Alliance Bioversity CIAT Working and Discussion Papers

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/106992

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 167

Strategic public-private partnership guide for sustainable CSA and CIS delivery
(Working Paper, 2025-11-15) Byandaga, Livingstone; Kagabo, Desire; Mvuyibwami, Patrick; Ouedraogo, Adama; Ouedraogo, Mathieu
Protocol to collect causal chain data on agriculture adaptation effectiveness and resilience
(Working Paper, 2025-11) Nowak, Andreea Cristine
This working paper introduces a conceptual model and operational protocol for assessing adaptation effectiveness and resilience in agricultural systems through explicit causal chains linking climate shocks, adaptive actions, mediating processes, and outcomes. Building on a rich literature on resilience, vulnerability, and adaptation measurement, it addresses persistent fragmentation in the evidence base, where different parts of the adaptation process are often analyzed in isolation. The paper presents a structured model and two complementary tools—a household survey module and a participatory focus group guide—that enable the collection of relational, event-anchored data across shocks, actions, and effects. Applied within the accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project, the protocol demonstrates how these tools can operationalize complex impact pathways without imposing new data burdens. The novelty of this effort lies in providing a coherent causal structure that connects actions, mechanisms, and outcomes over time; integrating monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment efforts within a single logic; and bridging empirical and experiential evidence to generate a dynamic, cumulative understanding of how adaptation produces resilience across contexts and timescales.
Cultivating resilience: Exploring the multidimensional benefits of home gardens in Guinayangan, Quezon
(Case Study, 2024-12-01) Calanasan, Cleofe A.; Caringal, Ma. Isabel V.; del Rio, Susan P.; Anunciado, M.S.S.; Gonsalves, Julian; Monville-Oro, Emilita; Borelli, Teresa
The case study assesses the impact of home garden interventions on living conditions, crop production practices, crop diversity, and harvest use of rural households that received (only) seed kits and planting materials from IIRR. The aim of the case study is to gain insights into the multifaceted benefits of minimal home gardening interventions in Guinayangan, Quezon. 100 households across target barangays/villages received a one-time distribution of approximately seventy-five indigenous crop varieties—locally adapted cultivars grown in IIRR crop museums in Silang—with minimal additional support. The deliberate focus on indigenous crops and seeds, which have endured harsh or variable conditions, aimed to enhance garden success rates by leveraging their adaptability to local environments. The study assessed multiple factors, including crop diversity, social benefits, dietary improvements, garden produce utilization, income contributions, and overall household food security. Additionally, a sub-study undertook an in-depth evaluation of the nutritional impact of home gardens on households maintaining biodiverse, multi-species gardens primarily composed of indigenous crops and locally adapted cultivars.
Custodians of agrobiodiversity in Guinayangan, Quezon, Philippines
(Working Paper, 2024-12-01) Duma, Jesus C.; Caringal, Ma. Isabel V.; del Rio, Susan P.; Anunciado, Ma. Shiela S.; Gonsalves, Julian F.; Monville-Oro, Emilita; Borelli, Teresa
This study assessed the diversity of crops, trees, and livestock managed by households in Guinayangan municipality, Quezon, Philippines. Over time, these households have acted as de facto custodians of biodiversity, even without explicitly aiming for conservation. Since the study began, households now appreciate the crops’ specific uses and their role in food security and local economies. Understanding the diversity of local varieties, breeds, and wild plants, along with their management and uses, is a vital first step toward ensuring their effective conservation and sustainable utilization.
