The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture, East Africa Regional Hub convened a regional horticulture consultative workshop themed ‘Assessing on-the-ground challenges and opportunities for innovative ideas and technologies that constrain/contribute to practical and academic horticultural pursuits’ in Nairobi, Kenya. The physical workshop was preceded by pre-workshop scoping studies in Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia. The purpose of the scoping studies was to identify gaps in the available evidence within the horticulture landscape in the targeted countries. The purpose of the workshop was to validate the findings from the scoping studies and also provide further insights into the challenges and opportunities in the horticulture sector. The hybrid event brought together producers, horticulture sector leaders, researchers, academia, private sector practitioners, development agencies, civil society, NGOs, CBOs, and policy makers to learn, share information, build networks and partnerships.
The Horticulture Innovation Lab's global research network advances fruit and vegetable innovations, empowers smallholder farmers to earn more income while better nourishing their communities. By improving smallholder farmers’ abilities to grow and sell high-value crops, the Lab helps the world's poorest people break out of a persistent cycle of poverty and improve livelihoods — through higher profits and diversified, nutrient-rich diets.
Within the next five years, the Horticulture Innovation Lab will focus its efforts in four regions, with one country per region serving as a hub; these include West Africa (Ghana), East Africa (Kenya), Southeast Asia (Nepal), and Central America (Honduras). The aim is to implement a locally led, globally supported program that will produce systemic, sustainable, and inclusive improvements in the horticulture sector.
To facilitate the achievement of this aim, the Lab organized an initial regional consultative workshop with regional leaders, local horticulture experts, academia, private sector, the Lab consortium, and other relevant stakeholders with the intention to identify on-the-ground challenges and opportunities within the region. The consultative workshop would also explore avenues for addressing these challenges through research or capacity building activities.
Assessing on-the-ground challenges and opportunities for innovative ideas and technologies that constrain/contribute to practical and academic horticultural pursuits.
The workshop comprised break-out sessions in which the under-listed sub-themes were discussed to consolidate resolutions on what could be done to advance the sector:
The workshop provides an excellent platform for regional leaders, researchers, horticulture experts, academics, private sector practitioners, development agencies, civil society, and policy makers to learn, share information, build networks and partnerships with the overall objective of identifying effective strategies and interventions for ensuring systemic, sustainable, and inclusive improvements in the horticulture sector.
The convening provided a platform for industry stakeholders:
