Humidtropics, a CGIAR Research Program led by IITA

New Partnership Platform for Better Impact on Poverty in Northwest Vietnam

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Northwest Vietnam is a mountainous area bordering China to the North and Lao PDR to the South. About 30 ethnic minorities with distinct languages and traditions, including cultivation practices live in the area, the most populous groups being Thai, H’mong and Nung. It is estimated that roughly 80 percent of the population’s livelihoods are based on agriculture. The area is also poor: poverty rates of Son La and Dien Bien are 29.4 percent and 38.6 percent, respectively, compared to the national average at 9.8 percent, according to statistics from Vietnam’s General Statistics Office. In … [Read more...]

Marketing Analysis Confirms the Intertwined Nature of Agricultural Production, Marketing and Natural Resources Management Systems in Uganda

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Last week the Humidtropics, Dryland Systems and Aquatic Agricultural Systems CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) met in Ibadan, Nigeria for the International Conference on Integrated Systems Research. The purpose of these three ‘systems’ CRPs is to identify and make the most of the complex intertwined nature of the agricultural production, marketing, and natural resources management systems to contribute to reducing poverty, improving incomes, nutrition and the status of women and other marginalized groups in humid tropical, drylands and aquatic ecosystems. The preliminary results from my … [Read more...]

Improving Dietary Diversity and Quality through Systems Innovation: a Pilot Study from Vietnam

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As part of her research for Humidtropics, Jessica Raneri, Nutrition Programme Specialist, Bioversity International, explains some of the challenges in gathering baseline data in the Mai Son district in Son La Province, Vietnam, to assess local food biodiversity and identify opportunities for improving diet quality and diversity. The focus is on women of child-bearing age and children between 12-23 months – an age group part of the critical 1000 day window for child development and the stage where they are able to consume a more diverse diet. As such, it is from this age group that … [Read more...]