Growing Practical Solutions Across SAN’s Global Impact Network (2–9 March 2026)

Across SAN’s Global Impact Network, this week’s updates show what meaningful agricultural change looks like when it is rooted in action. From climate-smart farmer training in Kenya and Indigenous women’s leadership in the Amazon to traceability work in global supply chains and agroecology initiatives across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, SAN members are responding to urgent challenges with practical solutions. What connects these stories is not only their diversity, but their shared focus on implementation, collaboration, and long-term impact for farmers, communities, and landscapes.

Regenerative agriculture and farmer learning in action

Across SAN’s network this week, progress was most visible where ideas met practice. CABI highlighted how women are driving field-level change through climate-smart mango farmer training in Makueni County, while also sharing knowledge on kale pest threats that farmers can act on quickly. In Uganda, PELUM Uganda reported a refresher on participatory plant breeding through farmer field schools and shared a hands-on soil fertility demonstration without synthetic fertilizers, keeping agroecology grounded in methods farmers can use now.

That same practical spirit appeared in Latin America. RAAA Perú revisited the Alborada Guinea Pig Farm success story, showing how earlier agroecology support can still translate into livelihoods years later. Together, these stories reflect one of SAN’s clearest strengths: helping local knowledge travel from demonstration plots and farmer exchanges into durable results.

Women’s leadership strengthening agriculture and community resilience

International Women’s Day shaped much of the week’s communication, but the strongest stories went beyond recognition and pointed to action. Fundación Pachamama reported on its Spokesperson Training Program for Amazonian Women in Puyo, designed for young Indigenous women building leadership, advocacy, and environmental governance skills. Nature Kenya also shared an AfricElle exchange visit between women champions from Taita Hills and Uganda, creating space for peer learning around agroforestry, restoration, and climate-resilient agriculture.

In Ethiopia, Melca Ethiopia spotlighted women’s roles in forest management and biodiversity conservation, linking leadership directly to ecosystem stewardship and livelihoods. Meanwhile, Rainforest Alliance amplified women’s voices through its broader work on leadership, education, and opportunity in agricultural communities. These updates show that gender inclusion is not a side conversation. It is central to resilient farming systems, stronger local institutions, and fairer rural development.

Traceability, supply chains, and market readiness

Several SAN members pushed the sustainability conversation further into supply-chain systems and market access. CottonConnect released its REEL Chain of Custody Standard stakeholder review draft, aimed at strengthening traceability and integrity in cotton, and also shared takeaways from a regenerative agriculture roundtable in Pakistan’s cotton sector. Rainforest Alliance underscored the urgency of compliance and transparency with its update on Colombia’s coffee sector preparing for the EU Deforestation Regulation.

In palm oil, Wild Asia highlighted how working with ELH Trading helps smallholders with logistics, finance, labor, and market access, while also showing the role of dealers as critical connectors in traceable supply chains. These are different commodities and contexts, but the direction is shared: traceability matters most when it supports real producers, trusted intermediaries, and practical pathways to sustainability.

Agroecology, biodiversity, and landscape restoration

This week also brought strong examples of biodiversity work tied directly to agriculture and landscapes. CIFOR-ICRAF introduced its first cohort of Agroecology TPP Ambassadors, investing in young leaders who can connect networks and expand agroecology in practice. It also announced a new memorandum of understanding with Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry in Jakarta, linking agroforestry to people, landscapes, and climate goals.

In Romania, Fundatia Adept hosted a participatory workshop on wild relatives of fruit trees at the Angofa Demonstration Farm, connecting conservation with long-term food system resilience. Preferred by Nature added a forest landscape dimension through the renewal of support for the Maliau Basin Conservation Area in Sabah, reinforcing how conservation and sustainable land use must move together.

Capacity building, policy engagement, and regional momentum

Network impact also depends on institutions that can scale learning. CORAF shared a regional workshop on documenting and communicating agricultural project success stories, alongside promotion of the WECAWheat Summit 2026, which focuses on wheat self-sufficiency in West and Central Africa. CIFOR-ICRAF also contributed to systems change through its K4GGWA Policy & Advocacy Masterclass, exploring how scientific evidence can translate into policy action.

On the market and partnership side, Preferred by Nature reported participation in the Liberia-EU Business Forum 2026 in Brussels, where sustainable investment, trade, and development were part of the conversation. These updates matter because they show the enabling side of transformation: better communication, stronger policy literacy, and more strategic engagement around regional food systems.

Photo: Unsplash - Kevin Yudhistira Alloni

From local action to shared global impact

What stands out across this week is not one single theme, but a pattern. SAN members are training farmers, elevating women’s leadership, strengthening traceability, supporting biodiversity, and creating the partnerships needed to move from pilot to scale. Whether the work is happening in a mango-growing county in Kenya, an Amazonian leadership program in Ecuador, a wheat summit for West and Central Africa, or a coffee traceability discussion in Colombia, the direction is the same.

This is what SAN’s purpose looks like in practice: tackling pressing global challenges in agriculture through the Global Impact Network and radical collaboration for people and planet. Progress becomes more credible when it is shared across members, more practical when it stays close to farmers and communities, and more powerful when local action connects to system-wide change.