Cultivating progress: Greenhouse and nursery innovations for vegetable production in Guinayangan, Quezon
(Working Paper, 2024-12-01) del Rio, Susan P.; Anunciado, Ma. Shiela S.; Oro, Emilita M.; Gonsalves, Julian F.; Laco, Jonalyn O.; Borelli, Teresa
The study assesses the benefits of expanding greenhouse and nursery systems including the promotion of indigenous vegetable varieties and strengthening the collaboration between farmers, local government, and other stakeholders. It also provides recommendations for improving farmers’ livelihood, enhancing food security, and promoting environmental sustainability. Through partnerships with local government units, farmer groups, and the Municipal Agriculture Office, these efforts have improved market access, supported sustainable farming practices, and encouraged community involvement. Linkages with the KADIWA program —a pioneering initiative by the Department of Agriculture, designed to strengthen the farm-to-market supply chain by directly connecting local producers with consumers and eliminating intermediary layers—have helped ensure fair pricing and market stability. The tested delivery model for selling indigenous vegetable seedlings in Guinayangan, Quezon has yielded positive results. Producing and selling these seedlings locally, has improved success rates in the raising of seedlings (under protected environments) has met market demand and created a new income stream for farmers. Moreover, it has helped in reviving public interest and the growing of a diverse range of vegetable crops previously cultivated in the locality, but that were neglected and underutilized. Small community-managed greenhouses, and seedling production systems can help improve the success rates in organic vegetable production systems. Seedling production systems can also help restore agrobiodiversity by improving accessing to planting materials of indigenous crops.
Accelerating Climate Resilience through National Frameworks for Weather and Climate Information Services: Progress, Partnerships, and Pathways Forward in Six African Countries
(Working Paper, 2025-11-12) Ghosh, Aniruddha; Ndiaye, Ousmane; Grossi, Amanda; Teshome, Asaminew; Muriuki, Edward; Murage, Paul; Ahmed, Jemal Seid
This working paper examines progress in establishing National Frameworks for Weather, Water, and Climate Information Services (NFWWCS) across six African countries—Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, Ghana, Mali, and Zambia—supported by the AICCRA initiative. These frameworks aim to institutionalize climate services, transforming data into actionable information that strengthens agricultural resilience. The report highlights diverse pathways: Ethiopia’s education-based institutionalization, Kenya’s political endorsement, Senegal’s legally anchored system, Ghana’s private-sector engagement, Mali’s digital innovation amid insecurity, and Zambia’s alignment with national development plans. Common success factors include strong national ownership, gender-responsive delivery channels, integration of climate information with tangible resources, and South–South learning exchanges. Persistent challenges centre on financing and last-mile delivery. Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plans (CSAIPs) are emerging as a key mechanism to link climate services with economic priorities. Collectively, these efforts demonstrate how coordinated national and regional architectures can accelerate climate resilience and sustainable development across Africa.
Proyectos Alianza Bioversity - CIAT: Software de Monitoreo y Refactorización de los Observatorios de Cultivos
(Thesis, 2025-07) Pedreros Pérez, Ricardo Andrés
This internship report presents the design and implementation of a digital monitoring platform for the CSICAP project and the refactoring of the Crop Observatories, developed in collaboration with the Alliance Bioversity International – CIAT. The system enhances agricultural data management through the integration of interoperable modules, improving the efficiency of data collection, analysis, and visualization within research and decision-making processes. This work supports the Alliance’s strategic goals under Lever 6 (Crops for Nutrition and Health) by strengthening digital infrastructures that enable sustainable and climate-resilient agri-food systems. Additionally, it contributes to the Digital Inclusion research theme by promoting open and accessible technological solutions that empower farmers, organizations, and public institutions to participate in evidence-based agro-environmental management and collaborative innovation.
Evaluation of the impact of group technical assistance on rice productivity in Colombia.
