Success at the first event of the Farm’Innov project!

This Farm’Innov Connection, the first event of the Farm’Innov project, was held on 23 July 2024 and brought together almost 70 people, both in webinar and physical meeting in Nairobi. Despite very difficult access conditions, due to the socio-political context in Kenya, more than twenty people gathered at the Mercure Nairobi Upper Hill hotel, located in the financial district, where many banks and international companies are headquartered. In webinars, more than forty people attended the successive conferences.

We focused on the topic of post-harvest losses, which are a fundamental issue when it comes to limiting food waste, improving producers’ incomes and strengthening Kenya’s food sovereignty. Concrete solution were presented for addressing post-harvest losses through innovative raw material processing and storage, accross different sectors. Our speakers included :

• Tito ARUNGA and Winnie YEGON, who introduced – for the Food and Agriculture Organization – the topic of post-harvest losses in Kenya, highlighting key figures, challenges, current actions and proposed solutions ;
• Cyril ROULLET, who presented – for the French company Fonderies et Ateliers de l’Ouest – crop processing and storage techniques to avoid post-harvest grain spoilage ;
• Saheel SHAH, CEO at Adpack (Kenyan company), who showcased innovative GrainGard bags designed to protect harvests from infestation ;
• Clémence CARBONNEL and Camille DUC, who presented fermentation as a slow-tech method to add value to post-harvest fruits and vegetables, for the French company Atelier du fruit ;
• Florence Alice MATHINGAU, Managing Director at Agri Business Solutions Ltd (Kenyan campany), who explained the zero waste circular model & block chain tech in managing post-harvest losses within the avocado value chain.

It was also an opportunity to present the Farm’Innov programme to Kenya’s agricultural and agri-food sectors, and to highlight the partnerships developed over the past year between French organizations (Valorial, French Development Agency, French Embassy, French Chamber of Commerce in Kenya) and local organizations (Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Agriculture Sector Network (Asnet), Equity Group Fondation).

Finally, we were able to officially launch the Farm’innov acceleration programme: the company recruitment phase has just begun and support for those selected will continue throughout 2025.

A big thank you to our speakers and partners : Laban KIPLAGAT (Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Kenya), Florence KARIUKI (Equity Group Foundation), Agatha THUO (Agriculture Sector Network) and Guillaume POLGE (French Development Agency) for their involvement in the preparation of this special day! 

The next Farm’innov Connection will be held in October. The topic will be announced shortly, stay tuned, and we look forward to seeing you there!