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.

Namibia, distinguished by its arid climate, faces recurrent droughts that challenge local farmers heavily reliant on extensive livestock farming and rangelands. Bush encroachment, characterized by invasive woody species, exacerbates this issue, reducing grass availability, impacting biodiversity, and posing a threat to livestock production. This project addresses these challenges through value chains derived from encroacher bushes, focusing on sustainable production, gender equality, and poverty alleviation.

The agricultural and food security situation in Nigeria faces challenges such as limited resources, security issues, rural-urban migration, oil dependency, and infrastructure inadequacies. These problems are worsened by high inflation, reaching 25.8% in August 2023, largely due to fuel subsidy removal, currency devaluation, and security concerns in food-producing regions.

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of Zn application methods on growth and yield parameters, Zn concentrations and Zn bioavailability in rice grains of two genotypes (NIA-Mehran and Shandar). The study revealed that zinc application had a positive impact on zinc bioavailability for humans by reducing phytic acid concentrations and affecting zinc bioavailability biomarkers in both polished and brown rice. Specifically, zinc application increased the number of productive tillers by 14%, grains per panicle by 88%, thousand grains weight by 10%, and grain yield by 30%.

Agricultural performance in Africa is hindered by factors like inaccessible inputs, limited credit, unfavorable weather, pests, diseases, and poor management. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) implemented a project funded by CGIAR to develop digital advisories for Rwanda and Ghana. They created models to forecast fall armyworm invasions and Striga weed risk, which cause significant crop losses. These models, integrated with climate forecasts, run on a Python back-end and are accessible online.

This project aims to enhance food security in Uganda, aligning with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 and 2, focusing on "No Poverty" and "Zero Hunger." The key objectives include digitizing and commercializing smallholder farmers, improving their market access, ensuring product quality through traceability, and boosting household incomes. The approach involves the development of a user-friendly mobile application and web platform, eSusFarm®, which enables farmers to input, access, and share crucial agricultural data.