CABI News

The power of partnerships to help improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and ease the global food crisis has been highlighted at the inaugural CGIAR Science Week held at the United Nations Headquarters at Nairobi (UNON), Kenya.

CGIAR and the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) brought together the world’s leading scientists and decision-makers in agriculture, climate, and health for the event with the theme ‘Innovation and partnerships for a food, nutrition, and climate secure-future.’

Drawing on CGIAR science and partnerships from around the world, CGIAR Science Week engaged the community of global leaders in research, policy, and development working for a food, nutrition, and climate secure future in active dialogue during plenary sessions focused on harnessing and scaling science and innovation.

Partnerships are key to improving livelihoods

CABI’s Phyllis Ombonyo, Director of Strategy and Engagement, International Development, chaired a side event entitled ‘Leveraging science excellence and development impact through partnerships’, which explored how partnerships are key to improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers while easing the global food crisis.

At the side event, CABI’s Dr Richard Shaw, Director of the UK-CGIAR Centre – of which CABI delivers the Centre Secretariat – spoke about how the UK-CGIAR Centre was set up to address two key problems.

The first of which is valuable research by UK institutes not having sufficient impact in global agricultural practice and the second being that the CGIAR does not have systematic access to valuable UK research outputs.

Impact-focused research collaborations

The involvement of NARS and local partners from the beginning of the design process, and a fair allocation of resources, are key elements of the research collaborations as partnerships are asked to demonstrate pathways that will translate innovative science into transformative development impact.

Dr Shaw said the solutions include supporting global food security by bringing together scientists from the UK and the CGIAR to form impact-focused research collaborations and taking a creative but equitable approach to commissioning to ensure CGIAR has full access to the best of British agricultural science and the provision of funding to support it.

There then followed a joint presentation by Mariëlle Karssenberg, Medior Knowledge Broker at the Netherlands Food Partnership, and Dr Gerrie Tuitert, Coordinator NL-CGIAR Research programme, NWO Dutch Research Council, which explained the pioneering approach of the Netherlands (NL)-CGIAR Research Programme that the UK-CGIAR Centre has learnt much from.

High level panel debate

Dr Dennis Rangi, Director General – Development at CABI, then joined a panel that also included Dr Sandra Milach, Chief Scientist, CGIAR, Dr Rachel Lambert, Head of Food & Agriculture Research and Evidence Team, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Dr Benjamin Kivuva, Assistant Director, Crop Production and Seed System at KALRO, and Pim van der Male, First secretary, Food Security and Water, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Nairobi, Kenya.

The aim of the panel debate among CGIAR and partners was to encourage critical self-reflection on how the formation, implementation, and delivery of equitable partnerships can help achieve excellent science while delivering development impact.

Dr Rangi, who has over 30 years of experience in development co-operation, including the development, implementation and management of scientific research, was asked to assess what factors are often overlooked when forming a partnership and how would their inclusion strengthen a collaboration. He was also asked what some of the most effective mechanisms are for resolving disputes between partners.

Empowering farmers and researchers

On the following day, Dr Daniel Elger, CABI’s CEO, took part in Plenary 4: Connecting Science & Growing Frontiers.

This plenary session highlighted CGIAR’s pivotal role in harnessing research, technology, and collaboration to drive resilient and sustainable agri-food solutions.

With a focus on fostering scientific advancements and securing sustained global investment in research, the discussion explored approaches to enhance food, land, and water systems.

Additionally, the session delved into the frontiers of agricultural transformation, examining the role of artificial intelligence in accelerating evidence synthesis, the coordination of critical research needs, and the integration of global, local, and indigenous knowledge.

By connecting science with actionable strategies, this session underscored the power of innovation in shaping a more sustainable and food-secure future.

Dr Elger answered the question of what role open-access agricultural knowledge plays in empowering farmers and researchers.

In his response, he mentioned how, for instance, the CABI-led PlantwisePlus programme has engaged around 60 million farmers across across the world with advice that they have translated into gains in crop yields and incomes and improved pesticide management practices.

He also referenced the Juno Evidence Alliance, a global platform that provides high-quality evidence to help researchers and decision-makers address key challenges in the areas of agriculture, food and climate resilience.

The CGIAR Science Week.Participants of the CGIAR Science Week also learnt about the CGIAR Research Portfolio 2025-2030, saw first-hand, transformative innovations improving the lives of vulnerable communities in the exhibition area, and got to explore CGIAR and partner labs and research stations to see science in action during field visits.

 

Additional information

Main image: CABI staff with participants of the CGIAR Science Week.

Relevant story

‘UK-CGIAR Centre convenes meeting of UK science institute partners.’

Videos

You can see the session ‘Leveraging science excellence and development impact through partnerships’ in this video below:

The plenary session featuring Dr Elger can be seen in this other video from 51 minutes 37 seconds with Dr Elger’s remarks starting from 56 minutes 18 seconds.