(Thesis, 2025-07-22) Cardona Montoya, Clara Isela
Essays on the Economics of Agroclimatic Forecast Adoption in Rice Production
(Thesis, 2025-08-21) D'croz Pardo, Silvia Alejandra
The Amazon biome in messages: Public policy and communication frames on Telegram
(Working Paper, 2025-09) Carneiro, Bia; Tucci, Giulia
This working paper investigates how the Amazon biome is represented and debated within Portuguese-language public Telegram channels, focusing on the intersection of environmental communication, digital disinformation, and public policy. Drawing on a dataset of over 39,000 messages from 605 Telegram channels between 2015 and 2025, the study applies digital methods—including topic modeling and network analysis—to uncover dominant narratives, influential actors, and discourse dynamics. Findings reveal that Telegram has become a central arena for Amazon-related discourse in Brazil, often surpassing traditional media in volume and intensity during key events such as forest fires and international summits. The platform’s affordances—such as large broadcast channels and low-friction forwarding—facilitate both genuine mobilization and the spread of disinformation. Narratives are shaped by polarization, securitization, and geopolitical framing, with topics like illegal mining and sovereignty frequently overshadowing ecological concerns. The study highlights the role of digital virality in amplifying strategic messaging and the risks posed by misinformation, which undermines climate action and public trust in science. It argues that protecting the Amazon requires not only ecological conservation but also safeguarding informational integrity. The authors call for integrated policy responses that address both environmental and digital governance challenges, emphasizing the need for climate literacy, platform accountability, and resilient public narratives.
Essay on economic implications of evaluating farmers’ trait prioritization for improved rice and maize varieties in Colombia
(Abstract, 2025-07) Fajardo Reyes, Nicolas
Gender attitudes in agriculture and positivity bias: A survey experiment in four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Working Paper, 2025-09-16) Ragasa, Catherine; Lambrecht, Isabel B.; Ma, Ning; Cole, Steven; Ebrahim, Mohammed; Desta, Gizaw; Mersha, Abiro Tigabie; Mudereri, Bester; Kihiu, Evelyne; Kreye, Christine; Peter, Hellen
Extensive prior research has demonstrated that reducing gender discrimination enhances women’s empowerment, promotes more inclusive livelihoods, increases agricultural productivity, and improves other development outcomes. This study aims to contribute to documenting and informing the measurement of gender attitudes that relate directly to reaching, benefiting, and empowering women through agricultural innovations. By analyzing data from 8,051 survey respondents across study sites in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Rwanda, our findings emphasize both commonalities and differences in gender attitudes across different contexts. Furthermore, by including a survey-based experiment during data collection, we assess whether gender-attitude statements vary depending on whether they are presented in a positive frame (focusing on equality) or in a negative frame (focusing on inequality). On average, rural women and men respondents across all countries supported more than half of the gender-equality statements. Some gender-inequality attitudes persisted across the four countries but varied in magnitude and by location, age group, and specific statement or theme. Framing matters: respondents exposed to a positive framing supported 16 percent more gender-equality statements than those exposed to a negative framing. The study highlights two main implications. First, the findings indicate the importance of considering both restrictive attitudes and those that reflect gender-equality opportunities as being in the vanguard. Accordingly, gender-focused interventions should adopt strategies that challenge normative views of women as supporting rather than leading actors in agriculture and economic activities. Second, gender-attitude measures do not perfectly align with country-level gender-equality indicators or with empowerment at the intrahousehold level. They therefore capture a distinct dimension and merit their own indicators.
How are climate, security, and human mobility dynamics interrelated in Pakistan?
(Working Paper, 2025-04-21) Khalid, Shahab; Savelli, Adam; Vaselli, Alessandra; Carneiro, Bia; Pacillo, Grazia; Laderach, Peter
Pakistan faces a complex and interlinked set of challenges at the intersection of climate change, conflict, and mobility, which collectively exacerbate human insecurity and state fragility. This paper identifies three key pathways through which these drivers interact, often in non-linear and overlapping ways. The first pathway illustrates how climate-induced disruptions to land, water, and food systems—especially in the Indus Basin—intensify livelihood loss and social tensions, increasing the likelihood of conflict and displacement. The second pathway explores how climate- and conflict-induced displacement, when poorly managed, can overwhelm state capacity, deepen social grievances, and trigger secondary conflict in both origin and destination areas. The third examines how climate hazards and displacement can aggravate ongoing conflicts, weaken peacebuilding processes, and fuel recruitment by armed groups. The analysis underscores the urgent need for integrated, context-sensitive approaches to climate resilience, displacement, and peacebuilding in Pakistan by drawing on examples across Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Advancing Water-Energy-Food- Ecosystems (WEFE) nexus governance in Ethiopia: Insights from the community of practice seminar
(Working Paper, 2025-04-10) Balcha, Yodit; Tesfamichael, Meron
Quantifying loss and damage from compound climate risk
(Working Paper, 2025-05-07) Engdaw, Mastawesha Misganaw; Ghosh, Aniruddha; Chilambe, Pedro Anglaze; Ramirez Villegas, Julian; Girvetz, Evan; Steiner, Andrea K.
