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The document positions irrigation as a primary tool for agricultural transformation in Africa, essential for improving resilience to climate change and extreme events. It identifies significant barriers, including water scarcity, limited technical skills, and a massive investment gap, estimated by the World Bank at over USD 40 billion. The paper advocates for a comprehensive approach involving national Master Plans for Irrigation, the integration of groundwater use to combat droughts, and a shift toward public-private partnerships to fund both large-scale and smallholder irrigation systems. It emphasizes that achieving full irrigation potential in Sub-Saharan Africa over a 50-year horizon would require diverting up to 50 percent of agricultural expenditures to water management.

The 'Sustainable Landscapes in Eastern Madagascar' project is a cross-cutting mitigation and adaptation initiative requesting US$53.5 million from the Green Climate Fund. It employs a three-pronged financial approach: a US$15.3 million grant for public sector capacity building and sustainable agriculture, a US$35 million equity investment in a US$50.5 million private sector Investment Fund managed by Althelia, and a US$3.2 million grant to establish a national Climate Change Trust Fund. The project targets the Ankeniheny-Zahamena (CAZ) and Ambositra-Vondrozo (COFAV) forest corridors, aiming to reduce 10 MtCO2eq of emissions, provide 33 MW of renewable energy capacity, and benefit 562,000 direct beneficiaries. Key innovations include the use of a first-of-its-kind EIB Green/Climate Bond to mobilize private capital for a least developed country.

The report examines the application of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in Nepal's Terai, mid-hills, and high hills regions, emphasizing the need for interventions tailored to local contexts and socially disaggregated vulnerabilities. Key findings highlight that farmers are more likely to adopt technologies with multiple benefits—such as improved cattle sheds for manure management or rice-and-duck farming—when they are delivered as integrated packages rather than in isolation. The report argues that sustainability is enhanced through local ownership, mandatory community contributions, and strategic partnerships between NGOs, the private sector, and government extension offices. It specifically notes the differing priorities between dalit households, who focus on food and nutrition security, and janajati households, who prioritize market-driven commercial production.

The 'Scaling-up of climate-smart agriculture in Nepal' project, funded by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), aims to increase farming resilience by promoting climate-smart agricultural technologies. The project focuses on developing 'champion' initiatives and assessing the factors necessary for scaling these approaches across diverse agro-ecosystems. Key findings emphasize the importance of using socially disaggregated vulnerability assessments, promoting technology packages with multiple benefits, and leveraging partnerships between the private sector, government extension offices, and non-governmental organisations.

The document outlines systemic obstacles to Tanzania's agricultural potential, including poor infrastructure, credit shortages, and unclear land laws. It notes that domestic agro-processing struggles to compete with higher-quality imports from South Africa and Kenya. To improve, the document argues for better synergy between government departments and a nuanced approach to public-private partnerships that prioritizes food security, environmental protection, and transparent contracting for smallholder farmers.

The briefing argues that for agricultural value chain investments to be sustainable, climate resilience must be a priority, requiring all actors to perform three core CRM functions: climate risk assessment, adaptive management, and responding to shocks. Using the Ugandan rice sector as an example, it demonstrates that while all actors are exposed to climate hazards like droughts and floods, smallholder farmers are the most vulnerable due to limited assets. The document emphasizes the critical role of service providers—offering climate information, financial services, market data, and resilient infrastructure—in enabling these CRM functions. It concludes by recommending that development agencies integrate CRM into training, strengthen service provider capacities, generate economic evidence for the business case of CRM, and align agricultural policies with systemic risk management.

The document evaluates the 'adaptation readiness' of ASEAN countries, categorizing them based on their policy engagement and institutional frameworks. It identifies the Philippines and Vietnam as pioneers, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Myanmar as emerging champions, and Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand as 'wait-and-see' adaptors. The analysis highlights critical gaps in funding, sub-national engagement, and the failure to address structural inequalities and the specific needs of smallholders. It recommends a regional agenda for smallholder adaptation, increased direct engagement with rural populations, and the establishment of regional knowledge-sharing and monitoring systems.

The document evaluates the impact of subsistence and smallholder activities on forest loss, noting that while they account for approximately 33% of deforestation and 27-34% of degradation in tropical and subtropical regions, the relationship between poverty and forest loss is non-linear. It identifies clean cookstove distribution and financial support for woodfuel interventions as key proxy indicators for progress. The report highlights a significant increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the woodfuel sector and provides case studies from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru to illustrate localized interventions. It concludes that agricultural ODA and climate mitigation forestry ODA are largely uncoordinated, with the latter concentrating in middle-income countries rather than the least developed countries where food security is most pressing.

The study evaluates eleven cases of private sector development to determine their relevance to smallholder agricultural investments in five African nations. Using the Committee on World Food Security's Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investments (RAI), the paper argues that investment in, by, and with smallholders constitutes private sector development. It proposes three support approaches: promoting an enabling environment, providing public goods and services, and offering direct investment support, all of which must balance the needs of both business enterprises and smallholders.

