Potentials of Agro-ecological practices in East Africa with a focus on Circular Water-Energy-Nutrient Systems (PrAEctice)
Project Title: Potentials of Agro-Ecological Practices in East Africa with a Focus on Circular Water-Energy-Nutrient Systems (PrAEctiCe)
Project call ref: HORIZON-CL6-2022-FARM2FORK-01-12
Type of action: Research and Innovation
The project kiff-off meeting of partners was held virtually on the 10th November 2022 and ends in 2026. The objective of the meeting was to receive partner presentations on various assigned work packages and create awareness of what is expected of each Partner. The research collaborators are:
Maseno University team comprises of Dr. Erick Ogello (Team leader, Fisheries and Aquaculture specialist), Prof. Aaron Ogindo (Agro-ecology specialist), Dr. Fredrick Aila (Marketing and market systems analyst),
Dr. Benjamin Ombok (Risk Finance & Accounting in Vulnerable Agro-Production sector and Policy), Dr. Phoebe Mose (Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness Management), Dr. Lilian Wanzare (IT-Specialist), Dr. Erick Oteyo (IT-Specialist), Ms. Susan Makhanu (IT specialist and Project Visibility), Fredrick Okinyi (Accountant), Michael Opiyo (ICT-eLearning), Nicholas Outa (PhD-Student), Mavindu Muthoka (PhD-Student).
Project Summary
PrAEctiCe will provide a novel agro-ecology indicator set for East Africa, aimed at helping smallholder farmers in their agro-ecological transition. The project goes beyond the existing indicator frameworks by putting the “concept into action” with a decision support tool for agro-ecology advisors to select the best-suited combination of agro-ecological practices in a local context. In addition, it puts a focus on circular water-energy-nutrient systems of integrated aqua-agriculture, an practice with high potential for efficient farming with minimal climate impacts, which has not been sufficiently explored in previous indicator work.
Through a multi-stakeholder approach, new insight on agro-ecological practices in East Africa will be gathered to inform on existing successful practices as well as the barriers and drivers of East African smallholder farmers. This insight will help develop an indicator framework for agro-ecology, which, while building on existing frameworks, is adapted to the East African context and captures integrated aqua-agriculture practices in detail. The PrAEctiCe decision support tool will then, at the farm level, help assess environmental and socio-economic impacts, with a particular focus on impacts on climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as financial viability. The tool will be validated in three living labs, situated in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, covering different integrated aqua-agriculture farming set-ups. Knowledge sharing activities through trainings, student exchanges and events, ensure the dissemination of results across East Africa and between AU and EU. To reach practitioners at every level, a cascade training mechanism with a train-the-trainer course will help agro-ecology advisors train farming representatives at the local level who then will help the farmers in their agro-ecological transition. Policy recommendations for AU and EU policies will round off the project
MAPPING OF STAKEHOLDERS IN AGROECOLOGY IN EAST AFRICA
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