Much agricultural research is privately-led and often focuses on productivity at the expense of human and environmental health, as well as being disconnected from the needs of small-scale farmers and the rural poor. 

To help them adapt to climate change and improve their livelihoods, there is an urgent need for agricultural research that focuses on human well-being, environmental sustainability and rural development.  

IFAD and the European Commission addressed this need through the Putting Research into Use for Nutrition, Sustainable Agriculture and Resilience (PRUNSAR) programme.  

The EUR39 million programme ran from 2015-2023 and covered 13 projects across South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America. These projects generated new innovations that improved the livelihoods, nutrition and resilience of pilot rural communities and smallholder farmers. 

For example: 

• The World Agroforestry project used a farmer-managed natural regeneration approach to increase millet yields in Niger by 140 per cent while restoring degraded land.  

• The International Rice Research Institute developed a mobile app which allowed farmers in Bangladesh, India and Nepal to manage pests, diseases and other agronomic problems on their own. 

• CIAT-Bioversity created the Ethiopian Digital AgroClimate Advisory Platform, which provides seasonal climate forecasts to 60,000 extensions agents, who, in turn, serve 16 million farmers.