The research finds that while centralized conservation policies successfully reduced medium- and large-scale deforestation in both Mato Grosso and Pará, the impact on small-scale deforestation varied by state. In Mato Grosso, large landowners adapted by clearing forest in smaller patches to elude the DETER monitoring system, which cannot detect clearings under 25 hectares. In Pará, smallholders were more persistent in deforesting because their clearings were predominantly smaller than 25 hectares and thus remained invisible to law enforcement. The authors argue that the apparent similarity in deforestation scale across states masks critical differences in the agents involved, necessitating tailored regional policies.

The paper presents TAGMI, an online open-access tool using Bayesian network models to assess the likelihood of success for agricultural water management (AWM) interventions at a sub-national level. By integrating social, human, physical, financial, and natural factors, the tool evaluates the potential for outscaling three specific technologies—soil water conservation/in situ rainwater harvesting, small-scale private irrigation, and small reservoirs for communal irrigation—within the Limpopo and Volta river basins. The authors use a climate change scenario to test the robustness of these interventions and argue for the further development of Decision Support Systems and the identification of implementation best practices for poverty-constrained smallholder systems.

Civil society organizations gathered at the World Social Forum in Tunis in March 2015 to oppose the G8's New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Africa. They argue the initiative promotes corporate-led agriculture, facilitates land grabbing, and undermines the rights of small-scale farmers. The statement calls for a shift toward food sovereignty, agro-ecology, and the protection of peasant seed systems, demanding that governments suspend New Alliance commitments and prioritize human rights-based agricultural systems.

The paper argues that while supply chain traceability is a necessary first step, it is insufficient for achieving large-scale sustainability. Instead, it advocates for a 'landscape management approach'—managing agricultural production and ecosystem protection across connected areas of land rather than on a plantation-by-plantation basis. This strategy involves five key steps: defining landscape boundaries, partnering with government and business, allocating land to its highest value use, increasing productivity, and monitoring results. The document highlights a pilot project in Sei Mangkei, North Sumatra, and identifies significant opportunities to utilize degraded lands in North Sumatra and Central Kalimantan to reduce deforestation pressure.

The program targets the global supply chains of palm oil, soy, and beef, which are identified as primary drivers of approximately 80% of worldwide deforestation. It employs a 'whole of supply chain' theory of change, arguing that deforestation can be eliminated if production is localized in the right areas (avoiding natural forests) and follows sustainable practices. The program is structured into four child projects: Support to Production, Generating Responsible Demand, Enable Transactions, and Adaptive Management and Learning. Key geographic focuses include the Amazon and Cerrado in Brazil, the Chaco in Paraguay, and palm oil production in Indonesia and Liberia. The program seeks to leverage a total cost of $443.2 million, including $40.3 million from the GEF Trust Fund, to shift the market from voluntary niche sustainability to a mainstream norm.

The paper examines how specific agricultural practices—including reduced tillage, crop rotations, legume intercropping, and modern inputs—impact crop yields and the probability of disastrously low yields for smallholder farmers in Zambia. It utilizes panel data from the Rural Incomes and Livelihoods Surveys (RILS) merged with geo-referenced historical rainfall and temperature data to analyze how these practices interact with varying climatic conditions.

The document examines the rollout of biofuels and agribusiness in Southeast Asia, finding that promised poverty reduction and rural development benefits often fail to materialize. It highlights systemic issues including unclear land tenure, the vulnerability of small-scale producers, and weak enforcement of environmental laws. The authors argue that investments frequently precede inclusive development planning, leading to social tensions and ecological risks, and recommend prioritizing 'upstream' planning and strengthening dispute resolution mechanisms.

The report identifies significant gaps between Zambia's national agricultural policies and the proposed global SDGs, noting that while national goals focus on production and exports, the SDGs emphasize human well-being and systemic sustainability. It highlights that current Zambian interventions, such as the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP), reinforce a reliance on maize and fail to address structural barriers like poor market access and climate vulnerability.

The Agricultural Supply Chain Adaptation Facility (ASCAF) is a proposed financing mechanism to help small- and medium-sized farmers in the Latin America and Caribbean region invest in climate-resilient agricultural measures. By using donor-backed first-loss guarantees and technical assistance provided through Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), ASCAF aims to enable agribusiness corporations to extend medium- to long-term loans (5-7 years) to their suppliers. The facility targets 'tight' value chains for high-value crops like coffee, sugarcane, and cocoa to reduce credit risks and capacity gaps. If scaled, the facility could potentially protect or increase the revenues of 63,000 to 420,000 farming households by 2030, with a total market investment potential estimated between USD 2.5 billion and USD 4.4 billion for four sample crops.

The case study examines an irrigation project in Ruti, Zimbabwe, implemented by Oxfam and the government. It finds that while local adaptation efforts can significantly increase production and resilience for smallholder farmers, these gains are precarious without a broader supportive political and economic framework, especially as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of droughts and rainfall.

The Adapta Sertão programme employs a community-based adaptation (CBA) approach to help small farmers in Brazil's semi-arid region increase yields and resilience through a combination of low-cost technology, micro-credit, and market access. The programme argues that a systemic approach, which uses partnerships to link fragmented public policies regarding finance, technology, and technical assistance, is more effective than relying solely on slow government interventions.