The LEAP-Agri project is working to establish EU-Africa Research and Innovation partnerships on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture. KIT Royal Tropical Institute is supporting two LEAP-Agri projects in Kenya and Uganda.

Across Africa, many, often female-headed, families do not have the resources necessary to meet their basic needs. This increases both their risk of food insecurity and their chances of suffering from malnutrition. Nutrition sensitive agriculture and diversified diets are important strategies for improving nutrition, but little is known about the interlinkages between consumption and production strategies. The understanding of crop diversity and nutrition requires a food system approach that acknowledges these dependencies and the role of the entire value chain.

The LEAP-Agri program is an outcome of a roadmap by the African European High-Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation. The objective of LEAP-Agri is to establish a long-term flagship EU-Africa Research and Innovation partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture.

KIT Royal Tropical Institute is supporting two LEAP-Agri Projects in Kenya and Uganda.

EaTSANE

The EaTSANE project seeks to answer the question: “What food system innovations in farming practices, value chains and nutrition behaviour lead to improved diets and more sustainable farming in Uganda and Kenya?”

EaTSANE aims to implement sustainable farming practices and improve the diets of households in Kenya and Uganda by diversifying the food system with a participatory action learning approach.

The project’s specific objectives are:

• Identifying and promoting improved farming practices for healthier soils and production of more diverse, nutritious crops;
• Improving access of value chain actors to inputs and services, their links and reducing food losses through improved handling and processing practices; and
• Enhancing consumers’ food culture, resulting in healthier diets and a more equitable distribution of food in households.

UniCARSSA

The UniCARSSA project is designed to improve food and nutrition security by reducing soil degradation and developing nutrition-sensitive value chains.

The project’s goal is to promote crops that can help reduce hunger and malnutrition, increase rural incomes and support commodities that contribute towards nutritious and diverse diets. Farmer groups and value chain actors are actively engaged in the research through Community Action Research Platforms.

The project aims to:

• Increase and diversify food production;
• Explore diversity in cereal-legume product and utilization, in particular sorghum, millet, groundnut and soybean;
• Strengthen of local nutrition-sensitive value chains through research and capacity building of rural entrepreneurs; and
• Engage universities with the community through the CARP platform.