Program/accelerator:

Sustainable Farming

We will address key challenges in agri-food systems by fostering efficient production of nutritious foods and safeguarding the environment to create fair employment opportunities, as we simultaneously tackle climate change, soil degradation, pests, diseases, and desertification.

We will involve farmers and communities through co-creation principles and systems integration, prioritizing bundled agronomic, plant health, and farming system solutions and socioeconomic innovations in a collaborative, integrated manner backstopped by CGIAR and partners’ expertise. By co-developing solutions, we will promote agricultural transformation towards productive, resilient, and sustainable farming systems.

Our work aims to help

  • Reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by 15%
  • creating fair agricultural gain for 2 million hectares of land
  • providing for 5+ million farmers

Where we will work in

Bangladesh, Benin, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Challenges we’ll address

  • Need to increase nutritious food production by 60% to meet expanding population demands
  • 20-40% reduced agricultural productivity growth because of climate change
  • An agricultural environmental footprint equivalent to 1/3 of annual greenhouse emissions
  • Persistent social inequities and an aging agricultural labor force
  • Exclusion of youth, women, and marginalized communities in agricultural production

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Areas of Work

  • Climate Adaptation and Mitigation on Farms
    We will deliver climate-resilient farming system innovations to at least five million farmers that will enhance resilience to floods, droughts, cold stress, rising temperatures, variable rainfall patterns – envisioning a 15% reduction in GHG emissions.
  • Precision nutrient management
    We will work with our partners to release a decision support tools framework for guiding tailored nutrient recommendations for at least 15 priority crops.
  • Resilient soils
    We will co-develop technologies and other innovative solutions aimed at enhancing soil health in relation to soil fertility, hydrologic functions, soil-borne pest and disease control, biomass productivity and carbon sequestration essential for building more resilient farming systems and prevent land degradation.
  • Plant health and mycotoxin safe crops
    We will strengthen plant health systems through enhanced diagnostics and surveillance to counter pests, diseases, weeds, and mycotoxins. We will use frontier technologies and investment in eco-friendly solutions essential to effective monitoring, risk prediction, and integrated management.
  • Integrated water management
    We aim to contribute to water-resilient farming systems for at least three million producers by 2030 through the adoption of water innovations and integrated management practices that will mitigate water-related risks and address the unsustainable use of water resources.
  • Scale appropriate mechanization
    We aim to improve labor productivity by at least 25% for over one million farmers by 2030 through increased access to agricultural machinery services.
  • System integration through co-creation
    We will address the problem of bridging between farm component research (crops, livestock, trees, fish, etc.) and the farmer’s whole-farm perspective, and integration of that with other levels of systems analysis.

Gender Equality & Social Inclusion

We will address gender and social inequalities in agri-food systems by employing an inclusive and gender responsive approach throughout our areas of work.

Our Approach

Interlinked support across CGIAR’s portfolio
We will work closely with the Better Diets & Nutrition, Breeding for Tomorrow, Climate Action, Genebanks, Multifunctional Landscapes, Policy Innovations, Scaling for Impact, Sustainable Animal and Aquatic Foods programs, and the Capacity Sharing, Digital Transformation, and Gender Equality and Inclusion accelerators.

Working to share our capacity with

  • Governments and Policymakers
  • Private sector
  • Scientists and research institutions

Built on CGIAR’s proven expertise

  • A strong capacity and experience in organizing and coordinating an international program around the future sustainability of agricultural systems
  • A diverse and global expert pool of agronomists, soil scientists, plant health specialists, desert farming specialists, crop modelers, data scientists, policy scientists, and co-creation and gender experts
  • Extensive, locally embedded physical resources within our centers, including research stations, field sites, laboratories, germplasm health units, manufacturing facilities, and long-term experiments
  • Solutions and innovations tailored to local contexts while considering broader agricultural development goals

Publications