Descrizione del progetto
Attingere all’enorme potenziale delle colture in Africa
I cambiamenti climatici avranno un impatto notevole sul futuro dell’agricoltura e sul sistema alimentare globale. Una soluzione è rappresentata dall’agricoltura climatica intelligente. Il progetto InnoFoodAfrica studierà le colture climatiche intelligenti (cereali, legumi, radici, frutta coltivata) presenti in Etiopia, Kenya, Sudafrica e Uganda, presentandole come ingredienti sani per la lotta alla malnutrizione. Il progetto verterà su gruppi vulnerabili quali i bambini malnutriti, le donne incinte e gli adulti a rischio obesità. Per ridurre lo spreco alimentare e creare nuove catene del valore, il progetto aumenterà la varietà di prodotti alimentari economici, nutrienti e sani provenienti dalle colture locali, e trasmetterà alle persone migliori abitudini alimentari. Provvederà inoltre a trasformare i flussi laterali dei raccolti in biomateriali, offrendo un’alternativa sostenibile alla produzione di imballaggi in plastica.
Obiettivo
InnoFoodAfrica will explore climate-smart African crops (cereal-pulse-rootInnoFoodAfrica will explore climate-smart African crops (cereal-pulse-root crop-fruit) in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.
The project will develop and demonstrate optimal solutions for cultivation practices, processing and productization towards new value chains, thus enhancing nutritionally balanced food consumption in urban Africa and creating opportunities to reach international markets. The main output is to demonstrate the huge potential of the African crops as healthy ingredients in combating both malnutrition. The emphasis is to target vulnerable groups, such as malnourished children, pregnant women and adults under the risk of obesity, by increasing the diversity of affordable, nutrient-dense and healthy food products based on local crops, and educating people for improved eating habits.
The project will address key bottlenecks of African food value chains - low productivity, limited access to urban markets, affordability and convenience of end products - by tailoring actions on local context to develop novel technologies in agriculture, food manufacturing and use of residual biomass for packaging, and concurrently to investigate food safety, food security and food loss reduction. Trainings, targeted especially women, will be organized in all four African countries. The trainings include e.g. farming productivity of indigenous crops, effective post-harvest technologies, valorization of biomass residue materials, nutritional guiding, and entrepreneurial skills. The project will also foster international cooperation with other EU-Africa and inter-African projects (FNSSA) e.g. by organising common conferences or workshops, technology transfer and training videos.
The project is designed by a strong multidisciplinary consortium of 20 partners, dominated by 15 African actors from all four focus countries with deep understanding of local needs, and supported by 5 European partners.
Campo scientifico
- social sciencessociologysocial issuessocial inequalities
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsproduction economicsproductivity
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesfood technologyfood safety
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- agricultural sciencesagricultural biotechnologybiomass
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinatore
02150 Espoo
Finlandia