trying to grow more food from shrinking, polluted, or disappearing water sources. Without rapid transitions toward water-smart agriculture, water bankruptcy will spread rapidly,” Madani says, continuing: “Agriculture accounts for the vast majority of freshwater use, and food systems are tightly interconnected through trade and prices. When water scarcity undermines farming in one region, the effects ripple through global markets, political stability, and food security elsewhere. This makes water bankruptcy not a series of isolated local crises, but a shared global risk that demands a new type of response: bankruptcy management, not crisis management.”

“ In the fragmented world we live in, water can become a powerful focus for cooperation and for aligning national security with international priorities”

A world in the red

Drawing on global datasets and recent scientific evidence, the report presents a stark statistical overview of trends, the overwhelming majority caused by humans:

• Billions of people are living with chronic water insecurity. Around 2.2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water, 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation, and nearly 4 billion face severe water scarcity for at least one month each year. Almost three-quarters of the world’s population live in countries classified as water insecure or critically water insecure.
   
• Surface waters and wetlands are shrinking on a massive scale. More than half of the world’s large lakes have lost water since the early 1990s, affecting about one-quarter of the global population that relies on them directly. Over the last five decades, humanity has lost roughly 410 million hectares of natural wetlands, almost the land area of the European Union. This includes about 177 million hectares of inland marshes and swamps, roughly the size of Libya or seven times the area of the United Kingdom. The loss of ecosystem services from these wetlands is valued at over 5.1 trillion US dollars, similar to the combined GDP of around 135 of the world’s poorest countries.
   
• Groundwater depletion and land subsidence show that hidden reserves are being exhausted. Around 70 per cent of the world’s major aquifers show long-term declines. Land subsidence linked to groundwater over-pumping now affects more than six million square kilometres, almost five per cent of the global land area, and nearly two billion people. This permanently reduces storage and increases flood risk in many cities, deltas and coastal zones.

Number of water-related conflicts 

Annual number of water-related conflicts worldwide. The chart highlights an increase in number of water-related conflict incidents over time. Chart produced based on data from the Water Conflict Chronology, The World's Water.
Source: UNU-INWEH

• Water quality degradation further reduces usable water and accelerates bankruptcy. Growing loads of untreated wastewater, agricultural runoff, industrial pollution and salinisation are degrading rivers, lakes and aquifers. Even where volumes appear sufficient on paper, the fraction of water that is safe for drinking, irrigation, and ecosystems continues to shrink.
   
• The cryosphere is melting, eroding a critical long-term water buffer. In multiple locations, the world has already lost more than 30 per cent of its glacier mass since 1970. Some mountain ranges risk losing functional glaciers within decades, undermining water security for hundreds of millions of people who depend on rivers fed by glacier and snowmelt.
   
• Farmers and food systems sit at the very heart of Global Water Bankruptcy. Roughly 70 per cent of global freshwater withdrawals is used for agriculture, much of it in the Global South. Groundwater provides about 50 per cent of domestic water use and over 40 per cent of irrigation water worldwide. Both drinking water and food production now depend heavily on aquifers that are being depleted faster than they can realistically recharge.
   
• Global food production is increasingly exposed to water decline and degradation. About three billion people and more than half of global food production are concentrated in areas where total water storage is already declining or unstable. More than 170 million hectares of irrigated cropland, about the combined land area of France, Spain, Germany and Italy, are under high or very high water stress. Salinisation has degraded roughly 82 million hectares of rainfed cropland and 24 million hectares of irrigated cropland, eroding yields in key global breadbaskets.

Share of agriculture from total water withdrawals 

Agricultural water withdrawals as a share of total water withdrawals. The map shows the proportion of water withdrawn by each country for agriculture relative to combined agricultural, industrial, and domestic water withdrawals. Map produced based on data from AQUASTAT, FAO.
Source: UNU-INWEH

• Drought impacts are becoming steadily more human-made and extremely costly. The report identifies a growing pattern of anthropogenic drought, meaning water deficits caused by overuse and degradation rather than natural variability alone. These impacts already cost around 307 billion US dollars per year, more than the annual GDP of almost three-quarters of United Nations Member States.

A call to reset the global water agenda

The report warns that the current global water agenda – largely focused on drinking water, sanitation and incremental efficiency improvements – is no longer fit for purpose in many places and calls for a new global water agenda that:

• formally recognises the state of water bankruptcy,
• recognises water as both a constraint and an opportunity for meeting climate, biodiversity, and land commitments,
• elevates water issues in climate, biodiversity, and desertification negotiations, development finance, and peacebuilding processes,
• embeds water-bankruptcy monitoring in global frameworks, using Earth observation, AI, and integrated modelling, and
• uses water as a catalyst to accelerate cooperation between the UN Member States.

“A practical and cooperative focus on water offers a way to connect urgent local needs with long-term global goals.”

In practical terms, managing water bankruptcy requires governments to focus on the following priorities:

• preventing further irreversible damage such as wetland loss, destructive groundwater depletion, and uncontrolled pollution;
• rebalancing rights, claims, and expectations to match degraded carrying capacity;
• supporting just transitions for communities whose livelihoods must change;
• transforming water-intensive sectors, including agriculture and industry, through crop shifts, irrigation reforms, and more efficient urban systems;
• building institutions for continuous adaptation, with monitoring systems linked to threshold-based management.

A matter of justice

The report underlines that water bankruptcy is not merely a hydrological problem, but a justice issue with deep social and political implications requiring attention at the highest levels of government and multilateral cooperation. The burdens fall disproportionately on smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples, low-income urban residents, women and youth while the benefits of overuse often accrue to more powerful actors.

A driver of fragility, displacement and conflict

“Water bankruptcy is becoming a driver of fragility, displacement, and conflict,” says UN Under-Secretary-General Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of UNU. “Managing it fairly – ensuring that vulnerable communities are protected and that unavoidable losses are shared equitably – is now central to maintaining peace, stability, and social cohesion.”

“Bankruptcy management requires honesty, courage and political will,” Madani adds. “We cannot rebuild vanished glaciers or reinflate acutely compacted aquifers. But we can prevent further loss of our remaining natural capital and redesign institutions to live within new hydrological limits.”

“Targeted investment in water can address the immediate concerns of communities and nations while also advancing the objectives of the Rio Conventions (climate, biodiversity, desertification).”

Upcoming milestones as the 2026 and 2028 UN Water Conferences, the end of the Water Action Decade in 2028, and the 2030 SDG deadline, for example provided critical opportunities to implement this shift, Madani says.

(UNU-INWEH/sri)

More information:

Link to report

Acute food insecurity – ten countries in focus

The report reveals that acute food insecurity remains highly concentrated. Ten countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen – accounted for two-thirds of all people facing high levels of acute hunger.  Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen experienced the largest food crises regarding the share and absolute number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity.

At the most extreme end, famine was identified in Gaza Governorate and parts of Sudan in 2025 by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, marking the first time since the GRFC began reporting that famine has been confirmed in two separate contexts in the same year. This signals a sharp escalation in the most extreme forms of hunger and malnutrition, driven primarily by conflict and restricted humanitarian access, and exacerbated by forced displacement, the report states.

Severity of acute food insecurity the second highest on record

According to the report, in 2025, 266 million people in 47 countries/territories experienced high levels of acute food insecurity. The severity of acute food insecurity was the second highest on record, with the share of people facing extreme hunger remaining at one of the most critical levels seen in the past two decades. Nine times more people are facing catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5) than in 2016.

At the same time, acute malnutrition remains a critical and growing concern. In 2025 alone, 35.5 million children were acutely malnourished, including nearly ten million suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Nearly half of food-crisis contexts also faced nutrition crises, reflecting the combined effects of inadequate diets, disease burden and breakdowns in essential services. In the most severe contexts, including Gaza, Myanmar, South Sudan and Sudan, these compounded shocks have resulted in extreme levels of malnutrition and elevated risks of mortality.

More than 85 million people forcibly displaced

In addition, forced displacement continued to exacerbate food insecurity. More than 85 million people were forcibly displaced across food-crisis contexts in 2025, including internally displaced people, asylum-seekers and refugees with people forced to flee consistently facing higher levels of acute hunger than host communities.

“Conflict remains the primary driver of acute food insecurity and malnutrition for millions around the world, with outright famine emerging in two conflict-affected areas in the same year – an unprecedented development,” says United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in the foreword to the report. “This report is a call to action urging global leaders to summon the political will to rapidly scale up investment in lifesaving aid, and work to end the conflicts that inflict so much suffering on so many.”

Outlook for 2026 remains bleak

Looking ahead, the report warns that severe levels of acute food insecurity remain critical in multiple contexts in 2026. Ongoing conflicts, climate variability and global economic uncertainty – including risks to food markets – are likely to sustain or worsen conditions in many countries.

In particular, while a full assessment is premature, the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East – in addition to causing further displacement in a region already hosting millions of forcibly displaced and returnees – exposes countries/territories with food crises to both direct and indirect risks of global agrifood market disruptions.

Immediate food security implications are mainly regional, given the Middle East’s dependence on food imports, but are having immediate impacts on the purchasing power of already-vulnerable communities as energy and logistics costs rise. At the same time, Gulf countries are major energy and fertiliser exporters, and continued transport disruptions could create wider spillover risks for global agrifood markets, the report warns.

Declining funding threatens response capacity

This year’s report also highlights the sharp decline in humanitarian and development financing for food crises. Funding for food crises responses and for food security and nutrition has fallen back to levels last seen nearly a decade ago, limiting the ability of governments and humanitarian actors to respond effectively. Data collection has also been impacted, with fewer countries able to produce reliable and disaggregated food security and nutrition estimates.

Call to action

The Global Network Against Food Crises underscores that food and nutrition crises are no longer temporary shocks but persistent, predictable and increasingly concentrated in protracted contexts. Addressing them requires boosting sustained, coordinated action that reduces humanitarian needs, builds resilience and tackles root causes. Governments, donors, international financial institutions and partners must scale up investment in resilient agrifood systems, climate adaptation, rural livelihoods and inclusive economic opportunities, while strengthening early warning systems and enabling anticipatory action, the GNAFC claims. Preventing the most severe outcomes, including famine, also depends on ensuring safe humanitarian access, upholding international humanitarian law and reinforcing political commitment to address conflict-driven hunger.

(GNAFC/sri)

More information:

Link to report

Global Network Against Food Crises

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system

These are just some of the results presented in the report The Status of Women in Agrifood Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, launched in mid-April at the first World Food Forum – Africa in Rome/ Italy. The report, developed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich (NRI)/UK and African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), presents new findings and data on women’s labour, food security, nutrition and wellbeing in agrifood systems across the region. It also provides policy and investment recommendations to close gender gaps and level the playing field in food production, processing, distribution and consumption.

Collective solutions for systemic change needed

The report highlights significant challenges faced by women across the agrifood sector, including limited access to and control over natural resources and greater probability than men of experiencing food insecurity. Women in the region also have limited access to social protection coverage, with only 13 per cent of women receiving cash benefits and less than 7 per cent being able to access pensions.

Nevertheless, women continue to navigate and overcome these obstacles through resilience, adaptability and innovation. This is done by diversifying their livelihoods, establishing community savings and credit associations, and implementing agroecological practices, among others.

“Women’s capacity to cope is often a response to structural failures rather than a choice, and it must not serve as a substitute for meaningful policy reform,” said Clara Park, FAO Senior Gender Officer and one of the authors of the report. “Our focus must shift from celebrating individual endurance to implementing the collective solutions that drive systemic change.”

Tackling the root causes of gender inequalities

Based on the evidence, the report presents policy, programme and investment recommendations for more gender-just agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa. The proposed roadmap focuses on tackling the root causes of gender inequalities for lasting change. Specifically, it calls for the implementation of gender-transformative approaches to challenge discriminatory social norms, the scaling up of social protection for formal and informal workers, and the establishment of stronger legal frameworks to prevent and address gender-based violence across agrifood systems.

The report also highlights that closing the productivity and wage gaps in Africa could increase regional GDP by 2.58 per cent – 53 billion US dollars – and reduce food insecurity by 3.79 per cent.

“Investing in women farmers is not a side conversation. It is central to ending hunger, to building climate resilience, and to creating a more just and inclusive Africa. If this International Year of the Woman Farmer is to mean anything, it must be the moment we move beyond words into action, into impact, and into transformation,” said Chief and FAO Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Africa Fatmata Binta at the closure of the event.

(FAO/sri)

Link to report

Is there a chance of regeneration, and can not only trees but also the unique diversity of animal species return to cleared areas? These questions were addressed by the ‘Reassembly’ research group led by the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany. The findings have now been published in the journal Nature.

The answer is surprisingly clear and encouragingly positive. Trees grow back quickly on agricultural land as soon as land use ceases. Also, a wide variety of animal species return. Biodiversity recovered to more than 90 per cent of its original level within 30 years, the study reveals. During this period, as many as three-quarters of the animal and plant species typical of primary forest reappeared. This applies at least to the study area in the region Chocó in north-western Ecuador, an area where few primary forests and larger secondary forests remain. These form the reservoir for many returning animal and plant species.

Researchers from more than 30 universities and institutions have, for the first time, conducted a detailed study of the natural regeneration of 16 different groups of organisms (animal, plant and bacterial species) along a regeneration gradient. A total of 62 sites were compared. For several decades these sites  have been protected by the Ecuadorian conservation organisation Jocotoco and integrated into a large nature reserve comprising actively used pastures and cacao plantations, secondary forests of varying ages that were formerly used as pastures and plantations, and untouched primary forests.

