The East African horticulture sector holds significant untapped potential, but it faces various constraints and challenges along the value chain. To address these issues, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture, hosted by the University of California, Davis, and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is spearheading efforts to enhance horticultural production in the East Africa region. The Horticulture Collaborative Project in East Africa is a 3.5-year (March 2023- September 2026) initiative aimed at improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the region.
This globally supported but locally led project is being implemented by the Horticulture Innovation Lab in partnership with the International Centre for Evaluation and Development (ICED) in Kenya and Uganda. Through strategic partnerships and collaborative research, the program seeks to build the capacity of researchers, institutions, private sector, and small-scale farmers in East Africa to advance horticultural production for better nutrition and income
The goal of this regionally led initiative is to increase productivity, profitability, and consumption of horticultural produce in rural areas. This will be achieved through:
Ultimately, the regionally based initiative seeks to empower small-scale women farmers in rural areas, to earn more income while better nourishing their families. By doing so, the program aims to help these farmers break out of the vicious cycle of poverty and hunger, leading to more resilient and prosperous communities
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture, East Africa Regional Hub is coordinating the implementation of four projects in the region. Three of the projects are focusing on the research priorities identified during the 2022 regional workshop, which involved different actors in the horticulture sector. View the report of our 2022 East Africa Horticulture Regional Workshop.
The first priority is to address pre- and post-harvest management to reduce food waste and losses in vegetables. The second priority is to improve the marketing of and access to vegetables in the East Africa region, through the empowerment of rural women smallholder women farmers growing vegetables on a small-scale level. Each of these projects was specifically designed to unlock access to vegetables for women smallholder farmers.
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture, East Africa Regional Hub is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This webpage and its contents are the responsibility of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture, East Africa Regional Hub and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
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