Humidtropics, a CGIAR Research Program led by IITA

Introducing Tomatoes to Hmong Women in Northwest Vietnam

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Spanish conquerors encountering tomato in Central America in the 15th century thought the suspicious-looking berries must be poisonous. Five centuries later, a Hmong woman in the northern uplands of Vietnam was equally suspicious of the tomato plants in her backyard garden. Never having eaten tomato before, she thought the fruit was sour and malodorous at first. The plants were introduced as part of a pilot to test improved home gardens for isolated communities of ethnic minorities in the northern uplands of Vietnam. Hmong ethnic people typically live in remote areas with limited market … [Read more...]

Integrated Systems Research is Changing Lives and Landscapes in Ethiopia

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For many years, Teklu Erkossa, a Humidtropics Researcher from IWMI, has been doing research on land and water resources in Ethiopia, a country where agricultural productivity is suffering from water scarcity and land degradation. "In addition, the soils often have quite particular water-related characteristics that are unsuitable for many traditional crops. As a result, we have been exploring alternative cropping options to restore and preserve highly degraded areas in the country. Our platform-driven research project has demonstrated that using Innovation Platform approaches is an … [Read more...]

Opportunities and Challenges for Multi-Stakeholder Platforms in Agricultural Research for Development

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Why multi-stakeholder platforms? Within Humidtropics, multi-stakeholder approaches play an important role towards achieving research for development outcomes. Multi-stakeholder platforms aim to foster technological and institutional innovation by facilitating continuous interaction and collaboration in networks of farmers, extension officers, policymakers, researchers and other relevant stakeholders in the agricultural system. In doing so, they are seen as a promising vehicle to stimulate collective action to address soil fertility, climate change, nutrition and other agricultural … [Read more...]

Nutrition in Kenya: Putting Nutritious Diversity Back on the Plate

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This is Part 1 of three special reports from Vihiga County, Kenya, where a Humidtropics research project is empowering the community to better use available agricultural biodiversity to improve nutrition all the year round. What is the research initiative? In August 2014, Humidtropics researchers from Bioversity International launched a research project entitled A Participatory approach to improve dietary diversity in Vihiga County. The project supports communities to develop, implement and monitor their own action plans for sustainable production of nutritious foods to improve dietary … [Read more...]

Nutrition in Kenya: Community Action Gathers Momentum

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This is Part 2 of three special reports from Vihiga County, Kenya, where a Humidtropics research project is empowering the community to better use available agricultural biodiversity to improve nutrition all year round. Julia Boedecker, Associate Scientist, Bioversity International, has spent two months in Vihiga County working with local colleagues and partners to carry out six community workshops in five locations. Julia reports on Phase II of the project which focuses on participatory development of interventions to improve diets using agricultural biodiversity. “Through the workshops … [Read more...]