The East African Farmer Innovation fair

Fodder briquettes for cattle which are produced
based on banana leaves. Presented by a winner of the
EAFIF: Moses NARIOPE (Uganda)

29th May 2013. Nairobi, Kenya. The East African Farmer Innovation fair (EAFIF) provided an opportunity for farmer innovators from different parts of Africa to meet and showcase their innovations. The fair hosted 15 farmer innovators from each of these countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia.

The fair celebrated the creativity of Eastern African smallholder farmers – women and men – and gave them public recognition. This colourful event, with good media coverage, called attention to the importance of farmer innovation in agricultural development, brought policymakers and the general public in Kenya in contact with farmer innovators, and provided an opportunity for the international participants in the AISA workshop to meet and engage with the innovators.

The fair was hosted by Prolinnova–Kenya and co-organised with the Netherlands-supported AgriProFocus (APF) network and other organisations concerned with smallholder agricultural development. It involved farmer innovators identified by the Prolinnova Country Platforms (CPs), the APF networks and farmer organisations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Mineral blocks containing Calcium, Sodium, Phosphorus,
Copper, Selenium, Cobalt, Zinc, Iodine, Iron. Presented by
a winner of the EAFIF: Samuel KALIBBALA (Uganda)

The purposes of the Fair were:

• To raise awareness and share information about how smallholder farmers are innovating
• To encourage innovation by smallholder farmers
• To disseminate smallholder farmers’ innovations
• To identify and draw attention to more endogenous innovations than are currently known
• To influence policy to promote smallholder farmer innovation. 


Translation from and to English for the farmers was done by students from Kenyan universities and by Prolinnova CP or APF members who accompany the farmers to Kenya.

Michael Kiboe (member of the Kenya Livestock Working 

Group of the FAO/Sard initiative about the core business 

for livestock market access centre (Kenya)

PAEPARD interviewed Michael Kiboe, on how waste from Kenyan slaughter houses is used to produce bio-gas.

Statements:

1. The value chain analysis does not work
2. ARD is a killer of innovation: sciences suppresses the free local thinking. Innovation should not be related to educational capacities. 
3. We need more practical research
4. 3. A licence for producing biogas will be obtained over 2 months time. It is the first time that biogas will be packaged in Kenya. It will change drastically the livestock production in Kenya as it will also impact on the energy value chain, not only the milk and meet value chain.
5. A major problem is to raise innovations to the micro enterprise level
6. The value chain meat commission has difficulties to recognize the value of informal initiatives because it is based on economic efficiency instead of the social capital
7. The mindset of donors needs to be changed