Ability to return to their original state

“As complex ecosystems and species-rich communities, rainforests demonstrate remarkable resilience and the ability to return to their original state,” explains lead author Timo Metz, who carried out and summarised the extensive analyses as part of his PhD at TU Darmstadt. “This stability has often been modelled theoretically, but until now it has not been demonstrated on the basis of such extensive empirical data.”

Senior author Nico Blüthgen, Professor of Ecology at TU Darmstadt and spokesperson for the ‘Reassembly’ research group, adds: “The many animal species that return quickly are not only beneficiaries of forest regeneration, but are also its key agents. Bats, monkeys and other mammals, as well as birds, return tree seeds to the cleared areas. Dung beetles bury the seeds in the soil. And hundreds of other animal species ensure pollination.”

Jocotoco Director Martin Schaefer, who initiated the study together with Blüthgen, emphasises: “Our findings that 75 per cent of species composition and 90 per cent of species diversity can recover within a single human generation through our own efforts show just how effectively we can protect nature.

A total of 41 researchers, mainly from Germany and Ecuador, contributed to this unprecedented study of more than 8,500 species. Previous studies in Central and South America have well documented that the original diversity and biomass of trees require more than 100 years to fully regenerate. For most animal species, however, it was largely unknown whether and how quickly they could recover.

Nature can recover effectively when protected

The new study revealed clear differences between species groups. While some mobile animal groups regenerated within just a few years, communities of invertebrates in the leaf litter or bacteria in the soil take much longer than tree species. A comparison of pastures and cacao plantations revealed shorter regeneration times for the latter. Thanks to plantation trees left on site that provide shade and foliage in the early stages rather than highly competitive pasture grasses, plantations may represent a starting advantage for many organisms.

Efforts to restore ecosystems are underway all over the world. The latest study provides compelling evidence of how quickly and effectively nature recovers when protected. Blüthgen, however, stresses the importance of conserving intact ecosystems as well: “The rate of deforestation in tropical forests is currently much higher than the rate of conservation measures – every year, four to six million hectares are lost world-wide. These annual losses are almost as high as the total area covered by all long-term restoration measures combined.”

(TU-Darmstadt/wi)

Reference:

Metz, Timo et al.: Biodiversity resilience in a tropical rainforest, in: „Nature”, 652/2026DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10365-2

More information:

Link to Reassembly research group

By Harsha Doriya

Globally, water is no longer viewed only as a natural resource or infrastructure asset. It is increasingly recognised as a social, economic and gender issue. According to UN Women, world-wide, an estimated 200 million hours a day is spent by women and girls collecting water. In India alone, National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data indicates that women are disproportionately responsible for domestic water collection, particularly in rural households without piped supply.

These burdens translate into lost education, reduced workforce participation and heightened health risks. The World Health Organization links adequate water and sanitation to maternal health challenges and preventable disease exposure. These impacts extend beyond access alone; they shape safety, income dignity and decision-making power.

As countries work towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 (Gender Equality) and 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), the focus is shifting from building isolated assets to designing systems that respond to lived realities. Yet planning frameworks often remain sectoral and asset-driven, overlooking how water intersects with safety, health, mobility and livelihoods. It is within this gap that Geographic Information System (GIS)-based planning becomes relevant. GIS-based planning has emerged as a powerful way to make this shift real, translating data into gender-responsive action from global commitments to local implementation.

Initial steps forward – linking employment with water conservation

Women’s economic participation in rural India has long been anchored in MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), a Government of India programme that provides guaranteed wage employment to rural households through public works and is one of the world’s largest gender-inclusive employment programmes in which women have consistently constituted over half of the workforce. MGNREGA established the foundation for linking employment with water conservation, roads, plantations, schools, Anganwadis (rural child care centres) and other community assets, demonstrating how public works can simultaneously support livelihoods and local development.

Building on this legacy, the recently introduced Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), a rural development initiative focused on durable infrastructure, livelihoods and climate-resilient village planning, strengthens the role of GIS enabled planning by emphasising durable, climate resilient rural infrastructure and integrated village development. Under this evolving framework, water-related works, core infrastructure and livelihood assets are planned using spatial data to ensure better alignment with habitations, work sites and service centres. This transition reinforces women’s roles not only as wage workers, but as central stakeholders in asset planning, implementation and monitoring, linking employment security with broader outcomes in water, health, mobility and income generation.

Understanding GIS – from maps to meaningful decisions

For many, GIS sounds technical. In practice, it is simply a way of bringing different kinds of information onto a single map, be it water sources, habitations, roads, schools, health centres, livelihoods or population groups. What makes GIS transformative is its ability to show how these elements overlap and interact. Traditional planning often treats water, housing, health and livelihoods as separate sectors. GIS changes this by enabling holistic planning, where water becomes one component of a wider development ecosystem. This matters particularly for women, whose daily lives cut across multiple systems from fetching water, caring for children and elders, earning incomes and accessing health services to participating in community institutions.

While MGNREGA successfully linked employment with water conservation and public asset creation, planning was often demand-driven and administratively segmented. GIS-enabled planning strengthens this approach by introducing spatial logic, analysing asset location optimisation, proximity to habitations and alignment with service centres to maximise impact.

Women participation in a local planning process under MGNREGS implementation.
Photo: SuWaVi/GIZ India

Under VB-G RAM G, assets are not created but strategically located using layered spatial data, ensuring that water structures, roads and livelihood assets are positioned where they reduce access gaps, travel time and service inequities. This marks a shift from asset quantity to spatial quality in rural development planning.

When viewed through a gender lens, GIS reveals not just infrastructure gaps, but systemic inequalities. The following sections illustrate how this plays out across health, safety, accountability and local governance.

Health pregnancy and care infrastructure

Water plays a critical role in maternal and child health, yet this connection is often under-planned. For many rural women, the burden of water collection contributes directly to what development economists term “time poverty” – the chronic stage of discretionary time due to unpaid care and domestic responsibilities. When safe water access improves, women reclaim time for education, income generation and participation in community institutions. GIS-based planning makes this visible by identifying villages where long travel distances compound maternal health and caregiving burdens.

GIS enables planners to layer pregnancy beneficiary data, health facilities, Anganwadis, nutrition centres, water supply and road connectivity on a single platform, revealing gaps that would otherwise remain invisible, For example, a health centre may exist but lack reliable water, or pregnant women may live in a village they must travel long distances to get to.

Such integrated planning directly supports national priorities under the National Health Mission, India’s flagship public health programme aimed at improving rural and maternal healthcare, and POSHAN Abhiyaan, the Government of India’s national nutrition mission focused on maternal and child health, improving hygiene, reducing infection risks and strengthening service delivery. As economist Amartya Sen observed: “Development is not about resources alone; it is about expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy.” GIS planning helps convert infrastructure into real freedoms, especially for women navigating pregnancy and case responsibilities.

Safety, housing, sanitation and dignity

Water infrastructure is closely tied to women’s safety and dignity. Poorly located water points or toilets can expose women to harassment or violence, particularly in the early morning or the evening. GIS planning allows these facilities to be located closer to homes, schools and public institutions, improving visibility, accessibility and security. Housing, toilets, drainage and water supply are increasingly planned together using GIS under programmes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMKSY), India’s rural housing scheme for providing safe and permanent homes, and Swachh Bharat Mission, a national programme focused on sanitation, toilets and clean living environments. This integration is critical. Toilets without water or houses without drainage fail to deliver dignity, especially for women managing menstruation, pregnancy, caregiving and household hygiene. GIS ensures that these components are not only built but built in the right place and sequence, turning infrastructure into lived well-being.

Digital monitoring and accountability

One key advancement enabled by GIS is digital and online monitoring of water and infrastructure assets. Through asset geotagging, each water source, pipeline and facility is digitally mapped and linked to service records. Dashboards that track functionality, service delivery and coverage allow faster identification of breakdowns and gaps. For women, this lowers dependence on informal intermediaries and improves grievance redressal.

Digital repair tracking systems reduce dependence on informal escalation channels. Instead of repeatedly negotiating with local intermediaries, women can raise concerns through structured grievance systems linked to geotagged assets. This shortens response time and reduces the social burden of follow-up.

Under programmes like the Jal Jeevan Mission (India’s flagship initiative to provide safe tap water to every rural household and where GIS is used to map water infrastructure and identify underserved habitations), digital monitoring supports transparency and strengthens women’s roles in Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSCs). For example, dashboard reviews of VWSC meetings or public display of service data in Gram Sabha sessions (village-level public meetings where all adult residents can participate in local decision-making) allow communities to verify functionality and raise concerns in real time. When data is visible and regularly updated, gender-relevant concerns such as service reliability near schools, Anganwadis and health centres are harder to ignore and easier to act upon. Through Village  Water Sanitation Committees (VWSC), women are actively involved in interpreting local needs, monitoring service and decision-making. This combination of spatial data and women’s participation directly translates GIS planning into more gender-responsive water access on the ground.

GIS planning can also reshape who participates in planning. Women who are government officials and are trained as community resource persons, data collectors or barefoot planners gain technical skills and confidence, and maps make information accessible for meaningful engagement in Gram Sabha discussion and local forums. Rather than separating technical planning from local realities, GIS bridges engineers and communities within a shared evidence-based framework. Decision-making becomes evidence-based, inclusive and aligned with constitutional mandates under the 73^rd Amendment, reinforcing women’s leadership in local governance.

Women beneficiaries engaged in land development activities, strengthening soil productivity and rural livelihoods. 
Photo Credits: SuWaVi/GIZ India

When planning systems centre on women not just as workers, but as knowledge-holders and decision-makers, water infrastructure becomes a pathway to agency. Gender-responsive GIS planning must now move beyond the basic structures created so far and pilot initiatives, and must be institutionalised as a standard approach to inclusive development.

A multi-sectoral shift toward gender-responsive planning

What makes GIS planning truly effective is its ability to support convergence across sectors such as water, health, education, housing, rural development and livelihoods. Shared spatial data ensures that gender considerations are embedded in implementation, not added later. Different sectors increasingly recognise that gender-response outcomes depend on coordinated planning, not standalone interventions.

For example,  GIS contributes to gender responsive water management by making women's lived realities visible in planning such as distance to water sources, proximity to health and care services, as well as safety risks. It helps prioritise infrastructure placement based on these needs, ensuring better access, reduced drudgery and improved service delivery. Actively involvinged women in interpreting this data and in planning decisions directly strengthens their role in shaping more equitable and inclusive water systems. 

While GIS Planning has already demonstrated strong gender outcomes, its potential can be deepened through better gender-disaggregated data, greater participation of women in interpreting data and simpler, more accessible tools. The focus must remain on lived realities, not just mapped assets. Ultimately, GIS reminds us that water is a connector. When planned holistically, it supports safety, health, livelihoods, dignity and agency. And when women are placed at the centre of that planning, development moves closer to equity, not just on maps but in everyday life.

Harsha Doriya is Junior Water Resources Advisor at Support to India’s Water Vision (SuWaVi), GIZ India. She is a Development and Policy Professional with over a decade of experience in working at the intersection of natural resource management, water security and sustainable food systems. Harsha has contributed to cross-sector policy dialogues, collaborating with government, multilateral, corporates and civil society institutions, and writes on sustainability and ecosystems.
Contact: harsha.harsha(at)giz.de

 Linkedin

Link to GIZ India Blog (Linkedin)

References:

• UNICEF: Collecting water is often a colossal waste of time for women and girls
• ORF: Water-poor equals time-poor: Gender in the Water Action Agenda
• Government of India: sarvekshna_99.pdf
• Government of India: Viksit Bharat - G RAM G Bill 2025. Press release
• Government of India: National Health Mission
• Government of India: Jal Jeevan Mission
• Esri India Blog: GIS Mapping Explained: Types & Applications 
• Yiktdhara: Welcome to Bhuvan | ISRO's Geoportal | Gateway to Indian Earth Observation
• Poshan Abhiyaan - Jan Andolan
• Developing Economics: Amartya Sen’s Work Shows Us the Human Cost of Capitalist Development 
• Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin
• Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation: Swachh Bharat Mission - Gramin,
• India Water Review: Centre aims to strengthen digital monitoring of rural water, sanitation schemes

"We are in an input crisis"

The latest FAO Food Price Index, which covers the month of March, is relatively stable thanks to ample supplies of most food commodities, especially cereals. But pressure is rising in April and will intensify in May, when farmers make decisions on whether to switch planting choices to adapt to fertiliser availability as well as whether to allocate more land and resources to biofuels to benefit from higher oil prices but curtailing global food supplies. 

“We are in an input crisis; we don’t want to make it a catastrophe,” says David Laborde, Director of FAO’s Agrifood Economics Division. “The difference depends on the actions we take.” The FAO urged all countries to closely ponder biofuel mandates and, above all, to avoid export restrictions on energy and fertilisers. 

Learning from the lessons of recent crises

Fertiliser and energy markets are inelastic, so prices can rise much more than changes in traded volume imply. Markets are likely to react very quickly if vessels do not move through the Strait soon, the FAO experts warn. Trade and export restrictions exacerbated food price spikes in past crises, as efforts to insulate domestic markets from world markets worsened global conditions.

Unlike natural disasters or climate stressors such as the natural climate phenomenon El Niño, the Strait of Hormuz blockade “is something governments can resolve and have to resolve”, FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero says. The risks today are notably greater than in 2022, Torero maintains, adding that conditions are present for a “perfect storm” if the current situation is also affected by a strong El Niño rivalling or exceeding the pandemic crisis.

