SDG 2: Zero Hunger

The Coffee Farmer Income Resilience Program (CFIRP), launched in Kenya and Uganda by the IKEA Foundation and IDH, aims to address the daily challenges faced by coffee farmers and improve their livelihoods. The programme focuses on increasing income resilience by integrating sustainable farming practices, known as regenerative agriculture, with support services tailored to farmers’ needs. […]

KIT is the Knowledge Management Focal Point for the partners in the 12 countries included in Land-at-Scale. As the Focal Point we also work to promote exchange between the partners across countries and regions, enhancing the learning within the programme at large.

A3-Seed The seed sector in South Sudan is currently dominated by seed aid. The A3-Seed project seeks to reduce the country’s dependancy on foreign-sourced seeds, and humanitarian support, with the aim to transform the seed sector into a commercially viable one.  “The yield was not good” As part of the project, we recently held an […]

Poverty among cocoa farming households is still a key driver of child labour. The average cocoa farming household in West Africa earns less than one-third of the established living income needed to afford a place to live, food for the entire family, health care, and clothing and education for children, and cannot put some money […]

Nigeria is currently unable to meet the local demand for vegetables, with a supply gap of around 13 million metric tons. The HortiNigeria programme aims narrow this gap by transforming and accelerating the development of a sustainable and inclusive horticulture sector that contributes to food and nutrition security in rural communities and alleviates poverty. The […]

Landscape approaches seek to reconcile social, economic, and environmental objectives in areas where agriculture and other productive land uses compete with environmental and biodiversity goals. The Sustainable Trade Initiative’s (IDH) pioneering role in promoting such landscape transformation is captured in the Production, Protection & Inclusion (PPI) approach – a three-pronged process that focuses on sustainably increasing productivity, protecting […]

Pro-ARIDES is designed to contribute to increased resilience, food security and household incomes for farmers and (agro-)pastoralists in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. To achieve this, a consortium of development professionals places public institutions and decentralized organizations at the heart of the program, with the objective of improving access to agricultural […]

In 2018, KIT Royal Tropical Institute conducted a large-scale livelihoods baseline study in Liuwa Plain National Park (LPNP), Zambia. The study assessed the current situation of communities living in the park though an elaborate mixed-methods design as a basis for informing future decision-making on socio-economic investments in local communities.   Understanding the fine balance between wildlife & local communities LPNP is located in the Western Province of Zambia. […]

The Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) intends to catalyse and sustain an inclusive agricultural transformation in Africa by increasing incomes and improving food security for 30 million farming households in 11 focus countries. KIT is supporting AGRA in achieving this ambition by measuring and assessing progress at a household and agricultural systems level. […]

 Can agribusiness investments in fragile and conflict-affected states deliver commercial returns for investors as well as positive development impact? Together with the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA) Programme, KIT is working to find out.   Stimulating private investment in agribusiness in fragile states KIT conducted the research for an audience of international investors, to show both what is known and what […]

The Private Seed Sector Development (PSSD) project aims to double the production and incomes of 108,000 farmer households in Burundi. KIT is working with private and public sector partners to promote the development of a private sector-led seed industry that is able to provide farmers with sustainable access to high-quality seed and agricultural advisory services. […]

AATIF provides technical assistance to smallholder farmers in strategic value chains in which their investees and pipeline companies operate. KIT was asked to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affected vulnerable groups in eight value chains across Ivory Coast (cocoa, cashew), Kenya (dairy) and Zambia (maize, wheat, cotton, soybean, sunflower).   Obtaining an early overview of the effects of the pandemic on smallholder farmers and their incomes will […]

Between 2015 and 2020, KIT co-led, together with the Zambezi Valley Development Agency (ADVZ) the NUFFIC-financed project ‘Integrated Seed Sector Development, Mozambique’. Educational & Seed Sector Development In Mozambique, Agricultural Education and Training Institutes (AETI) have traditionally focused on seed production as part of breeding and agronomic programmes, but without a dedicated seed sector development discipline. Gaps therefore exist in understanding the position of farming households […]

