This database provides information about the amount of water use in agriculture food systems covering all sectors from farming to food processing industries. The data are presented at the country level with sectoral disaggregation following the Nexus Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) sectoral specifications. The database also differentiates the type of water in each sector based on water sources. The green water refers to type of water originated from precipitation or rain, while the blue water refers to all water that comes from irrigation covering both surface and groundwater. Both types of water are consumed by plants or animals during the production process. The grey water on the other hand is the amount of water generated as an implication from production activities that cause the water polluted. Since it has loads of pollutants created from production activities, this type of water can be seen as a waste in the whole production system.

The Sustainable Development Goals are interconnected and cut across Food, Land and Water (FLW) systems. But the formulation and implementation of national policy objectives to attain the SDGs may be fragmented and uncoordinated. The CGIAR Initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS), aims to contribute to agri-foods system transformation, by identifying ways of building stronger FLW policies with greater coherence and investment capacity, to support Nigeria in addressing current crises and future development needs. This flagship report focuses on (in)coherence in policies related to FLW systems in Nigeria, through the lens of Policies and Institutions Landscape Analysis Framework. To achieve policy coherence for sustainable development, the report highlights the need for: 1. strengthening staff and institutional capacities for FLW contextual and policy analysis to effectively identify, anticipate and respond to crisis. 2. developing systemic polycentric decision-making and governance, involving multi-stakeholders at the Federal, State and Local levels. 3. providing sustainable funding for the effective implementation of policy objectives, projects and programmes in the relevant FLW-related sectors 4. maintaining continuity of the implementation of ongoing transformative FLW policy objectives and programmes when an incumbent government comes into power. 5. promoting evidence-based (real time and high-quality data) policy formulation, monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

Sustainable and resilient food systems depend on sustainable and resilient water management. Resilience is characterised by overlapping decision spaces and scales and interdependencies among water users and competing sectors. Increasing water scarcity, due to climate change and other environmental and societal changes, makes putting caps on the consumption of water resources indispensable. Implementation requires an understanding of different domains, actors, and their objectives, and drivers and barriers to transformational change. We suggest a scale-specific approach, in which agricultural water use is embedded in a larger systems approach (including natural and human systems). This approach is the basis for policy coherence and the design of effective incentive schemes to change agricultural water use behaviour and, therefore, optimise the water we eat.

Building policy coherence is significant in governing natural resources, especially in a changing climate and growing population. Designing and implementing coherent climate-adaptive water productivity policies through holistic and integrated knowledge could manage the growing demand for food and water, and sustain small-scale farmers' livelihoods and economies, which is the aim of this research. This study focuses on the analysis of power dynamics and the social network that evolves around the control of information and technical assistance that shape policy narratives. Results showed that donors and financial institutions are the primary powers to control and organize knowledge and technical assistance linked to soil-water conservation especially when it’s combined with mobilizing relevant funds. Many smallholder farmers still adopt traditional patterns of cultivation due to the siloed knowledge gaps in the extension services of governmental entities, the unreachability of extension services, the lack of trust in their guidance, and the absence of innovations’ scalability. Building integrated extension services between ministries, by providing equal and suitable financial packages. This would be feasible by managing the coordination with financial institutions, monetary and nonmonetary incentives, and building on existing farmers’ collective organizations and farmers’ pioneers to enable a sociological transition to water productivity.

Achieving the objectives of sustainable development in water and agri-food systems requires the utilisation of decision-support tools in stakeholder-driven processes to construct and simulate various scenarios and evaluate the outcomes of associated policy interventions. While it is common practice to involve stakeholders in participatory modelling processes, their comprehensive documentation and the lessons learned remain scarce. In this paper, we share our experience of engaging stakeholders throughout the entire system dynamics modelling process. We draw on two projects implemented in the Volta River Basin, West Africa, to understand the dynamics of water and agri-food systems under changing environmental and socioeconomic conditions. We outline eight key insights and lessons as practical guides derived from each stage of the participatory modelling process, including the pre-workshop stage, problem definition, model conceptualization, simulation model formulation, model testing and verification, and policy design and evaluation. Our findings demonstrate that stakeholders can actively contribute to all phases of the system dynamics modelling process, including parameter estimation, sensitivity analysis, and numerical simulation experiments. However, we encountered notable challenges, including the time-intensive nature of the process, the struggle to reach a consensus on the modelled problem, and the difficulty of translating the conceptual model into a simulation model using stock and flow diagrams – all of which were addressed through a structured facilitation process. While the projects were anchored in the specific context of West Africa, the key lessons and insights highlighted have broader significance, particularly for researchers employing PSDM in regions characterised by multifaceted human-environmental systems and where stakeholder involvement is crucial for holistic understanding and effective policy interventions. This paper contributes practical guidance for future efforts with participatory modelling, particularly in regions worldwide grappling with sustainable development challenges in water and agri-food systems, and where stakeholder involvement is crucial for holistic understanding of the multiple challenges and for designing effective policy interventions.

On May 12 in Abuja, Nigeria, two CGIAR initiatives – Fragility, Conflict, and Migration (FCM) and National Policies and Strategies (NPS) – brought together policymakers, researchers, and representatives from the private sector and civil society to discuss how to advance food systems resilience amid crises while empowering women and youth, in the context of Nigeria. The workshop featured presentations from six other CGIAR research initiatives working in Nigeria and fostered lively discussions. Participants delved into cutting-edge research outcomes, identifying evidence gaps and potential collaborative avenues. | Non-PR | IFPRI5; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; G Cross-cutting gender theme; Capacity Strengthening | Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI); Development Strategies and Governance (DSG); Markets, Trade, and Institutions (MTI); Food and Nutrition Policy; Transformation Strategies