The project organised its third open day of the living lab at the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) centre in Kajjansi, Uganda.
The open day served as an avenue to showcase the lab’s activities and promote conversation on agroecology among stakeholders. With over 150 attendees, the event had participants from colleges, universities, World Aquaculture Safari, food and agriculture organisations, farmers associations, local government representatives, the Fisheries Training Institute, and NGOs.
The event also included tours around the lab, including the integrated aquaponics site showing the synergy between fish and vegetable production, a showcase of the sensor-based water quality monitoring system in action, and a visit to the nutrient cycling station, demonstrating how fish waste is transformed into plant nutrients.Through the PrAEctiCe project, we are not only showcasing the technical potential of aquaponics but also demonstrating its economic and social relevance for smallholder farmers. Integrated systems like these represent the future of sustainable and resilient aquaculture inour community, Dr. Cassius Aruho, Program Leader National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) centre in Kajjansi, Uganda
The workshop held in Lagos, Nigeria, had academia in agriculture, economics, farmers, and agrotech startups in attendance, including representatives from the federal Ministry of Agriculture.- See also press article The Guardian 22/06: EU-funded project developing tool to boost food production
Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems, Mrs Omolara Abimbola Oguntuyi, spoke on behalf of the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Senator Abubakar Kyari, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. She highlighted that these projects align closely with the Ministry’s priorities, particularly in promoting sustainable agricultural practices among women farmers in Nigeria, who are mostly into subsistence farming. Therefore, they need support to transition to agroecology practices through affordable, easy-to-implement solutions.
The project’s commercialised produce includes a simplified, low-energy pump aquaponic set up such as the waste water from fish tanks that is drained to the sump with a low-energy water pump that lifts the waste water to the plants’ grow beds of the aquaponic system, and solid waste, which accumulates Inside the blue digester tank collected as sludge for fertilizer production. Zero-pump manual aquaponic Iteration attached to sawdust-bag yam/tuber crop production unit, and Liquid fish wastewater for uptake by crop farmers from the stagnant Renewal fish production, amongst others.
The PrAEctiCe decision support tool will be developed in the form of three applications and is currently at TRL 7, aiming at TRL 8 by Q1 of 2026.
These collaborative efforts between both projects demonstrate the tangible potential of Horizon Europe initiatives in driving Africa’s agricultural transformation and encourage a more sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven future for food systems in Africa.
The workshop was concluded with an information sharing session on Horizon Europe Africa III Initiative, specifically for the Call for Proposals under the Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment Cluster, allowing participants to discuss potential collaborations.
During a presentation on the INCiTiS-FOOD project. A project that promotes best-fit agri-food technologies in Africa, Dr Oyebola Olusegun, a senior lecturer at the Department of Aquaculture & Fisheries Management at the University of Ibadan and a member of the project consortium, highlighted how the project is addressing food security through its living labs in Ibadan by promoting circular Agri-food technologies, cascade funding opportunities, co-creation activities, healthy food production, and fertiliser production.“Since its development, the living lab has been a site for capacity building, research site, and most importantly, where economically viable approaches to food insecurity are developed and tested.” Blessing Sorinola, Communication specialist at Apodissi, the partner in charge of the project’s communication activities
The project’s commercialised produce includes a simplified, low-energy pump aquaponic set up such as the waste water from fish tanks that is drained to the sump with a low-energy water pump that lifts the waste water to the plants’ grow beds of the aquaponic system, and solid waste, which accumulates Inside the blue digester tank collected as sludge for fertilizer production. Zero-pump manual aquaponic Iteration attached to sawdust-bag yam/tuber crop production unit, and Liquid fish wastewater for uptake by crop farmers from the stagnant Renewal fish production, amongst others.
The PrAEctiCe decision support tool will be developed in the form of three applications and is currently at TRL 7, aiming at TRL 8 by Q1 of 2026.
“The project has installed a monitoring system at all three living labs. These systems will provide real-time data monitoring and analysis of key parameters such as water quality, soil conditions, and crop health, which will serve as the basis for a decision support tool for farmers and their Integrated Aqua-Agriculture farms. Margherita TrestiniA semi-autonomous photovoltaic (PV) system was implemented to supply power to the entire Living Labs, addressing socio-economic challenges in the East African region, and a membrane bioreactor was installed to monitor critical water and soil parameters, which give real-time monitoring and analysis feeding into the Decision Support Tool (DST) that will be useful for farmers, advisors and data scientists.
These collaborative efforts between both projects demonstrate the tangible potential of Horizon Europe initiatives in driving Africa’s agricultural transformation and encourage a more sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven future for food systems in Africa.
The workshop was concluded with an information sharing session on Horizon Europe Africa III Initiative, specifically for the Call for Proposals under the Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment Cluster, allowing participants to discuss potential collaborations.
Watch below the knowledge exchange organised by prAEctiCe in collaboration with the INCiTiS-FOOD project. You will hear the perspectives of each project partner on the topic titled: "Addressing food and nutrition security: A knowledge Exchange session on Living Labs & Aquaponics practices". The main objective of the session was to:
- Facilitate experience sharing between PrAEctiCe and INCiTiS-FOOD.
- Discuss successes, challenges, and lessons learned in implementing living labs and aquaponics practices.
- Strengthen collaboration and identify future opportunities.
Presenters:
- Moderator: Sorinola Blessing, PrAEctiCe Communication Specialist APODISSI
- Daniella Rios PrAEctiCe, Project Manager Steinbeis Europa Zentrum
- Nasser Kasozi PrAEctiCe, National Agriculture Research Organisation, Uganda
- Olivera Stojilović Trivunić INCiTiS-FOOD, Head of Ecosystem Development, Foodscale Hub
- Micheal Reuter INCiTiS-FOOD, Aquaponik manufaktur GmbH
- Emmanuel Abarike, INCiTiS-FOOD, Department of Aquaponics and Fishery Sciences, University for Development Studies Living Lab, Ghana
Related:
28 May 2025. PrAEctiCe and the CaReForAfrica project signed an agreement to work together in fostering sustainable agriculture.The collaboration includes the development of training curricula targeting different stakeholders in the agricultural sector. It also includes combining resources to provide integrated training programs for students, farmers, and extension workers on sustainable agroecological practices, climate-smart agricultural practices, and value chain development and community demonstration farms through the PrAEctiCe living labs.
The Capacity Building for Climate-Resilient Food Systems in Africa (CaReFoAfrica) project offers a range of degrees in the field of climate change and agriculture. The project has a consortium of 6 six universities in Maseno University, Makerere University, The University of Free State (UFS), Université Evangelique en Afrique, The University of Eldoret, and Université d’Abomey-Calavi offering scholarship courses, PH.D, and M.Sc. in courses such as sustainable Agriculture, soil science, and agrometeorology.
This agreement was facilitated by Dr. Erick Ogello, Project Principal Investigator, Maseno University signed on behalf of the PrAEctiCe project, and Dr. Caroline Wambui, CaReFoAfrica Principal Investigator signed on behalf of the project. This partnership will not only strengthen capacity development but also reinforce a shared commitment to sustainable agriculture, climate resilience, and food security for Africa’s future. Additionally, in the coming months, the PrAEctiCe project will host some of CareForAfrica’s research students at the living lab site in Uganda.xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment