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Research Themes

Climate adaptation and mitigation

Environmental health and biodiversity

Gender equality, youth and social inclusion

Nutrition, health and food security

Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs

Recent Submissions

Localized Agronomy and Fertilizer Advisory Solutions in Ethiopia: Innovation packaging and scaling readiness report
(Report, 2025-11) Desta, Gizaw; Legesse, Gizachew; Tigabie, Abiro; Agegnehu, Getachew
Fertilizer use has long been a cornerstone of global agricultural intensification. However, blanket fertilizer recommendations that overlook variation in soils, topography, moisture, and crop responses often produce suboptimal outcomes, including low agronomic efficiency, nutrient losses, environmental degradation, and uneven economic returns across fields (Desta et al., 2025). Yield gaps persist due to declining soil fertility, generalized fertilizer recommendations, and limited access to tailored advisory services (CGIAR, Data-Driven Fertilizer Optimization). Even when fertilizer adoption has increased, efficiency and profitability have remained low, largely because “one-size-fits-all” approaches fail to reflect strong within-field and landscape variability. To address these challenges, more precise and context-sensitive fertilizer management is urgently needed. More recently, data-driven and machine learning–enhanced recommendations for wheat, teff, maize, and sorghum have delivered higher yields and greater resource-use efficiency compared with blanket recommendations in multi-location trials (Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT, 2024). Despite these promising results, scaling remains constrained by several barriers: (a) variability in piloting and scaling performance, (b) limited institutional capacity to maintain and update advisory, (c) affordability and accessibility challenges for resource-poor farmers; and (d) gaps in inclusion of women and youth, both as users and service providers. Addressing these requires an integrated scaling strategy that combines robust piloting and scaling, inclusive delivery channels (public, private, and digital), capacity development, and policy alignment.
River waste to goldmine: A tale of floating agriculture in vulnerable southern regions of Bangladesh
(Journal Article, 2025-04) Sarker, Mou Rani; Kundu, Nanda Dulal; Sujan, Md. Hayder Khan; Salman, Md; McKenzie, Andrew M.; Islam, Md. Monjurul; Rahman, Md. Alimur; Uddin, Md. Taj; Bhandari, Humnath; Sarkar, Md. Abdur Rouf
Floating agriculture transforms marshy lands into productive resources, enhancing food security and rural incomes in climate-vulnerable areas. While prior research highlights its potential as a climate-resilient practice, gaps remain in understanding the determinants of adoption and long-term livelihood impacts. Our study addresses these gaps by examining farming procedures, profitability, impacts, and the key drivers and challenges influencing floating agriculture adoption in southern Bangladesh. Data was collected from 158 farmers using a pre-tested questionnaire between October 2018 and April 2019. Profit function and logit regression models were applied to analyze profitability and socio-economic determinants, complemented by qualitative methods and causal loop diagrams to assess impacts. Findings reveal that farmers employ both intercropping and monocropping, with a preference for seedling raising (156.37 USD/100 m2) over vegetable cultivation (121.56 USD/100 m2) due to higher profitability. Despite its labor-intensive nature (73% labor costs for seedling rising vs. 85% for vegetable cultivation), floating agriculture boosts household income, meets local vegetable demand, and reduces reliance on external markets during shocks. Additionally, it provides ecological benefits such as waterweed management and reduced environmental pollution. Floating agriculture also alleviates poverty by enhancing agricultural production and generating a positive feedback loop of increased income, food availability, and improved nutrition and health. Adoption is influenced by age, experience, family size, income diversity, credit access, extension services, and market proximity. However, high capital costs, limited credit, market volatility, and biotic/abiotic stresses pose challenges. To scale up floating agriculture, policy measures should focus on financial support, technical training, cost-effective innovations, and fostering cooperative farming. Institutional backing is crucial for promoting this sustainable cleaner production practice in flood-prone regions of Bangladesh and similar global contexts.
Integrated Soil Fertility Management Strategies for Resilient Soils in Ethiopia
