CGIAR Initiative: Excellence in Agronomy for Sustainable Intensification and Climate Change Adaptation <p class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Smallholder farming</strong>&nbsp;represents over 80% of the&nbsp;world’s&nbsp;farms and produces around 50% of&nbsp;its&nbsp;food supply&nbsp;<span style="background-color: inherit;">i</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">ii</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">iii</span>.&nbsp;These farming systems are&nbsp;often&nbsp;characterized by degraded soils and/or scarce nutrients and water, low and stagnating crop yields and&nbsp;reduced&nbsp;product quality and profitability&nbsp;<span style="background-color: inherit;">iv</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">v</span>, exacerbated by climate change, low resource use efficiencies, declining soil health&nbsp;<span style="background-color: inherit;">vi</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">vii</span>, and gender inequalities&nbsp;<span style="background-color: inherit;">viii</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">ix</span>, all related to the CGIAR Impact Areas.&nbsp;Smallholder farmers&nbsp;seasonally&nbsp;make critical agronomic decisions regarding&nbsp;crop choice, planting dates,&nbsp;and&nbsp;pest,&nbsp;disease, weed, soil fertility and water&nbsp;management, often based on subpar practices and information.&nbsp;The&nbsp;Excellence&nbsp;in&nbsp;Agronomy&nbsp;(EiA)&nbsp;initiative&nbsp;focuses&nbsp;upon improving&nbsp;the&nbsp;ability&nbsp;of men and women&nbsp;farmers&nbsp;to make&nbsp;appropriate decisions and&nbsp;apply&nbsp;new,&nbsp;climate-adaptive, and gender- and youth-responsive&nbsp;solutions.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Traditional agronomic research</strong>&nbsp;increases&nbsp;knowledge&nbsp;through&nbsp;experiments&nbsp;that&nbsp;enhance&nbsp;our understanding of basic processes, but&nbsp;with limited&nbsp;connection to stakeholder demand and often based on outdated approaches.&nbsp;The development, deployment, and uptake of interventions&nbsp;also&nbsp;remains&nbsp;hampered by social, economic and institutional constraints, further confounded by adherence to conventional supply-driven&nbsp;scaling strategies&nbsp;<span style="background-color: inherit;">x</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xi</span>.&nbsp;As such, realization of genetic&nbsp;gains&nbsp;is&nbsp;also&nbsp;hindered by suboptimal agronomic&nbsp;practices&nbsp;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xii</span>.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">In response,&nbsp;EiA&nbsp;<strong>research objectives</strong>&nbsp;are&nbsp;(i) To determine how agronomy research and development (R&amp;D) can leverage advances in diagnostics, data science, geospatial analysis, remote sensing, and behavioral sciences to develop widely applicable and locally-relevant gender- and youth-responsive solutions at scale and&nbsp;(ii) To assess the effectiveness of the Use Case model, constructed around actual demand for agronomic solutions, and implemented through a co-creation process with demand partners, the science community, and other service providers&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Appropriate application of&nbsp;diagnostic approaches, modern agronomic and spatial data science methods, and&nbsp;new&nbsp;digital&nbsp;approaches can&nbsp;amplify agronomic advances&nbsp;and&nbsp;accelerate impact at scale through better-targeted, site-specific advisories.&nbsp;However, there is also&nbsp;need for systematic research to understand how farmers can&nbsp;better&nbsp;use these tools, backed by targeted field research to improve crop yields, profitability and quality, resource use efficiency and soil health – and make agile decisions to minimize climate-related risks.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">EiA&nbsp;offers a new model and research culture,&nbsp;seizing&nbsp;these opportunities&nbsp;to deliver agronomic gain at scale&nbsp;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xiii</span>&nbsp;by facilitating efficiencies through globalized networking&nbsp;and&nbsp;aligning&nbsp;R&amp;D priorities&nbsp;with&nbsp;demands from scaling partners&nbsp;through context-specific Use Cases. It utilizes&nbsp;standardized&nbsp;analytics and decision support approaches in partnership with&nbsp;non-CGIAR&nbsp;Advanced Research Institutes&nbsp;(ARIs)&nbsp;and builds&nbsp;on Use Cases involving multi-actor partnerships.&nbsp;EiA’s&nbsp;priority research themes&nbsp;are: (i) Sustaining soil productivity and ecosystem services;&nbsp;(ii)&nbsp;Climate change adaptation; (iii) Precision cropping system management;&nbsp;and&nbsp;(iv) Perennial&nbsp;crops for livelihoods and conservation. This vision is drawn from experience gained from&nbsp;CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) and&nbsp;projects including&nbsp;ACAI<span style="background-color: inherit;">1</span>,&nbsp;AfricaRISING,&nbsp;AfSIS, CIALCA,&nbsp;CocoaSoils,&nbsp;CSISA,&nbsp;N2Africa,&nbsp;and&nbsp;TAMASA&nbsp;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xiv</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xv</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xvi</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xvii</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xviii</span>;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xix</span>.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Assessment of&nbsp;<strong>national and regional priorities</strong>&nbsp;supports&nbsp;productivity improvement through efficient use of land, soil, and water resources,&nbsp;with a focus on&nbsp;reversing natural resource degradation,&nbsp;climate&nbsp;adaptation, and&nbsp;digital service provision&nbsp;[<a href="https://bit.ly/39Hi9wM" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(225, 227, 230);"><strong>EiA_Regional&nbsp;Priority_report_2021</strong></a>].&nbsp;EiA&nbsp;also&nbsp;aligns with&nbsp;priorities&nbsp;of&nbsp;<strong>key funders</strong>&nbsp;xiv;<span style="background-color: inherit;">xx</span>, and&nbsp;is&nbsp;responding to interests from other One CGIAR Initiatives and ARIs&nbsp;[<a href="https://bit.ly/3EVuWu8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);"><strong>EiA_Interactions_Other_Initiatives_2021</strong></a><strong style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">;&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://bit.ly/3lZFjEx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);"><strong>EiA_Cooperation_with_ARIs</strong></a>].&nbsp;</p>