This book—prepared by Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI), which is led by IFPRI—offers a comprehensive perspective on the evolution, current status, and future goals of agricultural research and development in Africa, including analyses of the complex underlying issues and challenges involved, as well as insights into how they might be overcome. Agriculture in Africa south of the Sahara is at a prospective tipping point. Growth has accelerated in the past decade, but is unsustainable given increasing use of finite resources. The yield gap in African agriculture is significant, and scenarios on feeding the world’s population into the future highlight the need for Africa to expand its agricultural production. Agricultural Research in Africa: Investing in Future Harvests discusses the need to shift to a growth path based on increased productivity—as in the rest of the developing world— which is essential if Africa is to increase rural incomes and compete in both domestic and international markets. Such a shift ultimately requires building on evolving improvements that collectively translate to deepening rural innovation capacity.

Farming for Our Future examines the policies and legal reforms necessary to accelerate the adoption of practices that can make agriculture in the United States climate-neutral or better. These proven practices will also make our food system more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Agriculture's contribution to climate change is substantial--much more so than official figures suggest--and we will not be able to achieve our overall mitigation goals unless agricultural emissions sharply decline. Fortunately, farms and ranches can be a major part of the climate solution, while protecting biodiversity, strengthening rural communities, and improving the lives of the workers who cultivate our crops and rear our animals. The importance of agricultural climate solutions can not be underestimated; it is a critical element both in ensuring our food security and limiting climate change. This book provides essential solutions to address the greatest crises of our time.

The Philippine economy has grown rapidly since 2010, but despite this growth, poverty and inequality remain high. Two-thirds of the poor live in rural areas, and the weak performance of the agriculture sector has contributed to the slow improvement in livelihoods. The challenge for agriculture will further increase, with climate change posing a growing threat to the sector. But agricultural transformation to spur sustained growth and reduce poverty is still possible under climate change with aggressive institutional reforms and implementation of the right mix of policies and programmes. The identification of the suitable policy and programme combination requires an accurate assessment of the key drivers of agricultural growth and food security; the impacts of climate change on agriculture and the overall economy; and the effectiveness of policies for adaptation and growth. This book addresses these big issues, focusing on enhancing the adaptation capacity of the Philippine agriculture sector. It is designed to provide a much-needed base of knowledge and menu of policy options to support decision- and policymaking on agriculture, climate change, and food security. The volume uses newly generated data, modelling outputs, and innovative analyses to provide a scientific basis for a variety of adaptation measures under different sets of climate change scenarios to guide decision-makers in strategic planning and policy formulation. “As we have actually experienced in Leyte, an island province in the Visayas where Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck, disasters caused by natural hazards could completely negate economic gains, devastate families and shatter dreams. Our greatest challenge is to make ourselves better prepared for and be more resilient to such disasters. Natural hazards need not always lead to loss of so many lives and properties. This book shows us ways and provides tools to draw up climate change and socioeconomic scenarios at the regional and provincial levels, allowing us to identify strategies for mitigating climate change risks.” — Ernesto M. Pernia, Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning, National Economic and Development Authority, Philippines “This book by top Philippine researchers combines state-of-the-art biophysical and economic modeling of climate impacts and adaptation policies with in-depth synthesis of agriculture, natural resources, climate trends, and policies. It provides a comprehensive assessment of climate change impacts on agriculture and the broader economy to provide important insights for Philippine policymakers.” — Dr Cynthia Rosenzweig, Head, Climate Impacts Group, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Co-Founder of the Agricultural Model Inter-comparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP)

The astounding success of agricultural research has enabled farmers to produce increasingly more—and more kinds—of food throughout the world. But with a projected 9 billion people to feed by 2050, veteran researcher Gale Buchanan fears that human confidence in this ample supply, especially in the US, has created unrealistic expectations for the future. Without a working knowledge of what types and amounts of research produced the bounty we enjoy today, we will not be prepared to support the research necessary to face the challenges ahead, including population growth, climate change, and water and energy scarcity. In this book, Buchanan describes the historical commitment to research and the phenomenal changes it brought to our ability to feed ourselves. He also prescribes a path for the future, pointing the way toward an adequately funded, more creative agricultural research system that involves scientists, administrators, educators, farmers, politicians, and consumers; resides in one “stand alone” agency; enjoys a consistent funding stream; and operates internationally.

This report provides a quantitative assessment of the impacts of alternative investment options on the CGIAR’s SLOs (relating to poverty – SLO1, food and nutrition security – SLO2, and natural resources and ecosystem services – SLO3) in the context of changes in population, income, technology, and climate to 2050 as well as for key SDGs of importance to the developing world. The report serves as a source of information and evidence of the impact of CGIAR efforts in agricultural R&D as well as the role of complementary investments. It is intended to help the CGIAR Centers, CG Research Programs (CRP), system management, and donors to complement other efforts to assess the overall impact and benefits of investing in international and national agricultural research programs.