Considering options for financial support

If the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz is not quickly ended, anticipatory actions should be considered, in particular asking multilateral institutions to provide financing to countries at risk of losing access to basic fertiliser inputs given their planting has started, Torero states. Here, the economist suggests the International Monetary Fund’s balance of payment facilities and the IMF Food Shock Window,  following the Food Import Financing Facility the FAO proposed in 2022, to be used as an input-financing facility allowing countries that need fertilisers today to get them quickly without triggering distorting subsidy competitions. According to him, the FAO has already developed a crop calendar-based prioritisation of countries based on when and how much fertiliser they need.  “The clock is ticking, and crop calendars put poorer countries most at risk of scarce and pricey fertiliser and energy inputs," the FAO Chief Economist maintains.

The World Food Programme warned as early as mid-March that a further 45 million people could go hungry by the summer if oil prices remained above 100 US dollars a barrel. The fertiliser crisis will make the situation even worse.

(FAO/sri)

More information:

FAO Food Price Index

Review of experience with the IMF Food Shock Window

By Gideon Tups, Chrstine Lang, Jan Börner and Daniel Braun

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz in March 2026 has once again exposed the vulnerability of economies and supply chains that depend on fossil resources. Energy prices have surged, fertiliser costs are rising as supplies from the Gulf are disrupted, and food security concerns are mounting in import-dependent countries. This is the third major supply shock after the Covid crisis in 2020 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – and a reminder that the structural risks of the current economic model extend well beyond carbon emissions, reaching into food systems, industrial production and rural livelihoods.

More urgently than ever, this situation calls for a political and societal focus on alternatives – and the bioeconomy offers precisely that. It is in this context that sustainable bioeconomic transformation must be acknowledged as a key global policy priority.

Not only does global bioeconomy governance contribute to climate and sustainability goals, it can also open pathways towards greater economic resilience, grounded in diversified production systems, cascading, circularity and local development through the efficient use of renewable resources. A bioeconomy that produces, utilises, and regenerates biological resources – and applies biological principles – can help diversify supply chains, close material cycles, strengthen regional value creation, and reduce dependence on volatile global commodity markets.

Notably, these are not distant promises but development pathways chosen by a growing number of countries already today. More than 60 countries have adopted bioeconomy strategies and policy frameworks in recent years, showcasing impactful examples of economically feasible modes of sustainable transformation.

A transformation pathway gaining momentum

Over the past decade, the bioeconomy has evolved from a research concept into a systemic transformation paradigm. Major international organisations – from the G20 and the UN to the World Economic Forum and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – recognise it as a strategic pillar for sustainable development and economic growth, as reflected in the G20's ten high-level principles for the bioeconomy (2024), the GFFA's recent focus on "Farming a Sustainable Bioeconomy" (2025), and the EU's updated “Strategy for a Competitive and Sustainable EU Bioeconomy” (2025).

Well-functioning bioeconomies are fundamentally systemic. They cut across sectors traditionally governed in silos – agrifood systems, industrial production, energy, health and environmental protection – promoting circularity and cascading use of biomass where the fossil-based linear economy leaves material flows open and resources underutilised. They draw on advanced biotechnology and artificial intelligence, but equally on Indigenous knowledge systems and local practices. These are not competing approaches but complementary dimensions of a transformation that must be both high-tech and place-based, both globally connected and locally rooted.

For many emerging economies, the bioeconomy represents an opportunity to industrialise sustainably and to create employment through local value addition. However, realising this potential requires equitable sharing of knowledge, innovation, technologies, funding and investment – and stable political commitment to sustainability as the defining principle rather than an afterthought.

The obstacle: many isolated voices and activities

Despite growing momentum, the bioeconomy landscape remains fragmented and insufficiently visible. Numerous valuable and impactful initiatives exist at global, regional and national levels – within industry, civil society, the public sector and academia. Today, they often operate in isolation, lacking systematic exchange via shared platforms that connect their efforts. Sectors that could reinforce each other work in silos. Regions that could learn from each other's experience in context-specific implementation lack the channels to do so effectively.

The consequences of this fragmentation are real. The bioeconomy's contributions to climate action, biodiversity conservation, and industrial and agrifood transformation and resilience are insufficiently communicated. At the same time, coherent governance mechanisms to support these contributions remain lacking. National policy frameworks frequently lag behind the systemic interconnections that the bioeconomy creates in practice. As a result, the multiple voices of the bioeconomy community – often with diverse interpretations of and approaches to the bioeconomy – are not sufficiently heard in global fora.

Towards a joint voice - a partnership for global bioeconomy

What is needed now is a concerted effort to build a global partnership – a shared platform where the diverse existing initiatives come together, exchange experiences, align their visions and communicate the need for and benefits of the bioeconomy more effectively to decision-makers in policy and the private sector, as well as the broader public.

The call for such a partnership is not new. The Communiqué of the Global Bioeconomy Summit 2024 in Nairobi explicitly called for the formation of a Global Bioeconomy Partnership to assist in sharing information and lessons learned across initiatives and world regions.

Building on this mandate, the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy (IACGB) aims to establish the partnership as an independent, authoritative platform for the global bioeconomy. Together with the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, the IACGB is currently developing an operational framework for the network-of-networks in a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH).

The guiding idea is simple: a network-of-networks. A platform that connects rather than replaces, that amplifies rather than centralises. One that ensures balanced and inclusive representation across sectors and world regions, facilitates the exchange of context-specific and diverse solutions, and helps the bioeconomy community speak with a more coherent voice on the global challenges of our time.

As delegates prepare to convene at the fifth Global Bioeconomy Summit in Dublin/Ireland on the 20^th–21^stOctober 2026, the case for joining forces could hardly be stronger. The current crisis is a reminder that building more resilient, sustainable and circular economies is not only an environmental imperative but a matter of shared economic security. The bioeconomy offers a credible pathway – but only if its many protagonists find ways to collaborate more effectively. The time for partnership is now.

Dr Gideon Tups is Senior Researcher at the Center of Development Research (ZEF) in Bonn. He currently coordinates the BioSummit project.
Prof Dr Christine Lang is an entrepreneur, microbiology professor at TU Berlin, and Co-Chair of the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy.
Prof Dr Jan Börner is a Professor for Economics of Sustainable Land Use and Bioeconomy at the University of Bonn and a senior researcher at ZEF.
Daniel Braun is a researcher at ZEF, where his work focuses on the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) and innovation in the bioeconomy.
Contact: gtups(at)uni-bonn.de

Further reading:

• GFFA 2025 – Farming a sustainable bioeconomy
• G20 reaches consensus and establishes High-Level principles on Bioeconomy
• EU: “Strategy for a Competitive and Sustainable EU Bioeconomy” (2025)
• 5th Global Bioeconomy Summit 2026

Rural 21 Dossier on "Bioeconomy"

By Veronica Mwaba and Wayne Coles

In the rural communities of Chipapa and Mount Makulu in Chilanga District, a stone’s throw away from the hustle and bustle of Zambia’s capital city Lusaka, a football match now begins with more than a whistle. It begins with facts.

Zambia continues to face a heavy HIV burden. The Zambia Demographic and Health Survey reported in 2018 that HIV prevalence among females aged 15-49 years was 14.2 per cent, compared to 7.5 per cent for males of the same age. But the country is making strides towards tackling the problem, according to 2025 figures. The country has achieved the 95–95–95 HIV treatment targets for the general population, with 98 per cent of people living with HIV aware of their status, and 98 per cent of those diagnosed receiving treatment. Meanwhile, 97 per cent of those on treatment are achieving viral suppression. 

The Ministry of Health also highlighted Zambia's success in reducing new HIV infections from 63,000 in 2010 to 30,000 in 2025, and cutting AIDS-related deaths by 73 per cent, from 26,000 to 15,000, over the same period. 

In rural and peri-urban compounds, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV, and substance abuse compound the risks facing adolescents – particularly girls. Against this backdrop, and following the popularity of the recent African Cup of Nations, Dziwa Science and Technology Trust (DSaT; see Box) turned to an unlikely but powerful ally: grassroots football.

A match that opens minds

On a sunlit pitch outside Lusaka, we handed out football shirts, shorts, balls and goalkeeper gloves to teenage boys and girls from Chipapa and Mount Makulu. The donation was intentional – but it was never just about the kit. Each short match was paired with age-appropriate, candid discussions on HIV prevention, sexual and reproductive health, behaviour change and even climate change. The equipment became a gateway to dialogue; the game created the safe space. Local media outlets such as Times of Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail, Sun FM and Prime TV amplified the message, turning neighbourhood matches into community-wide conversations. For DSaT, the strategy is deliberate and grounded in years of science communication work.

We know the statistics. We know the risks our girls face. But information alone is not enough. We must deliver science in spaces where young people feel safe, confident and seen. Football gives us that space. When girls come to play, they stay to listen – and when they listen, they begin to ask questions. Indeed, the initiative was designed to make prevention practical and relatable. You cannot talk about HIV, STDs or teenage pregnancy in isolation from young people’s daily lives. Sport builds trust. It builds self-belief. Once that trust exists, conversations about testing, condom use and healthy relationships become less intimidating and far more powerful.

Veronica Mwaba, Executive Director of DSaT (with microphone) speaking as part of the presentation
of football kit to girls at Chipapa, south of Lusaka, Zambia. Photo: DSaT

A track record in science communication

The Chilanga outreach did not emerge in isolation. Mwaba and DSaT have previously demonstrated how science advocacy can shape national conversations. During the Covid-19 pandemic, DSaT won a 19,782 US dollar grant to promote science journalism in Zambia – particularly responsible reporting of the Covid-19 pandemic. We delivered training to more than one hundred journalists at a time of widespread misinformation.

The initiative strengthened the capacity of newsrooms across the country to interpret scientific data, question sources rigorously and communicate public health guidance clearly. For DSaT, the lesson was clear: equip trusted intermediaries with credible science, and communities respond. Whether we are collaborating with journalists or young footballers, the principle is the same. You build capacity. You create confidence in science. And you ensure that information is accurate, accessible and relevant to people’s daily lives.

DSaT’s collaborative efforts also included working with CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International), supporting campaigns in Zambia such as efforts to raise awareness of cassava brown streak disease – a major threat to food security for smallholder farmers. That campaign combined media engagement, scientific expertise and community-level outreach – a model that now echoes in the “Soccer for Science” initiative. When we worked on cassava brown streak disease, we saw how communication can protect livelihoods. Today, we are applying the same principles to protect health. This may be a different issue, but it calls for the same commitment to evidence and impact.

Trusted voices, real conversations

The football model works because it rests on trust. Football is familiar, accessible and deeply woven into community life. When the Football Association of Zambia publicly endorsed the outreach, it added legitimacy – signalling that this was not a one-off event but part of a broader vision for youth development.

Before matches kicked off, University of Zambia students Joseph Kasolwe and Mathews Nyirenda addressed players and supporters. Kasolwe spoke plainly about HIV transmission, condom use, testing services and the importance of knowing one’s status. Nyirenda connected climate change and community resilience, reinforcing that collective action – on the field and off – strengthens wellbeing.

Members of the Zambian press turned out in force to cover the important message of how grassroots football
can serve as a model for HIV and sexual health awareness in rural Zambia. Photo: DSaT

These peer-led moments are critical. When university students speak, the girls see what is possible. They hear accurate information from people who are just a few years older than them. That relatability reduces stigma and replaces fear with understanding. A single workshop rarely changes behaviour. But regular training sessions, ongoing coaching and sustained media attention keep the message alive. The kit is not the end – it is the beginning of a relationship.

Why the model works — and why it can scale

The “Soccer for Science” approach has several built-in advantages that make it highly scalable across rural Zambia:

Access and familiarity. Football requires minimal infrastructure and attracts organic audiences. Matches create relaxed settings where adolescents feel comfortable asking questions about sex, HIV, STDs, and contraception – topics often stigmatised at home or in classrooms.

Repeated engagement. Unlike one-off health campaigns, donated kits and structured coaching sessions create continuity. Regular training becomes an entry point for ongoing education, reinforcing messages about condom use, consent, testing and treatment adherence.

Near-peer educators. University students and local coaches translate technical health information into relatable language. Adolescents are often more receptive to messages delivered by slightly older peers who share similar backgrounds.

Media amplification. Coverage by respected media outlets normalises discussions of HIV and sexual health, reducing stigma and encouraging families to support testing and care.

At DSaT, we believe that scaling the model is both urgent and achievable. If every rural district were to adopt this approach – linking sport, science and storytelling – we would be able to dramatically increase awareness and service uptake. We are not just developing footballers. We are developing informed, empowered young men and women. We believe the collaborative element is what makes expansion realistic. This is a partnership model. NGOs, the Ministry of Health, universities and research institutions, health providers, national sports bodies, the private sector and the media all have a role. When we align those forces, we can take this from two communities to twenty – and eventually nation-wide.

Partners without boundaries: Mwaba and Coles join forces with shared expertise to help plant the seeds
of a healthier Zambian youth through sport and science advocacy. Photo: DSaT

From the sideline to the clinic

Crucially, DSaT’s approach does not end at awareness. Organisers have outlined the need for funding to allow for follow-up sessions, referrals to youth-friendly health services, and partnerships with clinics to ensure that a girl who asks about HIV testing on the sideline can access counselling and care.

