The globalisation of agrifood systems is a mega-trend with potentially profound nutritional implications. This paper describes various facets of this globalisation process and reviews studies on nutritional effects with a particular focus on developing countries. Results show that global trade and technological change in agriculture have substantially improved food security in recent decades, although intensified production systems have also contributed to environmental problems in some regions.

There is plenty of information available in the public domain that covers various aspects of extension and know-how about new methodologies for implementation. However this information is often scattered and presented in complex academic language. Hence practitioners, who often have very limited time and/or may only have basic formal education, find it difficult to make use of this information. The Global Good Practices Initiative aims to bridge this gap by providing information about extension approaches and methods in easy-to-understand formats.

Development processes, economic growth and agricultural modernization affect women and men in different ways and have not been gender neutral. Women are highly involved in agriculture, but their contribution tends to be undervalued and overseen. Sustainable agricultural innovations may include trade-offs and negative side-effects for women and men, or different social groups, depending on the intervention type and local context. Promising solutions are often technology-focused and not necessarily developed with consideration of gender and social disparity aspects.

The purpose of this report is to show how and why scientific understanding of biological and sociocultural (sex-gender) differences between women and men can enhance success of innovation policies that seek to promote socioeconomic advancements through science and technology.

The CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish aims to increase the productivity of small-scale livestock and fish systems in sustainable ways, making meat, milk and fish more available and affordable across the developing world. This project analyzed the current gender capacities against desired future gender capacities of the Livestock and Fish partners and subsequently designed tailor-made capacity development interventions. 

Results from the gender capacity assessment shows, in general, that development and research organizations lack the knowledge and skills to integrate gender into their agricultural programs. Addressing gender-inequity in agriculture will require increased investment in skills and knowledge for value chain actors and enablers.

This presentation for the Third Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD, 5th - 8th April 2016 - Johannesburg, South Africa) discusses gender in relation to foresight in agrifood systems. 

The presentation was given for the SEARCA Forum-workshop on Platforms, Rural Advisory Services, and Knowledge Management: Towards Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development, Los Banos, 17-19 May 2016. It introduced agricultural innovation systems and their main features, examined the evolution of approaches to the resolution of agricultural problems, and provided an overview of the various participatory tools.