This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101000640
Currently, many rural economies are locked in subsistence farming and are vulnerable to food insecurity due to lack of access to water, technical know-how and feasible revenue streams, further aggravated by unsustainable farming practices and resulting in migration from rural areas to cities. Climate change negatively affects agricultural production in water-scarce regions of Africa, which makes water use efficiency one of the key factors for agricultural and rural livelihoods. Agriculture is still the most important economic sector in rural Africa and pathways of transition to a circular bioeconomy bears significant potential for socio-economic and environmental sustainability of rural communities in the long term.
The consortium DIVAGRI has identified a range of major challenges in its target regions and identified solutions to address them within the scope of the project. Based on a solid need examination of identified challenges, our vision is to contribute to sustainable livelihoods in rural areas of Africa, through domestic agri-food systems which can sustain growing populations in an inclusive and environmentally friendly way in the long term. DIVAGRI increases the productivity of the African agri-food systems, connects supply to demand and turn wastes into resources through connected value networks within the bioeconomy through selected enabling bio-based solutions tailored to specific conditions in the five target countries.
DIVAGRI aims to increase the productivity, income and economic opportunities of subsistence and smallholder farmers in arid and semi-arid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa by implementing state-of-the-art, innovative bio-based solutions that will improve agricultural production, enable diversification of crops and increase added-value, create environmental, social and economic sustainability, and generate new local economic opportunities. Based on identified challenges and mitigation measures, the following project objectives were defined. The overall goal of the DIVAGRI project is to provide African subsistence and smallholder farmers with tools to sustainably improve farm productivity, profitability and resilience through improved management of farming resources, output diversification and creation of high-value circular bioproducts. DIVAGRI targets the following specific objectives (SO):
SO1: Co-design and co-develop bio-based solutions (BBS) together with rural farming communities and cross-transfer sustainable farming practices;
SO2: Test and adapt BBS in diverse contexts to improve productive conditions, in particular freshwater availability and soil health;
SO3: Diversify crops, increase farm productivity and economic return at pilot sites and farmer field demos;
SO4: Create new sources of income in targeted rural farming communities through new bioproducts from residues;
SO5: Integrate BBS into existing agri-food systems and promote widespread uptake of DIVAGRI solutions.
IAAD brings knowledge and evidence-based experience in a series of fields of proficiency, encompassing financing strategies and schemes (blended public private financing) linked to biorefinery projects in Europe, multi actors approach engagement, living labs, advocacy, communication, dissemination and exploitation of results, with leading roles structured around:
Rural development and gender integration in Africa (transversal to all activities throughout the project)
Establish and implement ‘FoodFuture Living Labs’ (task 3.5, WP3 'Transfer, Integration, Demonstration')
Engagement methodology for user-driven applied research (task 1.2, WP1 'Rural community-based participatory research')
Analysis of the institutional framework and financing opportunities (task 4.1, WP4 'Integrated business models and capacity development'
WP6 'Dissemination, communication and exploitation of results'
Specific impact monitoring and assessment implementation (task 7.4, WP7 'Project Management and consortium coordination')
Coordinator: Robert-Schmidt-Institut, Germany, Wismar, Germany
Partners:
Institut für Polymertechnologien e.V. (Germany), Alchemia-nova GmbH (Austria), Stellenbosch University (South-Africa), Agricultural Research Council (South-Africa), Namibia University of Science and Technology (Namibia), University of Cape Coast (Ghana), National Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Botswana), İstanbul Avrupa Araştırmaları Derneği (Turkey), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Crops Research Institute (Ghana), Lake Agege Farm (Ghana), Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Botswana), Instituto Superior Politecnico de Manica (Mozambique), Center for Research and Technology Transfer to Communities (Mozambique), Lisha Empowerment and Development (Namibia), Namibia Rotomould CC (Namibia), G&G Extrusionstechnik GmbH (Germany), FH Joanneum GmBH (Austria), Asociación de la Industria Navarra (Spain), Institut Po Ovoshtarstvo-Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (North Macedonia)
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