Since the Western Sahara War in 1975, Sahrawi refugees have resided in a collection of refugee shelters in the Tindouf province of Algeria. For over 50 years, these communities have struggled to develop self-sufficiency and have been solely dependent on humanitarian aid for survival, marking one of the most protracted refugee crises in the world.
On March 17, Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum signed into law a
constitutional reform banning the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) corn. The action followed a
December ruling by a trade tribunal, under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement, in favor of a U.S. complaint that
Mexico's 2023 presidential decree, with broader restrictions on the consumption of GM corn, constituted an unfair trade practice by prohibiting the use of GM corn in tortillas.
On March 19, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) issued a report on the
State of Global Climate in 2024, detailing the numerous heightened natural disasters that were a consequence of human-induced climate change. With the past three years having been recorded as the three hottest years in human history, climate scientists are optimistic that 2025 will see slightly cooler global temperatures.
Livestock are a lifeline for millions of farmers in Africa as a source of food and wealth. But devastating diseases are threatening the health and productivity of their animals.
Now scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have unleashed a toolbox of science solutions by outsmarting the parasites and pathogens that cost millions of dollars in livestock losses across Africa. The toolbox includes everything from vaccines that protect livestock from ‘cattle malaria’ to genetics to breed animals tolerant to East Coast fever.
In my country, Senegal, almost 70 percent of our land is used to graze livestock. Here and across Africa, pastoralists and livestock keepers sustain herding systems which are closely bound up with our landscapes and crucial to nationwide food security, economic growth, and ecological balance.
Eliud Rugut comes from generations of farmers, yet his family expected him to move out of their home and pursue another career.
Last year, 343 million people were experiencing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). That’s 10 percent higher than in 2023.
"Up here in the highlands, there’s a lot of frost, and everything seems bleak. But I’m so happy since I got my greenhouse and started growing vegetables in a healthy way. I feel like we’re overcoming the challenges of the weather," Anacleta Mamani, a Quechua farmer from the community of Poques (about an hour’s drive from Cusco, the former imperial capital of Peru), told IPS.
To advance the participation of women, the youth, and minority communities in the agricultural sector, measures must be taken to recognize and break down the barriers that hold them back. Experts in the agricultural sector agree that even as they constitute a significant percentage of the agricultural workforce, women face persistent challenges. The picture that emerges is a lack of due recognition of their presence and their challenges, such as limited access to resources and knowledge.
The world needs an urgent fix and humanity could just be it.
More than 13,600 participants from around the world registered for the inaugural CGIAR Science Week at the UN Complex, Nairobi, April 7-12, 2025. Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, the organization’s Executive Managing Director, said, “This is a testament that people are thirsty for science and for good news.”
This week presented a beacon of hope for young people so that the “girl from the South and the boy, of course” could stay in the developing world, Dr Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, said during a press conference on the final day of the CGIAR Science Week.
"To have impact, it was crucial to understand what impact was wanted," CGIAR's Executive Managing Director Dr. Ismahane Elouafi said at the launch of the organization's flagship report,
Insight to Impact: A decision-maker’s guide to navigating food system science.
Increasingly, experts in the global health and agricultural sectors are finding the One Health approach effective for identifying and addressing health concerns that can influence facets of health. Implementing this approach worldwide will require partnerships across different sectors.
As agrifood systems in the Global South buckle under the weight of climate change, biodiversity, and even pollution, experts such as Dr. Himanshu Pathak call for urgent innovative solutions, as, at the current pace, the problems of the Global South are going to intensify with escalating climate change.
Animal scientist Lindiwe Majele Sibanda became what her grandmother earnestly prayed for when she was growing up on a farm in southern Zimbabwe.
Women farmers face structural issues that prevent them from realizing their full potential, from societal perceptions that dictate their limitations to poor land.
However, CGIAR's Gender Impact Platform Director, Nicoline de Haan, argues that leaning into a "victim" narrative does not serve them, especially when women are demonstrably more involved in agriculture.
The state of food and nutrition security in the Global South masks the great strides and investments made to increase agricultural yields to feed a rapidly growing population. As discussions deepen at the ongoing CGIAR Science Week, plenary discussions on Wednesday (April 9) explored transformative strategies and innovations driving agricultural resilience across Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
Two crucial partnerships were signed at the CGIAR Science Week in Nairobi today (April 9, 2025), aimed at delivering research for development at scale across Africa.
Climate change is outpacing science and farmers are paying the price. Agricultural research innovations need to reach farmers before it is too late.
The ASEAN-CGIAR program "unlocks opportunities to look at commodities in the region, interest, markets, and capacity building, Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Dr. Yvonne Pinto said during a plenary that focused on fostering regional integration, scaling innovation, and amplifying the impact of CGIAR's research in addressing agricultural challenges.