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- Every Farmer, Every Tool: 2023 Gap ReportAgnew, J.; Hendery, S. (Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2023)The 2023 GAP Report "Every Farmer, Every Tool," explores the opportunities and barriers to farmer access and adoption of proven, appropriate tools for sustainable agricultural productivity growth.
- 2022 Global Agricultural Productivity Report: Troublesome Trends And System ShocksSteensland, Ann (Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Global Programs, 2022)Global agricultural systems are being rocked by COVID-19, climate change, extreme weather events, and conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere, driving up prices for food and agricultural inputs. The agricultural systems of high- and upper-middle-income countries are withstanding the shocks relatively well. However, food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty rates have risen sharply, especially in low-income countries since 2020. In 2022, 40 million people faced emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity, twice as high as in 2020 and six times more than in 2016 (Food Security Information Network, 2022). The troubling trends in agricultural productivity growth are mainly unnoticed; updated data reveals that the world’s shock-sensitive systems rest on increasingly fragile foundations. Reversing the downward trajectory of global agricultural productivity growth demands urgent action from policymakers, leaders, donors, scientists, farmers, and others in the agri-food system.
- Participatory farmer research and exploring the phytobiome: Next steps for agricultural productivity growthZeigler, Margaret M.; Steensland, Ann (NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, 2022-03-25)Agriculture and food systems must provide nutrition and agricultural products for nearly 10 billion people by 2050. Agriculture is a powerful economic driver, and by prioritizing agricultural productivity and innovation, food systems can become more resilient and improve the wider economy while generating employment. Yet, powerful solutions and approaches are needed that must move beyond “low-hanging fruit” when investing in low-income country agriculture systems. As part of the solution, we discuss innovations such as participatory research models from the International Potato Center (CIP) as well as how to unlock and harness existing plant genetics through the phytobiome.
- Product Brief: Linking the AgUnity Blockchain-based Platform to the Kenyan Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth StrategyAgnew, Jessica L.; Hall, Ralph P.; Kristofikova, Nurvitria (Virginia Tech, 2022-08-22)
- Policy Brief: Blockchain technology can contribute to improved food security, smallholder farmer incomes, and agricultural productivity by improving the functionality of entire agri-food value chainsAgnew, Jessica L.; Hall, Ralph P. (Virginia Tech, 2022-08-22)
- Embedded Research Translation Report: Exploring the Use of Blockchain Technology to Promote the Production and Consumption of African Indigenous Vegetables in Western KenyaKristofikova, Nurvitria; Muskoke, Irene; Agnew, Jessica L. (AgUnity, 2021-08-04)AgUnity worked with Virginia Tech and Egerton University on the LASER PULSE-funded project entitled Exploring the Use of Blockchain Technology to Promote the Production and Consumption of African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) in Western Kenya. AIV value chains are characterized by transactional and informational inefficiencies that contribute to inconsistent supply and mismatched demand in Kenya. This research program explores how digital applications built on blockchain technology (BCT) can be deployed in AIV value chains in western Kenya, in a way that improves food and nutrition security for all value chain actors. Specifically, there was interest in understanding how the BCT-based smartphone application could assist groups of individuals who typically face constraints in accessing economic or nutritional benefits from value chain upgrading (i.e., smallholder producers, women, youth, low-income consumers). This project was one of the first times the AgUnity app was not deployed in a centralized supply chain context (i.e., with a union or cooperative supplied by hundreds of farmers). We have found that in decentralized supply chains, there is a particular need to ensure that the system supports the users' values and needs for conducting their respective value chain activities. When this is achieved, trust that is garnered through the use of the technology shall translate directly into more cooperative and coordinated value chains. Both the value chain app adaptation and configuration and the technology service design were built around this premise, using embedded research translation (ERT) processes to ensure that it was achieved in the target population and value chain. This report outlines the steps taken by AgUnity to translate Virginia Tech and Egerton University’s research into the adaptation and deployment of our proprietary BCT-based smartphone application. It is directed toward readers interested in understanding the product and service design of the AgUnity application, the use of BCT in digital platforms designed for last-mile users, and those interested in successful examples of ERT. It walks the reader through the value chain mapping and community immersion processes, the steps needed to adapt the technology to fit the local value chain context, and the development and selection of app functionalities for the target users and value chain. The report may be of interest to researchers, farming associations, and cooperatives or agricultural non-governmental organizations interested in the AgUnity solution as well as stakeholders involved in strengthening agricultural market systems, AgTech, or FinTech.