Recent analyses of multi-hazard attribution studies reveal that compound climate extremes often lead to disproportionately high levels of loss and damage. However, significant losses from single extreme events—sometimes exceeding those from compound events—cannot be overlooked. This highlights a critical limitation: traditional univariate analyses of extremes may underestimate the full extent of loss and damage. This Working Paper emphasizes the need for comprehensive risk assessments to improve the estimation of loss and damage and to strengthen the effectiveness of interventions. To support this, we introduce a novel, time-sensitive, modeling-based conceptual framework that distinguishes between avoided and unavoidable loss and damage. This framework also enables the evaluation of how coordinated interventions contribute to increasing the share of avoidable loss and damage. These roles of the framework and their effectiveness will enhance with further development of impact models. By integrating comprehensive risk analysis with this new framework, it becomes possible to more rigorously identify and assess loss and damage that might otherwise be underestimated. Furthermore, the approach proposed here contributes to promoting greater equity in decision-making processes related to the Loss and Damage Fund. Whenever possible, averting and minimizing loss and damage remains the most effective strategy. To this end, aiming to enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions that increase avoidable loss and damage, we suggest several policy recommendations: diversifying assessment to economic sectors such as livestock for addressing loss and damage of pastoral communities, minimizing trade-offs though harmonized interventions, accelerated project approval procedure, and data access and sharing.
State of digitalization of seed companies and quality declared seed producers in Tanzania
(Working Paper, 2025-04-05) Chima, Richards; Kibaza, Areth; Mutua, Mercy; Ngomuo, Munguatosha; Radegunda, Kessy; Kalemera, Sylvia; Ojiewo, Christopher Ochieng; Rubyogo, Jean Claude; Ochieng, Justus; Nassari, Peter; Tlankka, Nicodemus
Digital transformation holds vast potential for advancing sustainable agriculture in the Global South, yet significant gaps remain in sectors such as Tanzania’s seed industry, which plays a critical role in agricultural productivity and food security. This study examines the current level of digital adoption among Tanzanian seed companies and Quality Declared Seed (QDS) producers, focusing on three value chains: common beans, sorghum, and groundnuts. Using survey data from 148 QDS producers and all registered 30 seed companies, collected by the Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI), we assess the current state of digital use by these entities and how digital technologies can contribute to improved market access, customer engagement, and operational efficiencies. Our analysis highlights the uneven engagement between seed companies and QDS producers, value chain disparities, and persistent barriers such as limited device access, low digital literacy, and restricted awareness of digital tools. Understanding these differences in digital engagement is essential for developing effective strategies that can bridge the digital divide and create inclusive digital transformation pathways for all actors in Tanzania’s seed sector.
Assessing the integration of peace and security into climate change policies in Southern Africa
(Working Paper, 2025-02-25) Maphosa, Mandlenkosi; Synnestvedt, Thea; Gadu, Siyaxola; Campbell, Raramai; Maviza, Gracsious
Southern Africa is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. The interrelated risks that climate impacts impose on food, land and water systems and the livelihoods of the people directly depending on them have been found to undermine social cohesion and increase human security risks across Southern Africa. In response, there is a need for governments in the region to acknowledge the specific risks that climate change and variability pose to their social systems and vulnerable populations and find suitable mechanisms to address the compounding risks of climate, peace and security. This paper aims to assess the extent to which climate, peace and security are provisioned for within existing climate-responsive policies in selected Southern African countries.