On that sunlit pitch in Chilanga, the boys and girls ran, passed and scored. But beyond the goals counted on the field, a quieter victory was unfolding knowledge shared, stigma challenged, confidence built. If scaled thoughtfully, Zambia’s grassroots football fields could become some of its most effective classrooms – training grounds not only for athletes, but for a generation empowered to protect its health and future.

Veronica Mwaba ist the founder and managing director of Dziwa Science and Technology Trust (DSaT). She has a background in journalism and public relations. Her work with scientists across Africa, where she observed significant communication gaps, inspired her to create an organisation dedicated to making science more accessible and empowering.

Wayne Coles is a UK-based former journalist. Before joining DSaT, he worked as Senior PR Manager at the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI).

Contact: wayne.coles@ymail.com

References:

Zambia Demographic and Health Survey

United Nation: Zambia. Global and national HIV estimates launched

Journalist scoops grant award to promote science journalism

CABI joins forces with Zambian Government to help curb spread of devastating Cassava Brown Streak Disease

As one of the world’s most critical maritime corridors, the Strait of Hormuz carries roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day and handles 27 per cent of global oil exports, 20 per cent of liquefied natural gas exports, and 20 to 30 per cent of internationally traded inorganic fertilisers. Its closure has immediately disrupted the flow of these essential commodities, triggering sharp price spikes in fuel and key agricultural inputs.

This situation demonstrates how geopolitical instability can rapidly disrupt essential agricultural functions under current input-dependent, industrial production systems that rely heavily on external energy and supply chains.  This crisis highlights, more clearly than ever, a critical reality: food systems tied to fossil fuels are inherently unsustainable, continually undermine food sovereignty and disproportionately affect farmers, particularly smallholders in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). World Food Programme estimates warn that, if the conflict continues, the soaring oil, shipping and food  costs will push an additional 45 million people into acute hunger, driving the global total beyond its record 319 million. This is deeply concerning for a global community already struggling to stay on track towards achieving the SDG targets and other commitments. Against this backdrop, reducing food systems’ reliance on fossil fuels and external inputs is essential to strengthen their resilience to future shocks.

The truth is that fossil fuels course through every stage of the food system – from fertilisers and pesticides to processing, preservation, transportation, packaging, food waste disposal and even food preparation. Moreover, entrenched economic and political structures lock in this fossil-fuel dependence through massive subsidies and price protections. The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES‑Food) reports that global annual subsidies for fossil fuels and fossil fuel-based electricity have surged to over one trillion US dollars (USD) in recent years. 

Meanwhile, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme are clear in that nearly 90 per cent of the 540 billion USD in 2021, agricultural support props up chemical-intensive commodity crop production. IPES‑Food also cautions that industry-promoted approaches to low carbon agriculture – such as “blue” ammonia fertilisers, synthetic biology and precision farming technologies – are expensive, energy-intensive, and risk perpetuating food systems’ reliance on fossil fuels while keeping farmers dependent on agrochemicals, industrial monocultures and corporate mandates.

However, things do not necessarily have to be this way, and this course can still be redirected. Food systems can shift to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels while still meeting the needs of a growing global population. In this context, agroecology, regenerative agriculture, nature positive and other complementary solutions offer a holistic approach to environmental, social and economic sustainability, supporting a transition from energy-sink systems to regenerative ones, radically enhancing food system’s resilience in the face of escalating geopolitical instability and environmental vulnerability.

Decoupling farms from fossil fuels

Food systems and fossil fuels are deeply intertwined, with the Global Alliance for the Future of Food estimating that food accounts for at least 15 per cent of total fossil fuel use – mostly through synthetic fertilisers⁴. On farms, fossil fuels are used in the form of synthetic fertilisers, to power machinery and vehicles, and generate electricity and heat for key processes like irrigation, grain drying, livestock housing and food storage.  

Agroecology, regenerative agriculture, nature positive and other complementary solutions offer proven farm-level strategies to reduce reliance on synthetic fertilisers, drawing on natural processes and local resources for sustainable soil fertility. Crucially, many of these practices draw directly from Indigenous knowledge systems, where local communities have long maintained soil health through time. Practical steps include organic fertilisation (often blended with minimal synthetic inputs), efficient microorganisms, nitrogen-fixing plants and soil health practices like crop rotation, cover cropping, intercropping, reduced tillage and crop-livestock integration.

Research consistently shows that agroecological approaches – such as farm diversification and tree‑integrated systems– outperform conventional systems in climate resilience, nutrient cycling, and soil health, often while boosting yields. Agroforestry also provides a source of wood fuel, making it a valuable alternative during fossil‑fuel shortages and price spikes.

Farmers who have taken these steps share powerful stories of success and transformation, while reaping clear benefits like boosted productivity, greater resilience, and stronger livelihoods. Examples can be found worldwide. Peruvian cocoa farmers are using bokashi and bio-oil amendments to restore soil organic matter, regenerate microbial activity and enhance nutrient cycling¹; in Vietnam, rice-fish coculture systems optimise nutrient cycling, curb pests, and diversify outputs – lowering costs while stabilising farmer incomes; Ethiopian farmers practising wheat-fava bean rotations are cutting fertiliser needs while improving soil structure and building long-term fertility.

India’s agroecology programme, “Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)”, delivers biodiversity benefits while more than doubling farmers’ economic profits and maintaining comparable crop yields, than chemical-based farming. Moreover, building local, farmer-centric, decentralised input systems, promoted by agroecological approaches, has the potential to reduce smallholder farmers' dependence on corporate supply chains, advancing food sovereignty and a more equitable redistribution of political and economic power within food systems.

Beyond agroecological alternatives to synthetic fertilisers, other farm-level steps to curb fossil fuel dependence include integrating renewable energy sources for on-site generation and operations – like solar panels, biogas digesters and wind turbines, solar water pumps, adopting fuel-efficient engines and draft animals, and embracing practices such as minimum tillage, precision irrigation, integrated pest management and low-input crop-livestock systems. Landscape-level management approaches, such as restoration of common lands, agroforestry, silvo-agro-pastoralism, and natural or semi-natural vegetation (as beneficial insect habitats and alternative food sources), offer essential complementarities by emphasising the sustainable management and use of natural resources and biodiversity. Nevertheless, scaling up these agroecological solutions demands broader political, institutional and economic support to address barriers like transition costs, knowledge gaps and missing infrastructure – such as dedicated input supply chains and technical assistance. Local capacity-building support must be coupled with disincentives for chemical-intensive systems, for instance, by redirecting harmful subsidies – currently backing synthetic fertilisers and pesticides – toward locally produced bio-inputs.

Actions beyond the farm horizon

The interlinkages between fossil fuels and food extend far beyond the farm, as do the alternatives offered by agroecology, regenerative agriculture, nature positive and other complementary solutions. A major portion – 42 per cent – of fossil fuel use in food systems is concentrated in the middle of the chain, where energy intensive processes transform, manufacture, package and distribute food to retailers and consumers. This segment relies heavily on refrigeration, processing equipment and vehicles that still run largely on fossil fuels, and its energy use is growing globally as demand for ultraprocessed foods and longer, more complex supply chains increases both processing and packaging, as well as “food miles”.

Agroecology, regenerative agriculture, nature positive and other complementary solutions offer multiple pathways to reduce fossil fuel dependence across the midstream segments of the food value chain by reshaping processing, packaging and distribution. Agroecologically inspired systems can repurpose organic residues through anaerobic digestion to generate biogas for on-site heat and power, building on practices already implemented in millions of small-scale domestic digesters. More fundamentally, shifting from global, industrial commodity chains toward territorial, agroecological food networks can relocalise production, processing and consumption – shortening supply chains and reducing energy-intensive operations. IPES-Food’s Food From Somewhere report highlights how local markets enable smallholders to market diverse, environmentally sound products while enhancing transparency, stability and resilience, particularly when supported by investments in regional infrastructure such as processing facilities, cold storage and wholesale markets. Shorter, localised supply chains reduce reliance on long-distance transport, lower packaging demand and promote reusable packaging systems, thereby decreasing fossil fuel consumption. These efforts can be reinforced by complementary practices that strengthen food sovereignty, such as home gardens and urban agriculture. Crucially, agroecology also aligns with reduced production of ultra-processed foods – among the most energy-intensive products – helping to curb fossil fuel use while potentially improving public health. These transformations are underpinned by civic food networks and food citizenship, which define new trading circuits in which producers and consumers actively reshape market dynamics around equity, sustainability and local embeddedness.

Changing diets is key to reducing fossil fuel dependence in food systems world-wide. Evidence suggests that phasing out synthetic fertilisers globally would only be possible alongside a shift towards more diverse, lower-meat diets, especially in high-consumption regions. At the same time, eating more local, seasonal and minimally processed foods can significantly cut fossil fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions and packaging, while improving health and nutrition, supporting more diversified agroecological farming and strengthening local food markets.

Mainstreaming agroecology and complementary solutions for food systems resilience

A shift toward more agroecological food systems – capable of withstanding geopolitical conflict, economic instability and the cascading effects of the emerging global polycrisis – demands decisive action. Such action requires strong political commitment and sustained multilateral cooperation across scales and sectors.

In the short term, it is crucial to leverage international systems to stabilise essential flows together with prioritising the allocation of emergency funds to provide financial support for farmers to procure or purchase organic alternatives, particularly in the most affected regions.

In the medium term, it is necessary to reduce structural barriers to farmers’ adoption of agroecology regenerative agriculture, nature positive and other complementary solutions, such as power asymmetries, poverty, land tenure insecurity and lack of supportive institutions and incentives. To support the transition towards more resilient food systems, it is imperative to reform agricultural subsidies so that they promote agroecology, regenerative agriculture, nature positive and other complementary solutions and access to renewable energy sources, instead of financing fossil fuel-intensive agriculture. At the same time, the knowledge-intensive nature of agroecology, regenerative agriculture, nature positive and other complementary solutions and the structural changes needed for its full-scale implementation mean that this process must be rooted in strong social coalitions, strengthened local governance and institutions, and effective knowledge cocreation networks. This transformation must be accompanied by the appropriate institutionalisation of agroecological practices at different scales and sectors and coherent, crosscutting national and international policy frameworks.

In the long term, it is essential to continue deepening the ongoing transformation of food production, distribution and consumption paradigms, shifting from extractivist, unsustainable and undemocratic models toward more just, regenerative and collaborative systems firmly grounded in agroecological ecological and social principles. Ultimately, the foundations of a more sustainable and resilient food system must rest on the conviction that war should never be an option.

Lulseged Tamene is Director of the CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes (MFL) Science Program, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Lulseged leads the MFL Science Program. 

Jonathan Mockshell is Senior Scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity International & the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and is based in Cali, Colombia. Jonathan leads research on agrifood food systems, agroecology and policy. 

Francisco Hidalgo is Research Specialist at the Alliance Bioversity & CIAT, and is also based in Cali, Colombia. Francisco contributes to research on agrifood food systems, ecology, digital tools and policy. 

Ryan Nehring is Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), based in Washington DC, USA. Ryan works on the political economy of natural resources and agrarian change.

Wei Zhang is Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Area of Work Lead for the CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes Science Program.

References:

Farge, E. Iran war may push 45 million people into acute hunger by June, WFP says. Reutershttps://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-war-may-push-45-million-people-into-acute-hunger-by-june-wfp-says-2026-03-17/ (2026).

IPES-Food. Fuel to Fork: What Will It Take to Get Fossil Fuels out of Our Food Systems? https://ipes-food.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FuelToFork.pdf (2025).

FAO, UNDP, and UNEP. A Multi-Billion-Dollar Opportunity – Repurposing Agricultural Support to Transform Food Systems. (FAO, UNDP, and UNEP, 2021). doi:10.4060/cb6562en.

Global Alliance for the Future of Food. Power Shift: Why We Need to Wean Industrial Food Systems off Fossil Fuels. https://futureoffood.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ga_food-energy-nexus_report.pdf (2023).

Niether, W., Jacobi, J., Blaser, W. J., Andres, C. & Armengot, L. Cocoa agroforestry systems versus monocultures: a multi-dimensional meta-analysis. Environ. Res. Lett. 15, 104085 (2020).

Beillouin, D., Ben‐Ari, T., Malézieux, E., Seufert, V. & Makowski, D. Positive but variable effects of crop diversification on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Glob. Change Biol. 27, 4697–4710 (2021).

Dittmer, K. M. et al. Agroecology Can Promote Climate Change Adaptation Outcomes Without Compromising Yield In Smallholder Systems. Environ. Manage. 72, 333–342 (2023).

 Rodenburg, J., Mollee, E., Coe, R. & Sinclair, F. Global analysis of yield benefits and risks from integrating trees with rice and implications for agroforestry research in Africa. Field Crops Res. 281, 108504 (2022).

Jones, S. K. et al. Achieving win-win outcomes for biodiversity and yield through diversified farming. Basic Appl. Ecol. 67, 14–31 (2023).

Altieri, M. A. & Nicholls, C. I. Agroecology and the reconstruction of a post-COVID-19 agriculture. J. Peasant Stud. 47, 881–898 (2020).

FAO. The State of Food and Agriculture 2022. (FAO, 2022). doi:10.4060/cb9479en.

Berger, I. et al. India’s agroecology programme, ‘Zero Budget Natural Farming’, delivers biodiversity and economic benefits without lowering yields. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 9, 2057–2068 (2025).

O’Garra, T. Agroecology benefits people and planet. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 9, 1973–1974 (2025).

IPES-Food. Food from Somewhere: Building Food Security and Resilience through Territorial Markets.https://ipes-food.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/FoodFromSomewhere.pdf (2024).

