Background

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Legume Systems Research (referred to as the Legume Lab) is a ten-year (extended in 2023) research and capacity building program (2018–2028), funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), that focuses on legume systems in Central America, West Africa, Southern Africa, and the Great Lakes Region. The Legume Lab fosters dynamic, profitable, and environmentally sustainable legume systems approaches with common beans, cowpeas, and other legumes that contribute to resilience, productivity, and better nutrition and economic opportunities, especially for women and youth. The countries of the geographic focus areas with projects in FY2024 are Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DR Congo, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Liberia, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia.

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The Legume Lab is strategically positioned to fully support and contribute to the Global Food Security Strategy's (GFSS) strategic objectives through research and capacity development. The program is managed by Michigan State University.

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The Objectives

The objectives of the Legume Lab Phase 2 are:

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• Best Agronomic Practices and Services: Improved agronomic management practices and services as part of integrated, sustainable farming systems to increase yields and improve soil health.
• Inclusive Inputs and Market Systems: Improved access to input and output markets for women, youth, and other often-marginalized groups, including off-farm, legume-based income-generating activities and increased consumption of legume-based products as part of quality diets.
• Targeted Varietal Scaling and Development: New and improved legume varieties delivered via an enhanced and targeted breeding pipeline, development of a multi-country breeding network to share knowledge and genetic resources, and participation of multi-stakeholder platforms to improve product profiles and develop scaling networks. (Note that only known marker-based varietal development will be allowed).
• Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: Improved understanding of the role played by various legume species within local food production systems to adapt to and mitigate climate change, particularly focusing on how they impact the climate resilience of women, youth, and other often-marginalized groups.

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