IITA News, June 21 2022

This global research and development effort will help increase the productivity of mixed farming systems for more food, nutrition, and income security

The new CGIAR Initiative on Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming Systems (SI-MFS) was launched at an inception meeting held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from May 31 to June 2, 2022.

The three-year SI-MFS Initiative is one of 32 new research and development Initiatives by CGIAR. It aims to provide equitable and gender-transformative approaches to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who engage in mixed farming systems across six countries, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Laos PDR, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

Fred Kizito, the Initiative Lead, opened the workshop by laying the groundwork for a shared understanding of the Initiative among participants and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of partner/team members. He said this first face-to-face meeting would help the members get to know each other and bond and define priority activities and implementation plans for each work package and country of operation.

The CGIAR Initiatives are structured according to Work Packages (WPs) or activities. The SI-MFS has the following WPs, which are led by scientists from various CGIAR Centers:

1. WP 1: Status, trends, and future dynamics of MFS;
2. WP 2: Building methods and tools (M&T) for SI of MFS;
3. WP 3: Participatory co-design of MFS with evidence-based, validated SI innovation packages;
4. WP 4: Advancing and supporting scaling of innovations;
5. WP 5: Capacity building for MFS design and analyses.

See https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/new-cgiar-initiative-on-sustainable-intensification-of-mixed-farming-systems-launched/