Einarsson, R. Nitrogen in the Food System. https://tabledebates.org/building-blocks/nitrogen-food-system (2024) doi:10.56661/2fa45626.

A triple shock is converging on Africa’s food and nutrition security: collapsing official development assistance (ODA), escalating global instability and climate disruption. The international aid architecture that once cushioned countries against such crises is no longer reliable in timing, volume or political will. Africa must chart a different course.

Each successive global crisis, Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and now the conflict spreading across the Middle East, has laid bare how fragile financing to tackle malnutrition truly is, and how exposed African populations remain to shocks originating far beyond the continent. The full consequences of the current Middle East conflict are still unfolding, but the risk is already visible: up to 30 per cent of the world’s fertiliser exports is transported through the  Strait of Hormuz. A prolonged disruption there will not stay in the region. It will arrive on African farms, in African markets, and in African homes.

Food and nutrition security is not a humanitarian footnote, it is foundational to human capital and to the continent's long-term economic development. The costs of undernutrition are estimated at up to 16 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in parts of Africa, and the African Union cites  chronic undernutrition as a primary challenge to economic development, with half of African nations having high (over 30 %) prevalence rates of childhood stunting. No economy can absorb that toll indefinitely, and no development agenda can succeed while carrying it.

The moment calls for anticipatory action. Africa needs predictable financial flows that embed nutrition into health systems, food systems, and both humanitarian and climate response. Crucially, this need not always mean new money. Integrating nutrition across these sectors creates real opportunities for governments to work with existing budget lines, in agriculture, water, education and social protection, and direct them towards nutrition outcomes. It is an approach that builds political ownership, stretches available resources further and reduces dependence on external financing cycles.

We also need a fundamental shift in how development finance institutions think about nutrition, recognising that borrowing to invest in nutrition yields returns that rival, and in many cases exceed, traditional infrastructure investments. The return on each US dollar (USD) invested in nutrition is 23 USD, making nutrition the single most cost-effective development intervention. The African Development Bank has a significant role to play here, and the continent’s governments should be making that case forcefully.

African philanthropies also represent a significant and still largely untapped source of that ambition. These are institutions capable of absorbing longer time horizons and operating outside the political constraints that limit traditional aid. Bringing them into a more deliberate coalition with governments and regional development banks is one of the more promising levers available to us.

Encouragingly, some of the architecture for this shift is already in place. The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement has been central to positioning nutrition within the African Union’s CAADP 2025 Kampala Declaration, and has supported regional bodies including ECOWAS and CILSS in mainstreaming nutrition across policy sectors,  agriculture, water, sanitation and beyond. These are not small achievements. They are the foundations on which a bolder, more self-directed approach to systems change can be built.

The coming weeks offer a concrete opportunity to press these arguments on the global stage. The One Health Summit in Lyon, France, on the 7^th April will assess progress against the 28 billion USD in commitments made at the Nutrition for Growth Summit in Paris in 2025. It is a moment to hold governments and institutions accountable, and to elevate nutrition within broader discussions of economic resilience and global health security. The subsequent Africa Forward Summit, to be held jointly by France and Kenya in Nairobi in May, carries these conversations to a continental audience. Africa should seize the opportunity to own and shape that conversation to make nutrition an essential pillar of the continent’s future economic security, not an add-on externally financed through aid.

The international system has shown through successive crises that aid flows alone cannot guarantee the predictability that nutrition financing requires. This is not a failure of intent, for many partners remain deeply committed, but a reflection of how geopolitics, fiscal pressures and competing priorities inevitably shape what is possible. The tools, the mandates and the momentum are there. The task now is to use them and to build the kind of African-owned, resilient nutrition financing architecture that can endure whatever the next global shock brings.

References and further reading:

Glauber, Joseph: The Iran war: Potential food security impacts. IFPRI, 05.03.2025.

World Food programme: Ending malnutrition.

African Union: The cost of hunger in Africa (COHA) report: Social and economic impact of child undernutrition.

Moalosi, Kefilwe: Elevating nutrition in Africa’s food systems transformation: the road from Nairobi to Addis Ababa. Scaling Up Nutrition, 28. 05.2025.

Website of One Health Summit

Rural 21 Dossier on "Food security and nutrition" 

Rural 21 Dossier on "Food systems" 

For several years, many development programmes have been running out of steam because they rely solely on "technical solutions" such as distributing inputs, offering one-off training courses or installing a few pieces of equipment. These isolated approaches do not change the rules of how markets operate or the power relations that determine who can participate and who cannot.

In contrast, the inclusive systems approach seeks to change the way actors interact, negotiate, cooperate and create value. Gender equality and social equity are not "add-ons" but structuring principles that guide the very design of the system.

This approach takes on particular significance in rural Mali, which is deeply affected by insecurity and mobility restrictions. Inclusive systems are at the heart of the Jigitugu project – which means “fulfilling hopes”. The project is co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Liechtenstein Development Service, and implemented by Helvetas. The project illustrates how to transform market systems by integrating rural women, young people, people with disabilities and people leaving prison — even in a tense environment.

But what does an inclusive systems approach really look like in the context of a security crisis? Applying the approach starts with understanding the mechanisms of exclusion.

From social norms to armed checkpoints – why the most vulnerable remain stuck

Economic exclusion cannot be explained solely by poverty. It stems from restrictive social norms, deeply entrenched power relations and inequality, and markets that do not recognise certain actors as "legitimate". In rural areas of Mali, these mechanisms particularly affect four groups: women, young people, people with disabilities and people who were formerly incarcerated.

Jigitugu began working with the group of people having left prison. Local prison authorities have approached the project, because the number of young detainees incarcerated for minor offences is large and there is almost no support for reintegration.

Reshaping markets to be more inclusive

Jigitugu's approach is based on a simple idea. Systems change when relationships between actors change. It is not a question of distributing resources, but of transforming the rules that have excluded certain groups.

To strengthen women's economic autonomy, the project collaborated with municipal authorities and traditional leaders to obtain authorisation for women to sell their products outside official markets. Agreements with heads of families also gave young people access to plots of land, either individually or collectively, where they could put the skills acquired during their training into practice. For people with disabilities, sectors such as poultry farming, market gardening, fattening and agri-food processing were adapted to meet their specific needs and capacities.

To strengthen women's economic autonomy and cope with market insecurity, women
in villages are forming groups to sell their products collectively.
Photo: HELVETAS

For incarcerated individuals, apprenticeship supervisors now work directly in prisons to offer vocational training that enhances their qualifications before being released. Social services have been mobilised to provide assistance with reintegration, and relationship-building meetings have been organised between former prisoners, business leaders and members of the community. These exchanges have helped to reduce fears and prejudices, which is an essential step in enabling these individuals to regain an active, productive and accepted place in society and the local economy.

Building connection through Local Service Providers

Local Service Providers (LSPs) also play a key role in ensuring that all groups have representation in the system. LSPs are locally based economic actors from the communities where the project is implemented. They act as an interface between small producers — including those from the most vulnerable groups — and other actors, such as traders, input suppliers and technical services.

These providers are autonomous actors engaged in real and sustainable economic activity. Their main function is to consolidate the production of dispersed producers, facilitate access to markets and organise commercial negotiations with buyers capable of absorbing large volumes.

LSPs also play a key role in strengthening skills and production quality. Depending on the sector, they may be directly involved in technical training, support the adoption of improved practices, or relay the quality requirements set by buyers.

The sustainability of the system relies on the fact that LPSs operate as real economic actors. Their income depends on commissions and repeat business, which gives them a direct economic incentive to support as many reliable producers as possible. This inclusive logic is reinforced by the makeup of the LSPs. Many are former learners, young cooperative members or local artisans who have faced similar barriers and now recognise the business opportunity in helping others succeed.

LSPs also play a key role in strengthening skills and production quality.
Photo: HELVETAS

Strengthening economic prospects

To strengthen women's economic autonomy and cope with market insecurity, women in villages are forming groups to sell their products collectively. These cooperatives — which also include people with disabilities – reduce risks and strengthen market access because women no longer need to travel to unpredictable weekly markets. Instead, traders come directly to the villages to buy in bulk.

The volume they can sell collectively makes the trip worthwhile for buyers and allows the group to negotiate better prices. LSPs then reinforce this dynamic by coordinating orders, aggregating products and ensuring that quality standards are met.

For people leaving prison, access to credit is provided through the granting of agricultural inputs rather than cash (e.g. poultry feed, veterinary products, seeds or small tools), which is distributed through mixed groups that collectively guarantee repayment.

Unlike traditional approaches focused on the simple distribution of inputs, the Jigitugu project has initiated a transformation of market dynamics by changing the behaviour of traders, input suppliers and other key actors — such as cooperatives, artisans, local authorities and service providers — who now actively contribute to strengthening market linkages. Thanks to the structuring role of LSPs, these actors now invest in training producers, buy directly from villages and develop local networks. These changes promote the inclusion of traditionally excluded groups, such as rural youth, women, people with disabilities and formerly incarcerated persons.

The Jigitugu experience shows that, even in a context of insecurity, it is possible to reconfigure systems to make them more inclusive to vulnerable groups. This evolution is the result of several years of trial and error, local intermediation and negotiations, and patient work to align and join local actors.

Rosaline Dacko is the Deputy Country Director at Helvetas Mali.
Contact: rosaline.dacko(at)helvetas.org

Nicolas Cacciuttolo is the Senior Advisor for Skills, Jobs and Income at Helvetas, Switzerland.
Contact: Nicolas.Cacciuttolo(at)helvetas.org

Read full-length article at Helvetas Website

Read more about Jigitugu Project

User testing of FarmerChat

The Phase II collaboration (2025–2027) focuses on structured, human-centred user testing of FarmerChat in India and Kenya, with particular attention to women, youth and underserved farmers.

The user testing includes several components:

• Real-world usability testing: Farmers and extension agents use FarmerChat in live field conditions, while researchers observe how they navigate the tool, what questions they ask and where confusion or friction occurs.
   
• Participatory feedback sessions: Facilitated co-design workshops and focus groups gather farmer input on clarity, trust, tone, cultural relevance and usability – with a focus on women and youth inclusion.
   
• Structured surveys and behavioural analytics: Survey instruments measure perceived trust, usefulness and usability, while backend usage data (query types, repeat engagement, follow-up questions) helps assess how advice translates into action.
   
• Agronomic and inclusivity review: Responses are evaluated for technical accuracy, contextual relevance and whether recommendations reflect the constraints smallholder farmers face (e.g. affordability, local input availability, labour realities).

Initial findings on FarmerChat usability

Preliminary observations show that farmers are most engaged when the advice is locally relevant and specific (e.g. taking into account the crop growth stage, local weather conditions or generally available inputs). Trust increases significantly when the advice aligns with farmers’ practical experiences and existing advisory messages.

Voice-based interaction is particularly important for farmers with lower levels of education. Female users benefit from simplified onboarding and an introduction to the tool supported by peers. 

The official results of this structured testing phase will be published once the analysis has been completed.

Broader user feedback on FarmerChat

Beyond the IFPRI collaboration, FarmerChat is used by over a million farmers across a wide range of countries, Eric Firnhaber, director of global communications at Digital Green, says. Ongoing internal monitoring and independent research provide insight into how the tool is being used.

The majority of queries fall into the following categories: 

• pest and disease diagnosis (often with photos)
• fertiliser and nutrient management
• crop stage-specific agronomic practices
• weather-related decision support
• livestock health (in mixed farming systems)
• market price and timing questions

Many farmers use FarmerChat in a diagnostic mode - describing symptoms or uploading images - with subsequent follow-up questions on treatment or prevention.

Limiting factors and challenges

As with any AI-powered advisory tool, there are several challenges. For example, connectivity may be limited. In low-bandwidth environments, uploading images or voice responses may be slower. Similarly, there are limitations regarding inputs. Farmers sometimes lack precisely the recommended inputs (e.g. a specific brand of fertiliser), meaning that the advice needs to be tailored more flexibly.

Another challenge is building trust. Some users are initially sceptical about the reliability of AI-generated advice. Repeated positive experiences and coordination with advisory services strengthen trust over time.

Digital literacy gaps can pose a challenge for certain target groups. Women and those new to smartphones may need support with familiarisation before they can use the tool independently.

Participatory user testing and collaboration with research partners such as IFPRI are crucial, particularly for addressing these challenges.

Ines Lechner, editor Rural 21

Visit the Digital Green website

Growing up on her grandparents’ farm in Botswana, crop science PhD student Kelebonye Ramolekwa witnessed how low-yielding crops led to repeated poor harvests, experiences that sparked her long-standing interest in agricultural science. Those early losses planted the seed for an academic journey that included a bachelor degree in crop science in 2014 and a masters degree in agronomy in 2018, both from the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

University World News: Ms Ramolekwa, what sparked your interest in agricultural research?

Kelebonye Ramolekwa: I was born and raised in a community where agriculture directly shaped livelihoods, which sparked my early curiosity about how crops grow, what affects their health, and how science can be used to improve food quality and productivity. I also became aware of the challenges faced by local farmers. This curiosity developed into a strong desire to understand the science behind sustainable agriculture and to contribute practical solutions to food security challenges.

As my studies progressed, I gained a deeper appreciation of how modern technologies can be applied to crop improvement. In particular, I became interested in the potential of induced mutation breeding using gamma radiation to improve crop productivity. This interest shaped my PhD research, which focuses on evaluating the effects of gamma radiation on cowpea to improve both yield and nutritional quality. Through this work, I aim to contribute to sustainable agriculture and improved livelihoods, which continue to drive my passion for agricultural research.