KIT provides seed sector and seed systems knowledge to the Access to Seeds Index, which evaluates and compares seed companies according to their efforts to improve access to quality seeds of improved varieties for smallholder farmers. The Index seeks primarily to identify leadership and good practices, providing an evidence base for the discussion on where […]

This project aims to develop viable business models for forage seed production and marketing that assure economically sustainable access to high-quality forage seed in Kenya and Uganda.   Gendered perceptions of livestock and agricultural production in Kenya: a new blog from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, our project partners. In East Africa, dairy farming has high potential as […]

Researchers from KIT Royal Tropical Institute conducted a qualitative baseline study of 55 small-scale producer organisations (farmer cooperatives) in six countries – Côte d’Ivoire, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and Peru. The objective of the research was to provide insights into the conditions, internal and external, that are necessary for small-scale producer organisations to successfully develop, […]

Globally, fisheries and aquaculture contribute to the income of around 800 million people. But overfishing is putting increasing pressure on local fish populations and marine biodiversity, while threatening the livelihoods of many. Fish and seafood are a critical part of the world’s diet. It provides around 3.2 billion people with almost 20 per cent of […]

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 […]

KIT Royal Tropical Institute is partnering with a coalition of Dutch research institutes, CGIAR research centers and (local) partners from the public and private sector to improve seed systems in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The work is funded by NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development. Seed systems: from groundnuts and chicken seed to tilapia and cocoa […]

Developed by KIT Royal Tropical Institute and Wageningen Economic Research, with funding from the Netherlands Food Partnership, this tool generates practical recommendations for food and nutrition security policy and programming. It is the product of a series of assignments commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality […]

KIT is providing technical assistance to Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Communal Approach for the Agricultural Market (ACMA) project. Together with consortium partners, our work includes monitoring and evaluation, developing and implementing the project’s youth strategy and advising on the strategic direction. Improving agricultural performance in Benin Building on the achievements of the […]

This project examined the ways in which aquaculture value chains can contribute to inclusive and sustainable economic growth in Zambia and Cambodia. KIT Royal Tropical conducted two studies as part of the VCA4D project, commissioned by the European Union and implemented by Agrinatura. Aquaculture value chains: finding opportunities for smart & sustainable investment KIT’s two […]

KIT is conducting applied research with Welthungerhilfe to generate evidence on how the Gender Model Family (GMF) approach works in practice as a form of gender transformative programming in Sierra Leone. The research aims to understand how GMF contributes to women’s empowerment, better nutrition and agrobiodiversity outcomes. Family-led progress on nutrition & harmful gender norms […]

For the purpose of the gender synthesis of the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF), KIT Royal Tropical Institute used a bottom-up approach to develop typologies of gender strategies and gender outcomes of CIFSRF-funded projects. Making sense of gender integration in agriculture research for development The Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF) was […]

KIT is providing gender integration capacity development to WorldFish to help them implement the FISH Gender Strategy. This strategy describes how FISH will implement research that identifies and addresses the gender dimensions of barriers, opportunities and mechanisms for change in fisheries and aquaculture development. Supporting WorldFish and the FISH CGIAR research programme WorldFish is an […]

Through the Gender Resource Facility, KIT was commissioned by the Dutch Knowledge Platform on Inclusive Development Policies (INCLUDE) to develop a paper summarising how applying a gender lens to social protection can promote more inclusive development in Sub-Saharan Africa. INCLUDE: what is it about? It aims to facilitate a better understanding of how to make […]

KIT trained 39 staff members from Sudan’s Federal and State Health Ministries and the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office. The goal is preparing them for training 184 Locality Health Management Teams. In turn, the Locality Health Management Teams each provide health care for between 70,000 to 500,000 people. The Locality teams carry out the […]