The nexus between climate change, mobility, and conflict in Somalia
(Working Paper, 2025-03) Abdullahi, Said; Singh, Radhika; Takaindisa, Joyce; Giacomelli, Camilla; Sax, Niklas; Carneiro, Bia; Pacillo, Grazia
This study explored the interplay between the climate, mobility, peace, and security (CMPS) nexus in Somalia, a country that has faced both climate extremes and protracted conflict in the past decades. It examined how climate change and variability impacted livelihoods, particularly through their effects on food, land, and water systems, and how these changes influenced social responses towards patterns of mobility, cooperation, and/or conflict. The study also analyzed how climate and conflict interact to drive displacement and the multifaceted challenges faced by displaced populations in the country. Regarding the methodology, search queries were formulated using terms related to climate, mobility, peace, and security, and were run on the Web of Science and Google Scholar databases, capturing a wide range of peer- reviewed papers. Results from both platforms were then merged to eliminate duplications. In addition, grey literature, including reports, briefs, and policy papers from climate security and migration research institutes, along with information from local and international news organizations, was incorporated to ensure an updated analysis. The study found that climate-related impacts contribute to economic hardship, poverty, and increased dependency on humanitarian aid in Somalia, eroding societal resilience. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and droughts have disrupted pastoral and agricultural livelihoods, driving migration from rural areas and leading to one of the highest urbanization rates in the region. In addition, the study revealed that the convergent crises, namely climate and conflict, interact to drive displacement in the country. Displaced populations, particularly women and children, face increased vulnerability to gender-based violence and poor living conditions in overcrowded IDP camps. These populations strain urban infrastructure and disrupt established local clan dynamics and composition in the receiving areas, fueling tensions. Additionally, frequent and severe droughts have depleted pasture and created water stress, leading to deadly disputes over scarce resources among nomadic pastoralist clans. Finally, the study revealed how Al- Shabaab exploited and exacerbated climate- induced vulnerabilities, using blockades, taxation, and violence to control rural populations in regions already suffering from climate shocks. The study calls for targeted and context-specific interventions. It advocates for integrated strategies to bolster climate resilience through sustainable agricultural practices, urban planning for IDPs, and community-based conflict resolution mechanisms, particularly among nomadic pastoralists. By addressing these interconnected vulnerabilities, the study provides actionable insights for policymakers to mitigate the dual threats of climate change and conflict in Somalia.
The dynamic nature of community gardens through history: A literature review
(Working Paper, 2024-03) Salters, Miranda; Gonsalves, Julian; Monville-Oro, Emilita; Santos-Anunciado, Ma. Shiela; Hunter, Danny
Around the globe, rapid urbanization has created challenges in ensuring access to nutritious and affordable food, as well as protecting green spaces (Guitart et al., 2012). Community gardens have emerged as dynamic spaces that address these issues while offering promising outlooks for the future of food security and sustainable urban development (Burt et al., 2020; Guitart et al., 2012). Since their inception, community gardens have undergone significant evolution. Today, they are regarded as epicenters for building community capacity, inspiring sustainable food systems, and facilitating social empowerment. However, community and allotment gardens originated as mitigation strategies during times of crisis, rather than as innovative, sustainable solutions for enhancing urban and peri-urban landscapes (Birky, 2009). This literature review aims to highlight the importance of community gardens in urban and peri-urban spaces by examining their roles in food sovereignty, community empowerment, social protection mechanisms, and humanitarian work. It does so by analyzing the literature on the origins, development, and current status of community gardens worldwide.
Etude de cas sur l’alimentation scolaire : Bénin.
(Working Paper, 2024-09) Amoussa Hounkpatin, Waliou; Fanou Fogny, Nadia; Bodjrenou, Sam; Koukou, Elie; Sossou, Cyrus; Assogba, Elvire; Houndolo, Melina; Tossou, Wilfried; Boyiako, Bernadette; Ainin, Abiola; Saroumi, Yvon

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