UWN:  Can you walk us through the research that earned you the L’Oréal-UNESCO award?

KR: The research is titled, ‘Unlocking cowpea potential: Evaluating enhanced mutant lines for yield and nutritional quality’. My study investigates the agronomic performance and food-related biochemical profiles of cowpea mutant lines developed through an induced mutation breeding programme. The primary objective is to assess their yield performance and food applicability, with the aim of supporting their potential release as improved varieties.

The research involves a comparative analysis of growth and yield parameters between the mutant lines and a locally preferred Tswana cultivar. It will help farmers identify high-yielding lines and inform consumers about their nutritional value, including nutrient bioavailability and digestibility. Overall, the work lays the foundation for developing a high-yielding cowpea cultivar with enhanced nutritional value that is suitable for dryland farming and food security. It also has broader relevance for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

UWN:  What drew you to researching this particular crop?

KR: I was drawn to cowpea research because of its critical role in food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture, particularly in semi-arid and resource-limited environments. Cowpea is a climate-resilient crop that can thrive under drought conditions and in poor soils, making it well suited to regions vulnerable to climate variability, such as Botswana. Cowpeas are often grown as intercrops with cereals and contribute to long-term environmental improvement through biological nitrogen fixation, which enhances soil fertility and microbial diversity. This process converts atmospheric nitrogen into forms that plants can use, reducing dependence on synthetic fertilisers and supporting sustainable cropping systems.

From a nutritional perspective, cowpea is an affordable source of high-quality protein, micronutrients and dietary fibre, contributing significantly to household nutrition and livelihoods. Despite its importance, cowpea productivity remains constrained by biotic and abiotic stresses and suboptimal agronomic practices, resulting in low yields and limited nutritional outcomes. Bridging the gap between its potential and actual performance is what motivates my research, which aims to improve cowpea productivity, resilience and adoption.

UWN:  In your view, what are the most pressing food security issues that need urgent attention, and what solutions do you propose?

KR: The most pressing food security challenges include the impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity, declining soil fertility, limited access to affordable and nutritious food, and the low resilience of smallholder farming systems. Increasingly frequent droughts, erratic rainfall and rising temperatures are already reducing yields, particularly in semi-arid regions, while land degradation and nutrient depletion continue to threaten long-term sustainability.

Addressing these challenges requires an integrated approach that combines climate-smart agriculture, sustainable soil and water management, and the cultivation of resilient, nutrient-rich crops such as legumes. Research and promotion of drought- and pest-resistant varieties, alongside improved agronomic practices and farmer capacity-building are essential. Together, these measures can enhance productivity, strengthen resilience and support long-term food and nutrition security.

UWN:  How does food security intersect with issues such as education and poverty eradication, and what are the implications for sustainable development?

KR: Food security is closely linked to broader development challenges, particularly education and poverty reduction, with significant implications for sustainable development. Reliable access to nutritious food is essential for health and cognitive development. Food insecurity is often associated with malnutrition, which can undermine learning ability, school attendance and educational outcomes, ultimately limiting human capital development.

At household level, food insecurity and poverty reinforce one another. Many poor households depend on agriculture, yet low productivity and climate-related shocks restrict incomes and food availability. This, in turn, limits investment in education, healthcare and productive assets, perpetuating intergenerational poverty. Improving food security, therefore, supports progress across multiple SDGs, including zero hunger, quality education, poverty eradication and climate action, and requires a coordinated, cross-sectoral approach.

UWN:  What strategies can researchers and policymakers use to translate research into effective policies and practice?

KR: Researchers and policymakers can strengthen impact by creating collaborative platforms that enable early and continuous engagement throughout the research process. Co-designing research agendas helps ensure that studies address policy-relevant questions, while clear communication of findings through policy briefs, stakeholder forums and extension systems supports uptake.

In addition, pilot projects and impact evaluations can help bridge the gap between research and implementation by demonstrating what works in practice and enabling evidence-based scaling of successful interventions.

UWN:  Looking ahead to the next decade, what opportunities and challenges do you foresee, and how can they be addressed?

KR: Over the next decade, opportunities are likely to emerge from advances in agricultural research, digital technologies and climate-resilient innovations. At the same time, major challenges will include climate change, resource constraints and rising food demand.

Addressing these issues will require interdisciplinary collaboration and strong links between researchers, policymakers and farmers. Co-developing and scaling locally appropriate solutions can help improve resilience, productivity and sustainable development outcomes.

UWN:  What advice would you give to emerging agricultural researchers and students?

KR: Emerging researchers should focus on real-world agricultural challenges by conducting problem-oriented research rooted in local contexts. Strong foundations in research design, data analysis and scientific communication are essential, as are interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement with stakeholders.

Practical field experience, adaptability, and an understanding of policy and extension systems are also critical for translating research into meaningful and lasting impact.

Mary Abukutsa was interviewed by Clemence Manyukwe. The interview was first published in the Africa edition of University World News.

The partnership aligns with regional soil health frameworks, including the Lomé Declaration on Fertilizer and Soil Health (2023), the Nairobi Declaration (2024) and the ECOWAS Soil Health Roadmap (2023–2033). It also establishes a framework to operationalise collaboration at scale.

Under the agreement, the Regional Hub will align its 20 technical functions with the Soil Values Program’s nine strategic pillars. This enables integrated planning, shared data systems, and coordinated implementation across countries.

To date, the Regional Hub has moderated its efforts in parts of the Sahel – including Burkina Faso and Niger to avoid overlapping with Soil Values Program activities. The MoU resolves that constraint, clarifying roles and responsibilities and enabling a coordinated approach.

Focusing on shared governance, unified data systems and clear geographic roles

Under the partnership, both initiatives commit to governance, unified data systems and clear geographic roles, with the Soil Values Program leading implementation in the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria) and the Regional Hub providing the broader technical platform across West Africa.

Supported by a 100 million euro grant from the Netherlands Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), the Soil Values Program is a ten-year initiative (2024–2033) led by IFDC in partnership with SNV and Wageningen University & Research (WUR).

By leveraging over 300 million euros in private and development capital, the programme aims to shift soil health efforts from traditional aid models to sustainable investment. Seventy per cent of implementation will be delivered by local partners. This ensures ownership, resilience, and lasting outcomes. Performance-based assessments guide annual contracts and continued engagement with partners delivering results.

“One of the reasons I am particularly proud of this programme is the strength of our knowledge partners. Soil health transformation is complex and multi-dimensional, but with partners of this calibre, we have built a foundation that gives us both credibility and a strong pathway to success,” says Alain Sy Traoré, Program Director, Soil Values Program.

The Soil Values Program

Funded by DGIS, the Soil Values Program ​​addresses persistent soil fertility challenges in the Sahel region, namely Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria, strategic countries being Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. It ​​aims to strengthen soil fertility and agricultural productivity in the face of climate change with a focus on regional connectivity and strategic interventions. The programme aspires to create a lasting impact on desertification and land degradation, backing landscape management, watersheds based on participatory planning and effectively integrating soil, water and biodiversity. The Soil Values Program ​​plans to promote financial incentive instruments encouraging farmers to invest in soil health by adopting sustainable soil management practices. 
More information: www.cifor-icraf.org/project/soil-values/

The Regional Hub

The Regional Hub for Fertilizer and Soil Health for West Africa and the Sahel is a collaborative initiative bringing together leading research, development and private-sector partners to deliver science-driven solutions for sustainable agriculture.

Via  Accelerating the Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) and International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC), the Hub leverages data, soil testing and fertiliser technologies to enhance productivity, efficiency and resilience across regional food systems. With financial backing from the World Bank through CGIAR’s AICCRA project and OCP Africa, it is committed to translating research into actionable solutions for farmers and policy-makers, promoting long-term soil health, food security and sustainable development for West Africa and the Sahel.

More information: soilhealthwa.iita.org

(IITA/wi)

Further reading:

Rural 21 issue no 2/2022: "Healthy soil – healthy people – healthy planet"

Although South Asia is home to a quarter of the world’s population, it holds less than 5 per cent of global freshwater resources. The water supply-demand gap is considerable; South Asian economies are highly reliant on hydropower, while their agricultural systems account for a third of all global groundwater pumping. The interconnectedness of water, energy and food security is especially pronounced in the region, where many critical river basins flow across national borders and climate vulnerability is acute.

A systems or nexus approach, which considers the interconnections between water, energy, food and environmental (WEFE) systems, has great potential, but can become paralysing for decision-makers if not supported with capacity building and a clear operational plan. Historically, progress on creating secure WEFE systems has been hampered by a siloed focus. As a result, policies designed to solve one problem have inadvertently created another. For example, in Pakistan, as estimated 12 billion cubic meters of water are not optimally used, flowing to thirsty crops like rice and sugarcane, which generate relatively low economic returns for the high volume of water they consume.

So, how do we move from the theory of a nexus systems approach to its practical application? Outputs from the Water-Energy-Food-Environment (WEFE) Nexus Policy work of the CGIAR Policy Innovations Program provided a strategic regional roadmap to make a systems-based nexus approach an operational reality in South Asia.

A WEFE roadmap for a complex region

The starting point is a clear-eyed view of the on-the-ground challenges. Interestingly, the primary barriers to progress are often institutional rather than technical. Through extensive stakeholder consultations, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) identified six key challenges to operationalising a nexus approach in South Asia. These include fragmented governance and institutional silos, competing priorities and policy trade-offs, data and information gaps, financial constraints, limited private sector engagement, and inefficient regional cooperation and transboundary challenges.

To overcome these challenges, experts from IWMI and the Asia Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) proposed a strategic roadmap for the region, focusing on actions such as promoting cross-sectoral collaboration, strengthening data collection and enhancing international cooperation for shared water resources. While these directives apply to the whole region, experts emphasise that implementation must be context specific. For instance, sustainable hydropower and watershed conservation are priorities for upstream nations like Bhutan and Nepal. In contrast, for India and Pakistan, the priority shifts to managing the energy-groundwater nexus to prevent aquifer depletion. Meanwhile, for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the focus is heavily tilted toward climate resilience, managing salinity intrusion, and pollution control in deltaic and coastal systems.

Practical tools to measure success

A high-level roadmap, however, requires practical tools to guide specific decisions and measure progress. This is where decision support systems (DSS), including those developed by IWMI research teams, come into play. These analytics platforms provide policymakers with information dashboards on the competing demands on agriculture and water resources and the overall impact of policy decisions on the WEFE nexus.

A key feature of IWMI’s newly-developed Water-Energy-Food (WEF)-Nexus DSS is the ability to generate the WEF Nexus Index; a composite scorecard that measures the combined health of interconnected systems. This involves combining availability and productivity indicators for the trio of water, energy and food into a single, normalised score: the WEF Trade-off Index (WEFTI). Crucially, it allows policymakers to quickly see if a chosen policy is a net positive or negative for the system as a whole.

Mapping the potential for nexus gains: These maps generated by the WEF-Nexus DSS illustrate the Water-Energy-Food-Environment Trade-off Index under a business-as-usual scenario compared to a 20% increase in irrigation efficiency. Graphic: IWMI

Other complementary tools like the Water Productivity Atlas models specific scenarios at the district and basin level. For example, a scenario presented for Haryana district in India, modelled a shift away from thirsty crops like rice and sugarcane, towards more diverse and nutritious crops like millets and vegetables. The Water Productivity Atlas showed clear, measurable gains. The groundwater footprint was reduced, total energy consumption fell by 13 per cent, and economic water productivity nearly doubled. The WEF-Nexus DSS then synthesised this data, and the resulting visual ‘radar charts’ showed a dramatic improvement in the overall WEFTI score, providing a clear, evidence-based case for this crop diversification strategy.

Crop diversification scenarios: The radar charts from the WEF-Nexus DSS show the nexus benefits of replacing 50 per cent of water-intensive crops with diverse alternatives. They compare two land allocation methods: dividing the land equally (EQ) versus weighting it by Economic Water Productivity (EWP). The visual demonstrates that EWP-weighted allocation yields significantly higher nexus gains, highlighting the value of data-driven crop diversification.
Graphic: IWMI

Turning tools into tangible impact

These tools and roadmaps are crucial, but making them work in the real world requires a focus on implementation. The adoption of new, integrated approaches is often driven by policymakers feeling a ‘pain point,’ such as dwindling financial resources, which pushes them to seek more efficient solutions.

For the way forward, several key considerations emerge. First is the need to document and share ‘stories of success’ to prove the value of these tools and build momentum for their adoption. Second, in the complex political reality of South Asia, creating smart incentives for stakeholders is often more effective than top-down legislation. Finally, success requires institutional champions and collaborative structures, like inter-ministerial committees, to break down silos.

By combining a strategic regional roadmap with practical analytical tools and a clear focus on real-world implementation, the aspiration of a systems approach can be turned into a confident reality.

Alok Sikka was the country representative for India and Bangladesh at IWMI, Bunyod Holmatov is the research group leader for WEFE Nexus at IWMI, Claudia Ringler is the co-lead for WEFE Nexus Policy at CGIAR Policy Innovations Program, and director of Natural Resources and Resilience at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and Mohsin Hafeez is the WEFE Nexus Policy lead and strategic program director for Water, Food and Ecosystems at IWMI.
Contact: B.Holmatov(at)cgiar.org

This article was first published at IWMI Website.

