Kenya to host new regional hub for agri solutions

A new regional hub that will scale up science-based agricultural solutions for African farmers has been launched in Nairobi.

According to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the global partnership for a food-secure future, the hub will serve East and Southern Africa.  

It will help the two regions scale up food, land, and water accessibility.

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The Hub is part of the new CGIAR Portfolio for 2025-2030, a global science portfolio to deliver lasting agricultural solutions for the world. 

It is part of the Scaling for Impact Programme - an initiative that helps social enterprises and purpose-driven startups grow their business and prepare for future impact investment.

The establishment of the hub, said CGIAR in a statement, was guided by survey data indicating that by 2030, Scaling for Impact will leverage systems and financing to support over 62 million people, including 30 per cent women, youth, marginalised and underrepresented groups.

“Furthermore, 250,000 jobs will be created or enhanced, and 480,000 people — half of them women — will access healthier diets,” said Inga Jacobs-Mata, strategic programme director at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), which is part of CGIAR.

She further said the launch marked an important step in strengthening agricultural innovation and collaboration and ensuring that science-based solutions developed by CGIAR and its research partners around Africa reach and benefit farmers and other users.

Ms Inga said the hub would provide physical space for CGIAR and other partners to co-locate and develop the most effective scientific solutions for Africa by Africa.  

“The focus is to push the science frontier in advancing ‘science for the last mile’ – how to get innovations taken up and scaled in cheaper, better, faster, more inclusive, and more sustainable ways,” said the director.

She explained that the hub would provide an environment of innovative and synergistic thinking, vibrant interactions, creativity, and collaborative problem-solving. Through leveraging multi-stakeholder partnerships, said Ms Inga, the hub will improve collaboration, knowledge, and innovation scaling.

It will also connect diverse scaling actors, including farmers, farmer cooperatives and associations, governments, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES), national and international universities as well as the private sector.