(Report, 2025-11-25) Agegnehu, Getachew; Legesse, Gizachew; Tigabie, Abiro; Desalegn, Henok; Desta, Gizaw
Soil fertility depletion and nutrient mining are critical challenges to sustainable crop production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Addressing these issues requires a multifaceted approach, including improved soil management practices, the use of organic fertilizers, and the adoption of sustainable agronomic practices. Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) is one of the approaches to improving the yields of crops while preserving sustainable and long-term soil health and fertility through the combined application of fertilizers, recycling of organic resources, use of responsive crop varieties, and improved agronomic practices, which minimize nutrient losses and improve the nutrient-use efficiency of crops (Agegnehu and Amede, 2017; Vanlauwe et al., 2015). The fertility status of steep-slope cultivated lands has been depleted due to the loss of soil organic matter and nutrient reserves. The response of such soils to the application of nutrients is low, unless their fertility is restored through the adoption of an integrated soil-crop system for improved crop-nutrient response and yield (Minh et al., 2023).
Nitrogen Fertilizer Adjustment in Legume-Cereal Rotations
(Report, 2025-11-11) Shewangizaw, Beza; Agegnehu, Getachew; Desta, Gizaw; Legesse, Gizachew; Desalegn, Henok; Tigabie, Abiro
Sustainable food production is one of the major global challenges, exacerbated by climate change, increasing population, and natural resource degradation, including soil degradation and loss of biodiversity (Pretty and Bharucha, 2014; Vanlauwe et al., 2014). Cropping systems that specialize in one or two crops, with little attention to crop diversity, may lead to biological and physical soil degradation (Kirschenmann, 2002; Tanaka et al., 2010). Annual cropping systems, which include diverse crops such as cereals, legumes, and oilseeds, may be economically viable options for farmers. Diversifying crops in cropping systems also influences the soil environment and diversity of soil organisms (Williams et al., 2023; Yang et al., 2020). It is crucial to consider the synergistic or antagonistic relationships of crops in cropping systems for sustainability and resilience in agricultural systems (Kirschenmann, 2007). Legumes play a major role in the sustainability of cropping systems, primarily due to their contribution of biologically fixed N and other beneficial effects, such as breaking pest and disease cycles for non-legume crops (Agegnehu et al., 2014; Peoples et al., 1995; Siddique et al., 2008). In Ethiopia, crops and cropping systems are diverse due to large agroecological and cultural diversity, which in turn leads to variable cropping patterns. The greater reliability of return is the main feature of multiple cropping, compared to monocropping. This report summarizes the contribution of crop rotation to the yield of major cereal crops after major precursor legumes based on legacy research data on cereal-legume rotations. Determining the contribution of major leguminous crops to subsequent cereal crops in terms of yield and soil fertility will help compensate for the rate of nitrogen fertilizer required, thereby enabling integration into digital fertilizer advisory services.
Current Agriculture Practices: Baseline Survey Report: Central Highlands Ecoregion Foodscape (CHEF)
(Report, 2025-11-29) Gizaw, Desta; Desalegn, Henok; Michael, Kinyua; Nyawade, Shadrack; Assefa, Banchayehu; Boaz, Waswa
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Central Highlands Ecoregion Foodscapes (CHEF) Use Case targets eleven counties in the central highland region of Kenya that transition from water towers, smallholder transition zone, semiarid production zone, to rangelands. The mission of the Use Case is to improve and sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the croplands and rangelands to meet the needs of the present and future communities. The interaction of land use systems and agrifood systems in the region is the driver of production decline and depletion of ecosystem services and biodiversity. The CHEF Use Case embeds a foodscapes-scale approach along the transitions to design, validate, and action that are sensitized to local contexts. The approach fosters bridging traditional knowledge and scalable nature-based interventions to drive and achieve an inclusive and sustainable food systems transformation and to accelerate system-wide change. The Use Case aims to catalyze the implementation of regenerative practices and innovations across the transition zones, representing the diversity of geographic and food production archetypes.