Links:

• Water-Energy-Food-Environment (WEFE) Nexus Policy work
• IWMI's Water-Energy-Food (WEF)-Nexus DSS
• CGIAR Policy Innovations Programme

“Adaptation must move from being treated as a project-based kind of environmental issue to being mainstreamed into economic planning and public finance systems and sectoral policy,” says Emmanuel Siakilo, senior climate adaptation and resilience advisor with the AU Commission. In an interview with SciDev.Net, Siakilo warns against “copy-paste kind of interventions” and “pumping money in interventions that don’t necessarily work for the continent”.

He says that locally-led adaptation needs to be contextually relevant and well-coordinated to deliver measurable resilience, adding that interventions must be embedded in national planning and budgeting processes. “Adaptation must move from being treated as a project-based kind of environmental issue to being mainstreamed into economic planning and public finance systems and sectoral policy,” Siakilo notes.

Four critical locally led interventions by politics across Africa needed

With parts of Africa set to experience warming of between two and six degrees Celsius by 2025, climate adaptation is “not only a developmental priority but a survival imperative”, warns the climate adaptation study. The report “The Comprehensive Study on Climate Adaptation Interventions in Africa”, published on the 25^thFebruary by the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, identifies four critical locally-led interventions which governments across the continent could embrace. These include climate-smart agriculture and agro-ecological practices, integrated with traditional knowledge, and early warning systems where meteorological data is paired with local response planning.

However, for these interventions to be successful, buy-in is needed from the private sector as well as government, says Siakilo. “The resources that the public institutions have, at national level, are not sufficient to manage adaptation interventions in the continent,” he explains.

“In fact, countries in the continent have been utilising resources meant for critical social sectors like health and education to adapt to the impacts of climate change […] creating more challenges with the communities in these specific countries,” Siakilo adds.He also highlights the importance of including gender, youth, Indigenous Peoples and civil society in climate adaptation, adding that this must go beyond “tokenism”. “We do not just have to be talking about engaging these groups at the consultation level,” he says.

“What is critical here is that participation must influence budgets, it must influence authority. We need to have direct representation of Indigenous Communities, of youth, of gender, of civil society, in adaptation decision-making bodies and spaces.”

(SciDevNet/KnowledgeHub/wi)

More information

Link to Study

Link to Global Health Strategies

Yet another spike in inorganic fertiliser prices is expected as the war in the Persian Gulf hits oil prices and shipping routes. Oil and fertiliser prices are closely connected, and about a third of fertiliser trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The net result is higher food prices, severe impacts on foreign currency reserves of poorer countries, and lower yields if fertiliser use drops. And this is not the first hit on fertiliser prices, given the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supply chains disrupted by COVID and the oil crises in 1973 and 1979.

Such trends have many negative impacts for the food systems of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Take Ethiopia, for example. With high fertiliser prices in 2023, fertiliser application rates were reduced by smallholder farmers, more so by those with the smallest farm sizes. This is problematic as fertiliser use increases yields substantially. With high fertiliser prices, fertilisers became unprofitable for half of the maize and teff producers and a third of the wheat producers. The gains in yields from agricultural development in Ethiopia are at risk of being slowed or even turned around, and disparities between smaller and larger farmers grow.

It’s time to rethink the SSA fertiliser value chains – bringing in both high tech solutions and agroecology. But let’s be clear – fertiliser use can hardly be reduced, so that is not a solution. Average fertiliser use in SSA by smallholder farmers is very low – below 20 kg per ha. Compare that to the European Union, with above 120 kg per ha. Fertilisation is especially important on the old Gondwana surfaces of Africa where the sandy soils are inherently nutrient-poor. And nutrient mining – removal of nutrients through crop production without sufficient and balanced nutrient inputs – is a widespread component of soil degradation in SSA.

Let’s embrace fertiliser sovereignty

One component of this is fertiliser production plants in Africa. They are coming, some of them even with the latest green technology. In Kenya, plans for what is perhaps the world’s first geothermal-based ammonia plant have been launched. It is projected to produce 300,000 tonnes of ammonia-based fertiliser per year and create 2,000 jobs. Another green ammonia plant in Kenya is running on solar energy. The inputs needed for green ammonia are simple: air, water and a source of renewable energy. Research and Innovation Strategist Philip Thornton shows that green ammonia production has high potential in several locations in SSA where these resources and demand are abundant.

But low-tech agroecological practices should also be on the cards. This includes attention to good old fashioned agricultural practices, such as intercropping, rotation with nitrogen-fixing legumes and incorporating organic residues in the soil. To illustrate the potential, the average yield improvement in Africa for the first maize crop after a legume rotation was nearly one ton/hectare (114 studies). Soybean-maize rotations will retain the maize yield with applications of 25 kg/ha nitrogen (N) less than in maize monocrops. Unfortunately, fertiliser subsidies, while helping to increase nutrient additions to depleted soils, have also been responsible for less attention to good practices, contributing to the growing trend towards monocropping. Rethinking subsidies is one key to solutions.

A range of new soil amendments are being developed, too, from low-tech to high-tech. In Malawi, an organo-mineral fertiliser is being trialled – Mbeya; a composted mixture of inorganic fertiliser, manure, bran and ash. It can be homemade from local materials, and while it only has 20 per cent of their inorganic fertiliser content, it is performing nearly as well as the 100 per cent inorganic fertiliser applications, but at a much lower cost. It is also impacting soil health positively.

At the high-tech end, there is the buzz around many different possibilities: nanofertilisers, microbial biostimulants that help plants absorb nutrients, biological compounds inhibiting nitrification, soil additives to sequester carbon, to name a few. As an example, we now have the “Initiative for Biofertilizer Innovation and Science” (IBIS), funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Bill Gates Foundation, which will attempt to catalyse the development and deployment of effective biofertilisers.

In 2024, the Nairobi Declaration called for a tripling of domestic fertiliser production, enhancing accessibility for smallholder farmers, and restoring 30 per cent of degraded land. Now is a good moment to make a huge push on the the Nairobi declaration.

Are we going to wait for yet another fertiliser price surge, or are we going to move rapidly to fertiliser sovereignty in SSA? 

Bruce Campbell is a Senior Advisor at the Global Center on Adaptation and Chief Innovation Strategist at Clim-Eat.  Previously, he was the Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). He works on adaptation to increased climatic variability and progressive climate change, and on low emissions development. His work has involved research for development in more than 20 countries. He was previously based in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Indonesia and Australia, and is now living in Denmark. Bruce has published over 180 journal articles and more than a dozen books, and his passion is getting knowledge into action.
Contact: bruce(at)clim-eat.org

References:

Assefa, T.W., Berhane, G., Abate, G.T. and Abay, K.A., 2025. Fertilizer demand and profitability amid global fuel-food-fertilizer crisis: Evidence from Ethiopia. Food Policy, 133, p.102785.

Bloomberg. Iran War Snarls Key Global Hub for Fertilizer Supplies

Campbell, B.M., Nyirongo, J., Botha, B., Duchoslav, J., Munthali, M.W., Nyondo, C., Sunga, I. and Wollenberg, E.K., 2023. From input subsidies to compensating farmers for soil health services. CompensACTION Policy Brief, Clim-Eat.Diab, S. and Karaki, M.B., 2023. Do increases in gasoline prices cause higher food prices?. Energy Economics, 127, p.107066.

Clim-Eat. Innovation Pulse: Green hydrogen-based ammonia

https://clim-eat.org/green-ammonia/

Falconnier, G.N., Cardinael, R., Corbeels, M., Baudron, F., Chivenge, P., Couëdel, A., Ripoche, A., Affholder, F., Naudin, K., Benaillon, E. and Rusinamhodzi, L., 2023. The input reduction principle of agroecology is wrong when it comes to mineral fertilizer use in sub-Saharan Africa. Outlook on Agriculture, 52(3), pp.311-326.

Shewangizaw, B., Agegnehu, G., Desta, G., Legesse, G., Desalegn, H. and Tigabie, A., 2025. Nitrogen Fertilizer Replacement in Legume Cereal Rotations. CGIAR Sustainable Farming Science Program Report.

Thornton, P., 2025. Locating decentralised green ammonia production facilities. Technical Brief, 1.

Vos, R., Glauber, J., Hebebrand, C. and Rice, B., 2025. Global shocks to fertilizer markets: Impacts on prices, demand and farm profitability. Food Policy, 133, p.102790.

https://vespertool.com/knowledge-hub/fertilizers/types-of-data/historical-data/

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.CON.FERT.ZS

https://foodsystems.tech/

https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/news/new-biofertiliser-initiative-aims-to-advance-sustainable-and-affordable-food-production

Historically isolated, the region gained greater economic and commercial importance after the construction of the Interoceanic Highway in 2010. But this road construction has also intensified logging, commercial agriculture, cattle ranching, gold mining and illegal activities. These changes could push the region towards a "tipping point"; the social-ecological systems of rural households could lose their resilience and become less stable and sustainable.

The MAP Region – three countries, three realities

Thanks to its unique confluence of factors, the MAP region is considered a laboratory for studying how infrastructure development, diverse land-uses, nature conservation and institutional structures evolve across national borders and under conditions of climate change.

The MAP region, the Interoceanic highway and neighbouring protected areas.
Map: R. Capella

Researchers at the Institute for Environmental Sciences (iES)/RPTU (University of Kaiserslautern-Landau) and University of Bonn’s Center for Development Research (ZEF), both in Germany, show in a study that, despite sharing the same ecological conditions, the three MAP countries have evolved toward distinct social-ecological systems. In Pando (Bolivia), the system’s stability has traditionally relied on the Brazilian nut trade. However, the combination of volatile international prices and political instability has weakened local institutions and made the economy, which, being dependent on non-forest timber products, more fragile.

In Acre (Brazil), the economy is dominated by cattle ranching. Driven by steady market demand and a lack of effective control measures, the primary threat to its resilience consists of forest being conversed to pasture remains. Meanwhile, in Madre de Dios, in Peru, the economy has diversified significantly, with activities such as farming, ecotourism and mining on the rise. While this diversification has provided an economic buffer to a certain extent, the state struggles to control the rise of illegal mining and logging, which degrade the environment and the social fabric.

Understanding complex systems in real life

In real-life situations, things are connected in ways that are hard to understand, such as how a community, its environment and its economy all influence each other. That is why such contexts are called complex systems. The study of complex systems helps us to uncover these connections and explore ways to prevent harmful situations.

We see this clearly in the MAP region, where land uses, economic activities and institutional settings interact. Now, with added pressure from external forces like climate change, these systems risk evolving towards decline and even collapse, reaching, technically, a tipping point.

Crucially, such complex systems cannot be investigated in isolation. To understand them, we must involve the people who affect and are affected by the system in all its dimensions. This inclusive process is the basis of our research approach: participatory systems analysis.

The Participatory Systems Approach

Modelling complex social-ecological systems remains a challenging field and an unfinished task in academia. Our approach, which combines stakeholder analysis and participatory systems analysis, has produced results that are, first, locally legitimate and, second, plausible, and they aim to be applicable in the short term.

Screenshot components interaction in the Acre systems model. 

How to strengthen the systems’ resilience

Our participatory systems analysis suggests that all three sites show a strong tendency towards instability. This can be caused by the dominance of one component or by conflicts between several components, forcing systems in different directions. Therefore, strategies to prevent tipping points must be tailored to each site. However, two overarching measures appear appropriate for all three sites: promoting economic diversification (in line with forest care) and strengthening governance.

In the first case, Madre de Dios (Peru) shows considerable progress in diversifying its local economy, while efforts in Acre (Brazil) and (Pando) Bolivia remain timid. In the second case, all three sites face a difficult path; improved governance would begin with resolving the volatility of their institutional landscape, a consequence of chronic political struggles.

If successful, the following priorities should be established: in Madre de Dios, formalising the informal/illegal sectors, in Pando, stabilising the institutions that govern forest products, and in Acre, decoupling regional development from extensive cattle ranching.

Dr Daniel Callo-Concha is an associated researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn; and Lecturer at the RPTU Koblenz-Landau, Germany.
Professor Oliver Frör leads the Environmental Economics group at the RPTU Koblenz-Landau, Germany.
Contact: d.callo-concha@uni-bonn.de

This research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the awarded grants 01LC1824A to 01LC1824F.

Reference:

Callo-Concha, D. and O. Frör (2025): Resilience and tipping points in social-ecological systems of the southwestern Amazon: a participatory systems analysis. Ecology and Society 30(4):50. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-16624-300450

Overcoming hunger and poverty remains a central goal of German development cooperation. This is confirmed by the reform concept recently presented by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The ministry spends around 20 per cent of its funds on food security, agriculture and rural development, and will place an even stronger focus on sub-Saharan Africa in the future.

Development policy aims to halt renewed increase in hunger

Climate change, price increases as a result of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and the effects of the Covid pandemic are seriously jeopardising the successes achieved in recent decades in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. In some parts of Africa, more people are going hungry again and food crises are on the rise. While around 45 per cent of the population in Africa was affected by moderate or severe food insecurity in 2015, this figure rose to 59 per cent by 2024.

DEval provides important basis for decision-making

Knowledge transfer and capacity building are key instruments of development cooperation because they empower people to take action to improve their food security. In a synthesis study of the international evidence available, DEval examined the effectiveness of knowledge transfer and capacity development measures along agricultural supply chains and for local consumers.

The study is the first of its kind because it presents the effects of a wide range of development policy measures on all six dimensions of food security: (i) food availability, (ii) food utilisation, (iii) food access, (iv) food system stability, (v) food system sustainability, and (vi) the agency of local people. It highlights the types of measures that have proven effective.

