The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut is hosting a webinar on July 24 at 11 a.m. to explore issues in peanut research related to gender.
In the online session, participants will hear from Carol Tyroler, who wrote the paper “Gender Considerations in Groundnut Production” for USAID, as well as Helga Recke, the co-founder of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) and a member of the Peanut Innovation Lab’s External Advisory Panel.
Register for the webinar here.
The Peanut Innovation Lab has scheduled a webinar to provide background and answer questions about two requests for proposals to work with the lab. The program will take concept notes for projects in the area of Nutrition and Gender/Youth considerations until Aug. 3. The webinar will be held July 16 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut is a $14 million to $35 million program to address various aspects of peanut production, processing, marketing and consumption in certain target countries. Projects in the areas of variety development and value-chain gains were proposed earlier this year and will be announced soon.
In the area of nutrition, the program is looking for innovative research proposals in understanding the value of peanuts in human nutrition. With highly digestible protein, high quality fats and many important micronutrients, peanuts are a key ingredient of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic and Supplementary Foods that treat severe and moderate acute malnutrition. At the same time, peanuts have the potential to help control chronic diseases that are of increasing importance in the developing world, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
For gender and youth topics, the program seeks innovative research proposals directed toward understanding gender and youth priorities in the peanut value chain. Peanut is considered a women’s crop in many countries, especially in the developing world. While that saying means different things to different people, it is important to understand the roles women, men and youth play in the peanut value chain.
Email with questions or go to the Peanut Innovation Lab’s Work With Us page.
Again, the webinar will be held July 16 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time at https://zoom.us/j/953635784
The 50th Annual American Peanut Research and Education Society Annual meeting opens in Williamsburg, Virginia this week.
Around 250 participants are expected to attend the meeting, which began today (Tuesday) with updates on variety development and discussion in the Seed Summit and Crop Germplasm Committee. The main meeting starts Wednesday.
The Peanut Innovation Lab has an information session scheduled at 3:30 p.m. today to update APRES members on the progress and direction of the five-year program, which officially began in January.
In addition to the regular business and updates on peanut research, this year’s gathering includes special events to celebrate a half century of APRES.
Program Chair Rick Brandenburg put together a program called “APRES … Celebrating our Past; Inspiring our Future,” a look back at the history and forward to the next 50 years.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, in conjunction with Mars and the Sight and Life Foundation, is holding an elevator-pitch contest, asking for students and young professionals to share ideas that could lead to an aflatoxin-free food system.
The best ideas for a disruptive solution can get $15,000 in seed funds and an audience with private investors.
Students and young professionals who graduated in the last five years can apply.
The contest has two categories: (more…)
USAID is sharing a draft of the program description for a new Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Research, Capacity and Policy Influence and soliciting feedback. The agency is NOT requesting applications at this time – only comments.
The purpose of the award is to advance food security policy through high quality, relevant research from credible and sound country and regional policy research institutions with an interest in food security-related policy research, including research related to agriculture, nutrition, and risk and resilience. The innovation lab will do this by strengthening the capacities of select country and regional research institutions and implement a global research agenda.
The notice-of-funding-opportunity announcement is expected in September and the award in March 2019. The program could be worth $61 million with $17 million in leader funding and $44 million in associate awards.
The prime awardee will be a U.S. university, but USAID also seeks comments from African, Asian, and Latin American regional or national food security policy-related think tanks, policy analysis units, university departments, or others that have insight on how best to expand the policy research capacity.
Send comments to Kelly Miskowski in USAID’s grants and contracts office ().
The deadline to comment is 19 June.
USAID’s Bureau for Food Security has published a paper detailing what we’ve learned about gender roles in peanut production and processing over the past several years, as well as what areas researchers need to consider as they work with peanuts.
“Gender Considerations for Researchers Working in Groundnuts,” prepared by Carol Tyroler, summarizes many of the lessons learned about gender from previous projects in the Peanut & Mycotoxin Innovation Lab, while explaining how attention to gender differences can make research findings more applicable in the real world.
Groundnuts are often referred to as a woman’s crop because of the roles females play in production and processing across many developing countries. Men also produce groundnuts, but gender roles and responsibilities vary according to the region and culture of the place. (more…)
6 June, 9:30-11 a.m. (Eastern time)
Host: USAID Bureau for Food Security
Agriculture is an inherently risky activity. This risk exposure can make and keep farmers poor. Agricultural index insurance can help farmers avoid costly coping mechanisms and unlock opportunities for increased investment and greater resilience, but such positive development impacts largely depend on the quality of the index insurance product and its appropriateness in a particular context. (more…)
