This isn’t just another report. It’s a survival guide. 

The climate is shifting, food systems are cracking under pressure, and decision-makers are being asked to move faster, make smarter bets, and solve bigger problems than ever before. 

In times like these, we don’t need another report. We need a survival guide. 

That’s what CGIAR’s new flagship report series sets out to be. We developed the inaugural report—Insight to Impact: A Decision-Maker’s Guide to Navigating Food System Science—through extensive consultation with over 70 decision-makers, including policymakers, private sector leaders, and development experts. This isn’t a summary of science—it’s a tool for acting on it. 

The report translates CGIAR’s science into real-world guidance across five critical areas—climate, nutrition, gender, livelihoods, and environment—answering 20 top questions repeatedly raised by decision-makers and offering 20 ready-to-use solutions.  

What Makes This Report Different? 

It doesn’t ask decision-makers to wade through academic papers or technical jargon. Instead, it brings forward practical examples, recommendations, and proven pathways that connect research to the real-world decisions leaders make every day. 

As one contributor put it: “Give us specifics, not abstractions.” 

Here are four powerful examples from the report that show how the science we already have is helping solve today’s most urgent food system challenges.

1. Zinc Wheat in Pakistan: Nutrition at Scale

Zinc deficiency affects more than 50 million people in Pakistan, especially women and children. Low dietary diversity means many families don’t get enough essential micronutrients. 

In response, CGIAR and national partners developed and released five zinc-biofortified wheat varieties, including Akbar-19, now consumed by over 100 million people annually. These varieties maintain high yields and are suited to local diets, increasing zinc intake by 21%. 

“This variety is occupying more than 42% of the total wheat-cropped area in Pakistan, so it’s a big success,” says Javed Ahmad, Director at the Wheat Research Institute. “This is just the fruit of our collaborative efforts between Wheat Research Institute and (CGIAR’s) Harvest Plus.”  

This is not theoretical science—it’s scalable nutrition innovation.

2. New Seed Tech: Potatoes, Jobs, and Youth

In Kenya and across Africa and Asia, smallholder farmers struggle to access clean, high-yielding seed potatoes. Low-quality seed cuts yields and limit incomes. 

A new method using rooted apical cuttings changes that. It’s low-cost, high-efficiency, and perfect for youth-led enterprises. Rooted apical cuttings are produced by taking small pieces from a healthy plant and placing them into a clean, soil-free growing material where they start to grow roots. 

“I started with a 50-kilogram bag of seed potatoes, and I saw my yield increase by 280%,” said Farmer-turned-seed producer Cecinta Nduru. “Then I took training to produce my own clean seed from cuttings. Now I make a good living selling seed in my community, and I am training other farmers on how to become seed producers.” 

Apical cuttings reduce disease risk, multiply faster than traditional seed, and open up new business models. The technology is now being adopted in Kenya, India, Vietnam, and beyond.

3. Water-Smart Rice in Vietnam: Climate Solutions That Stick

Rice fields are major emitters of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. They also consume enormous amounts of water. 

CGIAR’s Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) technique addresses both challenges. In Vietnam, over 33,000 farmers were trained to use AWD, which cuts water use and methane emissions—without hurting yields. The technique is now part of national climate policy. 

To scale up, the report recommends aligning AWD with government strategies, training extension agents, and providing incentives.

4. WEAGov: A Framework for Gender-Responsive Governance

Despite growing recognition of gender gaps in food systems, many decision-makers lack tools to make gender inclusion operational. 

Enter WEAGov: the Women’s Empowerment in Agrifood Governance framework. Co-developed with over 50 experts, it helps policymakers assess and strengthen women’s participation in food systems decision-making. 

It’s already been piloted with over 400 policy experts in Nigeria and India and adopted by Nigeria’s Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to guide budgeting and gender-sensitive policy design. 

Image: CGIAR’s Insight to Impact report 

These are just four of the dozens of ready-to-use insights profiled in the Insight to Impact report. 

It’s Time to Use the Science We Have 

The tools exist, and the knowledge is available. But science can only drive action if it’s accessible, timely, and aligned with what decision-makers actually need. 

That’s the goal of Insight to Impact: to serve as a practical guide—and part of an evolving series—that brings the best of CGIAR’s research to the forefront of policy, investment, and implementation. 

And to ensure the report drives real-world impact, CGIAR has convened an Insight to Impact Policy Champions group—a network of decision-makers from low- and middle-income countries and global institutions. Their mission: to strengthen two-way dialogue between science and policy, scale proven solutions, and embed CGIAR and partner research into national, regional, and international decision-making.

“This isn’t just another report. It’s a survival guide for decision-makers who are doing the hard work of building resilient, inclusive food systems in a climate crisis,” says the report’s Lead Researcher, Julianne Biddle. 

Stay tuned and get ready to explore the full report and its resources here: cgiar.org/cgiar-flagship-report/  

And join us for the launch event of Insight to Impact, April 10 at CGIAR Science Week in Nairobi. 

Blog by Julianne Biddle, Lead Researcher, CGIAR Flagship Report; and Adam Hunt, Senior Content Advisor, CGIAR. We would like to thank all funders who support this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund, and the special support for this project from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with GIZ. Main Photo: Leo Sebastian (IRRI-CCAFS)