Measures should be combined

The core message of the study is that knowledge transfer and capacity building measures have a positive impact on the various dimensions of food security. However, DEval also found that no single type of measure is effective in all six of them. The synthesis study shows which measures can achieve success in which dimensions. It can thus support government and civil society development actors world-wide in planning combinations of measures and provide them with an important basis for decision-making.

For example, along agricultural supply chains, measures to advise agricultural actors on climate-adapted farming methods are suitable for improving access to food and increasing its availability. At community meetings, participants can be taught nutrition-related knowledge to promote dietary diversity in their households. This additional knowledge can also increase their capacity to make nutrition-related decisions. DEval concludes that combining measures can increase their effectiveness in terms of food security.

In addition, a combination of measures is essential in order to reach particularly marginalised population groups. “It has been shown that particularly vulnerable groups such as women, children and Indigenous Peoples often cannot benefit from a single capacity-building measure,” study leader Cornelia Römling emphasises. “They often lack resources such as money or machinery to implement what they have learned.”

Furthermore, these groups have no or only limited ownership or usage rights to land for growing food. According to Römling, this argues in favour of putting together packages of measures and combining, for example, knowledge transfer with the distribution of seeds or cash transfers or advice on land rights.

Outlook – food security and multilateralism

DEval also plans to evaluate the effectiveness of multilateral development cooperation in the area of food security this year. In doing so, it will simultaneously deepen two priority areas of German development cooperation in accordance with the BMZ‘s reform plan: multilateralism and the fight against hunger. In this manner, DEval will continue to generate important findings on food security for the BMZ's evidence-based policy-making in the future.

(DEval/wi)

More information:

• Link to DeVal study: “The Effects of Capacity Strengthening Interventions on Food Security and Nutrition”  
• Link to BMZ reform plan: "Shaping the future together globally“

Within this national framework, in Jhanda Tola village, in the Mohgaon block of Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh farmers have been innovative and established a practical solution that is based on locally available bioresources. A fully automated Bio-Input Resource Centre (BRC) has been established in collaboration with the State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM). Based on the principle of circularity of local bioresources to improve soil health, this BRC recycles and reuses the animal waste, primarily the cow urine as a source of nutrients for agriculture. Located next to a cowshed constructed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the centre brings together different public schemes to support climate-resilient agriculture at village level.

Women at the centre of the enterprise

The BRC in Jhanda Tola village is managed by twelve women from the Shakti Self-Help Group (SHG). What began as a livelihood opportunity has gradually evolved into a structured rural enterprise. For the women involved, the shift has been significant. They are no longer only members of a savings group; they are producers, trainers and enterprise managers. They maintain production schedules, manage accounts and coordinate with farmers. “We used to depend on others for inputs. Now, farmers come to us,” one member reflected during a training session. Today, that shift represents more than just access to bio-inputs – it marks the women’s transformation from passive recipients to trusted providers, shaping agricultural practices in their villages.

Their work does not stop at production. The group regularly conduct awareness meetings at SHG level, encouraging other women farmers to test bio-inputs on small plots before expanding their use. This peer-to-peer approach has built trust and accelerated adoption.

Over a hundred farmers across eight villages are now using locally produced bio-inputs, which has reduced dependency on external inorganic inputs and hence lowered production costs. All this has been achieved through a single village-level Bio-Input Resource Centre. What began as a modest initiative is now demonstrating that regenerative agriculture can be practical, profitable and locally managed.

SHG women preparing bio-inputs. Photo: PRADAN

Financial performance of the input centre

The SHG managing the bio-input centre has been able to produce up to 8,000 litres per month. Out of this, 7,200 litres were sold at 10 rupees per litre. So far, this has generated revenue of 72,000 rupees (~700 euros) and a net income of 42,300 rupees (~400 euros) over five production cycles. The majority of the income is being reinvested into the enterprise to strengthen working capital and support future production. A small portion of the profit is distributed equally among the group members as an incentive for their efforts.

Impact and adoption

In the beginning, the idea of running a bio-input centre felt almost impossible. However, with consistent effort and strategic partnership with Agriculture community resources persons (CRPs), the SHG integrated the use of BRC into local crop planning. This led to wider acceptance and adoption among farmers in the village. Around 100 farmers are already using the product on crops such as paddy and pulses. For many of them, the centre represents the first dependable local source of natural farming inputs. Today, the group proudly sees itself as entrepreneurs. The women who run the centre no longer identify only as women farmers; they now call themselves women entrepreneurs. As one of the members shared, they had never imagined that they would be able to manage a production unit and encourage villagers to adopt bio-inputs at this scale.

BRC entrepreneurs showcasing the bio-inputs prepared by them in BRC.
Photo: PRADAN

Automation that supports adoption

The bio-input produced from the automated unit undergoes multi-stage filtration and standardised processing, significantly improving consistency, potency, and field usability.

1. Production workflow: Raw materials – including cow dung, crop residues and local microbial cultures – are procured according to a monthly plan aligned with cropping seasons. Fermentation and bio-input preparation follow defined protocols, with temperature, pH and aeration monitored at each stage to optimise microbial activity and product efficacy.
2. Quality assurance: Multi-stage filtration and standardised dosing protocols ensure homogeneity. Samples are periodically tested for microbial counts and nutrient composition, and any deviations trigger corrective action
3. Inventory and record-keeping: Stock levels, batch numbers and distribution schedules are meticulously documented. The SHG maintains digital and physical records of production, sales and raw material consumption, facilitating transparency and accountability.
4. Outreach and application support: The women coordinate logistics for distribution across seven to eight villages and provide guidance on crop-specific usage. SHG-level training sessions reinforce proper handling, while farmers’ feedback informs subsequent production cycles.

By simplifying production and application, the BRC lowers one of the main barriers to regenerative farming: uncertainty. Farmers can experiment on part of their land without taking excessive risks, while the standardised product ensures consistent results and ease of use – particularly for women managing both farm and household responsibilities.

More than an input centre

The Bio-Input Resource Centre in Jhanda Tola (or hamlet) is more than a production unit. It represents a shift in how climate resilience, public programmes and women’s collectives can intersect. By combining policy support and grassroots leadership, the centre demonstrates that regenerative agriculture is not only about changing farming practices. It is also about building local systems that reduce dependency, create income and strengthen rural confidence. In Mandla, soil restoration is going hand in hand with women’s economic empowerment – and that may be the most resilient outcome of all.

Linking village enterprise with national ambition

Beyond infrastructure, the women entrepreneurs received structured support under the Carbon Offsetting Rice Emissions (CORE) programme, part of the Fund for the Promotion of Innovation in Agriculture (i4Ag). The Indo-German cooperation project is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, with UN Women as a consortium partner. Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) supports grassroots mobilisation and capacity building.

Through project training in marketing, institutional linkages and business planning, the women strengthened their ability to position the BRC as a viable enterprise rather than a subsidy-driven activity.

The experience in a small village in Mandla shows that regenerative agriculture essentially needs quality alternate inputs as well as local ownership, reliable supply systems and confidence at farm level. By placing women at the centre of climate-resilient agriculture, the Mandla BRC demonstrates that sustainability and economic empowerment can reinforce one another. What began as a small village enterprise is steadily becoming part of a wider ecosystem of natural farming support. With the right mix of policy backing, technical innovation and community leadership, regenerative farming can move from concept to everyday practice – not as a pilot, but as a locally anchored replicable rural enterprise model.

Navin Vivek Horo is Project Lead (DV), Carbon Offsetting Rice Emissions (CORE), i4Ag at GIZ India, working on climate-resilient agriculture with a focus on enhancing rural livelihoods, promoting youth engagement and supporting sustainable value chains in India.

Amarpreet Kaur is a Junior Knowledge Management Advisor, Soil Matters at GIZ India, supporting communications and knowledge sharing in sustainable agriculture initiatives.
Contact: amarpreet.kaur(at)giz.de

References:

Press Note Details: Press Information Bureau

Tajikistan, a landlocked Central Asian nation of ten million people, relies heavily on irrigation for its agriculture. Of its 720,000 hectares of arable land, only about 515,000 are effectively used. Historically, water management followed administrative boundaries rather than hydrological realities. As a result, local authorities often lacked a basin-wide understanding of water availability, competing demands and ecosystem needs. Climate change has intensified these structural weaknesses. Rapid glacier melt increases floods and mudflows in spring, while prolonged summer droughts create water scarcity precisely during peak agricultural demand.

To overcome these structural weaknesses, the government adopted the Water Sector Reform Programme (2016–2025). It marked a shift from fragmented, administrative water management to one based on natural river basins and the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

A multi-level transformation

Funded by the Swiss Government and implemented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, GIZ International Services (Project Phase 1 and 2), the NGO Acted and partners, the National Water Resources Management (NWRM) project supports the reform process by linking national policy change with practical implementation. It combines basin-level planning, climate-resilient agriculture and disaster risk reduction measures to improve rural livelihoods.

The project follows a simple principle. Sustainable water management requires coordination across levels and sectors. It connects policy frameworks at the top with tangible actions at the farm level, covering scales from the national basin to local watersheds, irrigation schemes and Water User Associations (WUAs).

At national level, NWRM contributed to drafting the new Water Code, adopted in 2020. This milestone paved the way for the creation of the River Basin Organisation and River Basin Council and for the preparation of River Basin Management Plans to guide long-term water governance. At the basin and watershed levels, the project works in the Aksu, Isfana, Tomchasay and Khojabakirgan sub-basins (see Map).

Building institutions and skills

Three project phases have gradually expanded activities from one pilot watershed to several. Phase I (2014–2018) piloted the first Integrated Watershed Management Plan, focus on applying nature-based solutions for watersheds rehabilitation and disaster risk reduction in the Aksu watershed, showing promising results. The approach was replicated in the Isfana watershed during Phase II (2018–2022), and again in the Khojabakirgan watershed in Phase III (2022–present).

Beyond field activities, the project has strengthened legal and institutional foundations for Integrated Water Resources Management. The Water Code and subsequent River Basin Management Plan (2021–2025) have given Tajikistan a comprehensive legislative and organisational framework for basin-based planning for the first time.

In all three phases, the project has provided assistance to irrigation agencies, Water User Associations and farmers to improve irrigation water efficiency at the farm and irrigation scheme levels. In its current phase, the project is helping to integrate basin and watershed plans into the socio-economic development strategies of the Sughd province and local districts.

Multi-level and cross-sectoral approach for implementation of IWRM

Participation and partnership

Effective water management needs collaboration. The project engages a wide range of actors, including the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (MEWR), the Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation (ALRI), the Committee of Environment Protection, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Committee of Housing and Municipal Services. At basin level, the project cooperates with Sughd regional authorities, District and Jamoat administrations. At the irrigation scheme level, the project works together with the Agency of Land Reclamation and Irrigation and the Water User Association. At the watershed level, the project cooperates with local communities and civil society organisations.

Installing pipe irrigation. Photo: Helvetas Tajikistsan

Stakeholders across all levels consistently prioritise five goals: efficient water use, stronger cross-sector collaboration, climate-resilient agriculture, modernised irrigation systems and effective disaster risk reduction.

Overcoming challenges through learning

Introducing IWRM in Tajikistan has not been without obstacles. Despite the adoption of an IWRM-oriented new Water Code, the sectoral silos approach of public administration persisted. Moreover, limited delegated authority for new basin organisations has hindered progress. However, the project has addressed these constraints through policy dialogue, capacity development and visible demonstration projects.

Long-term project engagement has allowed institutional learning and development. Improved irrigation systems and participatory planning have helped build trust among communities and government bodies. The inclusion of women and youth in basin forums has further strengthened representation and shared responsibility for managing water resources.

Results and impact

Agriculture uses about 90 per cent of the region’s available water resources. Increasing irrigation efficiency has therefore been a top priority. The project supports irrigation agencies and Water User Associations in rehabilitating canals and applying water-saving technologies such as drip irrigation and improved scheduling. Over 3,000 farmers have adopted more efficient practices, which have increased yields in crops like cotton, potatoes and orchards while conserving water and soil. Here are the results in detail:

• At national and basin level, the National Water Code has been aligned with IWRM principles.The River Basin Management Plan (2021–2025) has been implemented, and the River Basin Organisation and Council were established in 2020. Furthermore, a Basin Forum of Women and Youth that amplifies local voices has been created.
• At watershed level, integrated watershed management has been successfully applied in multiple basins, while Disaster Risk Reduction models with Nature-based Solutions have piloted and established (e.g. reforestation that reduces landslides and sediment runoff, stabilises river systems and mitigates downstream flood damage), and active watershed dialogues have been held.
• At community level, farmers have gained higher productivity via water-saving tech. More than 3,000 land users have adopted sustainable agriculture practices improving soil stability and water conservation. Women are playing an increasingly recognised role in water user associations and basin forums.
   

Water efficiency training for women farmers. Photo: Helvetas Tajikistan

Looking ahead

The next phase will deepen the integration of basin and watershed plans into regional planning, strengthen institutional capacities, an­­­d continue expanding nature-based disaster risk reduction measures. Mobilising investments for critical water infrastructure and monitoring systems will also be key.

By linking policy reform, institutional development and tangible benefits for rural people, Tajikistan’s National Water Resources Management project has shown how Integrated Water Resources Management can move from concept to practice, building a more resilient future in a water-scarce region.

Marian Wojciech Szymanowicz is a Project Manager at HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Contact: marian.szymanowicz@helvetas.org

Further reading:

Rural 21 issue no 1/2020: "Water for Food and Agriculture"