The “Green Innovation Centres for the agriculture and food sector” (GIC) project, implemented by the GIZ, aims to enhance the agricultural value chains in various countries by promoting sustainable practices and innovations. The “Atingi”-platform, which was created as part of the project, can be seen as a knowledge hub that provides access to the various knowledge outputs of the initiative.

Apollo Karuga, a recognized Kenyan Food Systems Hero by the UN’s FAO, aimed to address Kenya’s broken food system by developing an affordable, eco-friendly solution for smallholder farmers to preserve food throughout different seasons. Karuga, through his team at Grow Point International, created a solar food dehydrator designed to reduce moisture in food and extend shelf life. The dehydrator, made from locally available materials, utilizes a solar panel, blackpainted buckets for heat absorption, and wire mesh to hold the food.

The project develops and demonstrates a climate-smart farming system, which will be created by development of new agricultural technologies and a redesigned network of the existing African agri-food value chain to increase resilience, sustainability, and circularity. The deployment of the integrated chia-mushroom -pig biogas value chain contributes to the diversification and resilience of African food systems against the impacts of climate change.

This report on the International Meeting is not a recording of the meeting’s proceedings, but instead it is a workshop report communicating the presentations and outcomes of the discussions in a reader-friendly and usable format. In creating a report that also serves as a comprehensive source of information, some data and information from other sources has been added. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the FFS approach in the original development context. Chapter 2 explains the need for new approaches in emergency.