- Transaction and Information Pain Points in African Indigenous Vegetable Value Chains in Western Kenya: A Gender-Responsive AIV Value Chain and Market Analysis ReportAgnew, Jessica L.; Mwangi, Joseph; Hall, Ralph P.; Sumner, Daniel M.; Kristofikova, Nurvitria (2021-08-23)The use cases for blockchain technology (BCT) have taken off since its initial development for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. In agricultural value chains, BCT has been developed for agri-food products from source to retail outlets, increasing transparency between value chain actors, and creating secure transaction platforms. However, BCT is not a magic bullet for addressing all value chain inefficiencies and challenges. This study, Exploring the Use of Blockchain Technology to Improve Food Security Through African Indigenous Vegetables in Western Kenya, aims to investigate the types of challenges within the value chain for African indigenous vegetables (AIVs) that BCT is appropriate to address. It also aims to investigate if deploying a BCT-based digital platform in AIV value chains will lead to improved food security for all value chain actors. This gender-responsive participatory value chain analysis (PVCA) investigates the transactional, informational, and other types of pain points within AIV value chains to identify where BCT is needed. AIVs are known as ‘female’ crops, as women are primarily responsible for their production, marketing, and preparation. This PVCA also investigates gender disparities in the value chain with the view to understanding how a BCT-based digital platform might help to secure the place of women in the value chain as it is upgraded. According to the findings of the PVCA, the main pain points that need to be addressed in order to improve income-earning opportunities and availability of and demand for AIVs are the lack of coordination throughout the value chain, assurance of vegetable safety for consumers, improved transmission of information through the value chain, standardization of grading and pricing, improving the market power of women, and technical assistance for producers in pest and disease management and production practices to improve yield. BCT cannot address all of these pain points. However, it is well suited for improving vertical coordination between actors by organizing and standardizing transactions and making information on the AIVs accessible at all stages of the value chain. It will also provide women a safe and secure platform for transacting that will protect the revenues earned from their respective activities. This study also finds that while smartphone ownership is low, value chain actors are willing to pay for a smartphone as well as a monthly subscription fee to use a digital platform if it will address their key pain points. This study will continue to investigate key knowledge gaps such as how technology use might more effectively engage youth in AIV value chains, how information on the blockchain can be certified, and how to scale up the use of a BCT-based digital platform. However, this PVCA demonstrates there is potential for BCT to offer important solutions to address transactional and informational inefficiencies along AIV value chains.
- Breakthroughs in Agricultural Productivity: Participatory Research and the PhytobiomeSteensland, Ann; Zeigler, Margaret (Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 2022-01-17)Agriculture and food systems must provide nutrition and agricultural products for nearly 10 billion people by 2050. Agriculture is a powerful economic driver and by prioritizing agricultural productivity and innovation, food systems can become more resilient and improve the wider economy while generating employment. Yet, powerful solutions and approaches are needed that must move beyond “low-hanging fruit” when investing in low-income country agriculture systems. As part of the solution, we discuss innovations such as participatory research models from the International Potato Center (CIP) as well as how to unlock and harness existing plant genetics through the phytobiome.
- Building trust and closing the productivity gap in IndiaSteensland, Ann (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech)Building trust between communities within agriculture systems overcomes barriers and facilitates the adoption of new technologies and practices for productivity and resilience.
- Improving gender and nutrition outcomes of women poultry farmersSteensland, Ann (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech)A program implemented by Tanager, an international development organization, is transforming the poultry sector in Burkina Faso.
- Wei Zhang named GAP Initiative VT Faculty Research FellowSteensland, Ann (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-04-23)For 2021-2022, Wei Zhang, assistant professor in agricultural and applied economics has been awarded the fellowship for her proposal to research the dynamic relationship between extreme climate events and the resilience of agricultural systems, through the lens of TFP growth.
