Mid-term project review meeting

Farmers at Brachiaria grass demonstration plots

6-7 March 2020. Kirinyaga, Kenya.  InnovAfrica promotes popularized Brachiaria grass technology
in Central highlands of Kenya.

KALRO and KENAFF participated in a Farmer Field Day at Kamweti Agricultural Training Centre (ATC). This is an annual event that aims to create awareness and demonstrate new technologies to farmers to improve crops and livestock productivity. The theme of the field day this year was ‘‘Technologies and innovations for agricultural transformation, improved food/nutrition security and livelihoods.’’ The event was organised by the Directorate of Agriculture, County Government of Kirinyaga.

Innovations in Technology, Institutional and Extension Approaches towards Sustainable Agriculture and enhanced Food and Nutritional Security in Africa

1 June 2017 - 31 May 2021
Overall budget: € 4 794 632,50

InnovAfrica puts emphasis on the monitoring of ecological, economic and social impacts that the technological and extension innovations have generated so far in the six case countries. The project is also concerned with the risks that pose a challenge in certain areas.

InnovAfrica is now in its third year, and already several smallholders who practice diverse maize-legume and Brachiaria fodder grass production have higher yields.

“So far we’re seeing good results, partly due to our particular focus on farmer led field demonstrations of maize-legume/millet-legume and Brachiaria-livestock forage grass systems,” 

“In the third year, we’ve actively engaged more farmers to take up the diverse cropping systems, and also to improve the value chains of these systems. We are confident that the success is a result of our integrated approach and capacity building of farmers,” project coordinator Dr. Udaya Sekhar Nagothu

21 February 2020. Brussels. At the Mid-term project review meeting of INNOVAFRICA the EC review committee congratulated the team for the progress made so far and commented that “the project has so far been systematically implemented, thorough and well done”.

InnovAfrica stakeholder board members, Mr. Yemi Akinbamijo, FARA, Ghana, Mr. Denis Kyetere, AATF, Kenya and Mrs. Agnes Mwang’ombe, University of Nairobi, Kenya appreciated the good work done so far in the project. They suggested that future reporting in the project should put emphasis on the impacts achieved and overall progress. They subsequently asked that the project links and refers to other strategies relevant for Africa, for e.g. the Malabu declaration, the country policies etc.

“InnovAfrica should directly focus and address the food security issues within the case countries in particular and sub-Saharan Africa in general,” InnovAfrica stakeholder board members

Background

The main goal of the Horizon2020 funded project InnovAfrica (2017-2021) is to improve food nutrition security in Africa by integrating sustainable agriculture intensification systems and innovative institutional approaches with novel extension and advisory services. This will be achieved by enhancing capacity building and knowledge sharing in smallholder farming in Sub-Saharan Africa through a strong EU-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership.

The project is implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa with twelve pilot sites, each of them strategically selected to cover diverse agroecological zones. The objective is to test, integrate and disseminate potential sustainable agriculture intensification systems suitable to smallholders.

Times TV Malawi covered an InnovAfrica field day in Malawi where case country manager Laifolo Dakishoni from Soils, Food and Healthy Communities speaks on the benefits of intercropping using cereal and legumes. He further expressed his satisfaction with the progress he has made with over 50 farmers in Malawi with the InnovAfrica project.