The African Chicken Genetics Gains (ACGG) programme aims to empower women farmers. After two years of implementation, and insufficient progress in this area, the programme asked KIT Royal Tropical Institute to develop a gender strategy. Women’s empowerment ACCG is led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi. It covers Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania […]

Increased agricultural productivity does not automatically translate to improved nutrition. KIT Royal Tropical Institute addresses this challenge in a new report, in collaboration with the Food & Business Knowledge Platform. Key insights from a gender analysis of impact evaluation design KIT recently finalized a one-year research project to generate policy-relevant recommendations for the improved design […]

This project developed models for cost effective and sustainable projects that address the supply and demand of nutritious food in poor urban areas in Kenya. A KIT Collaboration This was a collaborative project that brought together experts from KIT’s global health and sustainable economic development. It produced a model which can help policy makers, development […]

The Sustainable Nutritiion for All project aimed to improve nutrition through the adoption of agro-biodiversity and improved dietary diversity at the household level in Uganda & Zambia. Summary The project looked specifically at the needs of pregnant/ lactating mothers and 0-24 month old infants and children. It proposed an innovative and scalable approach, the Sustainable […]

This project developed and tested the approach, tools and methods needed to carry out a Nutrition Sensitive Value Chain Analysis in northern Nigeria. It was implemented to support the IFAD-funded Climate Change and Agribusiness Support Program (CASP). Summary Based on a nutrition assessment conducted previously, the study team carried out in-depth analyses of five  commodity value […]

Water management in agriculture remains a serious challenge in Kenya. Around 90 percent of the country is arid or semi-arid land and it has highly variable rainfall patterns. A growing number of water-intensive economic and agricultural activities are also exacerbating these conditions. Download the new publication: Lessons on Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration for Farmer-Led Irrigation Development Investing in smart […]

KIT Royal Tropical Institute supports Loan eXchange (ILX) in developing the fund’s impact strategy.  ILX serves as an impact investment platform through which leading institutional investors – such as European pension funds – can co-invest with Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in high SDG-targeted impact. KIT works alongside ILX in the design of their impact strategy, […]

Between 2013 and 2016 UNICEF worked to strengthen investment in Child Health Days (CHD) in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa by enhancing national ownership, scaling-up, and coverage through the “Scaling up Nutrition and Immunization” project – funded by Global Affairs Canada. KIT Royal Tropical Institute was contracted by UNICEF headquarters in New York to conduct an external […]

KIT conducted a systematic review of food security in middle and low income countries to inform policy in light of recent best practices. The publication was presented at the OECD conference on food security and to the Netherlands parliament. Click here to download the full report. The impact of development interventions For several years food security has […]

KIT was hired by sustainable development organisation SNV to conduct an external, independent evaluation of household food security in Burkina Faso. The evaluation strengthens SNV’s accountability to funders and improves its work on food security. Food security as vital development aspect SNV West-Africa has put food security at the top of its development agenda for […]

KIT supported the Dutch Embassy in defining strategic areas and possible interventions for enhancing food security in three provinces of Burundi (Bujumbura Rural, Bubanza and Cibitoke). This was the first step in the implementation of the Multi-Annual Strategic Plan (MASP 2012-2015) of the Dutch Embassy with the aim of contributing to socio-economic and environmental stability […]

At the request of the Dutch Embassy in Mali, Royal Tropical Institute offered strategic assistance for the development of a support programme for sustainable development of the Inner Niger Delta in Central Mali. In this role we defined the types of interventions and the institutional arrangements necessary for ensuring effective co-ordination of interventions while strengthening […]

KIT, at the request of the Dutch Embassy in Kigali, conducted research into the Rwandan agricultural value chains with the strongest market potential. Interventions, with a focus on the private sector, were suggested and implemented in order to encourage growth and sustainability. Stimulating private sector growth through selection and analysis Rwanda’s economy is based mainly […]