- Innovative agricultural technologies and practices promote productivity and resilienceSteensland, Ann (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-04-13)Agricultural productivity is not just essential for sustainably meeting the demands of a growing world. The technologies and practices that enable producers to produce more output with the same amount, or less inputs, can also be harnessed to cultivate resilience. In addition to COVID-19, agricultural communities battle pandemic-scale pest and disease outbreaks every year. The health and productivity of people, livestock, and crops are all vulnerable, and resilience in the face of these threats has never been more important. The stories below describe how the GAP Initiative’s Supporting Partners are working with communities around the world to improve their productivity and resilience.
- World Health Day: Nutrition security and food safety essential for global healthSteensland, Ann (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-04-07)GAP Initiative partners HarvestPlus, Purdue Center for Global Food Security, and Virginia Tech share stories of their efforts to strengthen the health of communities at risk from malnutrition and foodborne illnesses.
- U.S. agricultural trade is strong, but challenges remain says USDA secretarySteensland, Ann (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-04-01)On March 30, 2021, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam welcomed USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and other global leaders to the thirteenth-annual Virginia Governor’s Conference on Agricultural Trade for a discussion of the trade prospects for Virginia producers, and U.S. agriculture more broadly. ecretary Vilsack complemented Virginia for having a diverse group of a-typical trading partners, including Switzerland and Morocco. He said this demonstrates two of the most important aspects of cultivating and expanding agricultural trade: presence and relationships.
- World Water Day: Efficient water management essential for agricultural productivity and resilienceJain Irrigation,; Steensland, Ann; Thompson, Tom (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-03-19)Current irrigation efficiencies are below 50 percent, as a large amount of water used in irrigation is lost in the conveyance system or through inefficient application to the plants. Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., an India based Ag-Tech leader and world’s largest integrated irrigation systems manufacturer offers solutions to address the water use inefficiency in agriculture. Driven by its mission- “Leave this world better than you found it”, the company brings innovations in the field of agriculture, irrigation, food technology and green energy sectors. With their hi-tech micro-irrigation products and extension services, Jain provides access of knowledge and technology to the farmers in India and abroad.
- International Women's Day: Hellen's storySteensland, Ann; Corder, Erica (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-03-02)Hellen Wanjiko Waweru, a Kenyan smallholder farmer, shares her farming practices, challenges, and hopes for the future in this documentary short.
- Building Africa’s first “e-Extension Platform” for smallholder farmersRyoya, Tasia; Steensland, Ann (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-02-24)Sasakawa Africa Association envisions an e-Extension Platform that provides smallholder farmers information about technology transfer, agricultural inputs, and markets at any time. The e-Extension Platform should not only improve agricultural productivity in the COVID-19 era, but also resolve the “information asymmetry” that can occur in agricultural extension throughout the value chain through the active use of ICT, even in the post-COVID-19 era.
- FES Champions Business-Driven Approach to Food System DevelopmentStevenson, Abigail; Steensland, Ann (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-02-18)Food Enterprise Solutions (FES) aims to tackle food safety issues in emerging economies, to the benefit of growing food businesses, consumers, and food systems as a whole.
- Mung bean: Nutrient-rich legume for SenegalAbaye, Azenegashe Ozzie; Steensland, Ann (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-02-09)Since 2019, Virginia Tech, in collaboration with Counterpart International, has been investigating the potential of mung bean to address malnutrition and food security in Senegal. The project seeks to create acceptance and increase consumption in communities to address malnutrition and food insecurity. Mung bean is a variety of pulse, the dried, edible seeds of legume plants and can be used as food, fodder, and seed. There are 11 types of pulses, each having many varieties. Dried beans, chickpeas, and lentils are the most common types of pulses.
- Investing in innovation and infrastructure in the International Year of Fruits and VegetablesCorder, Erica (Global Agricultural Productivity Initiative, Virginia Tech, 2021-01-28)Fruits and vegetables are essential for human nutrition. But they’re also beneficial to the food system: the fruit and vegetable sector can help benefit global efforts to generate environmental sustainability, increase biodiversity, and improve the livelihoods of farmers and employees along the value chains. Investments in traceability innovations and cold chain infrastructures can reduce post-harvest loss in the fruit and vegetable sector.