The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), in collaboration with key African Agricultural Research, Innovation and Education Institutions (AARIEI), has been at the forefront of strengthening the continent's Agricultural Knowledge ecosystem. This initiative aims to foster synergies, enhance institutional mandates, and sustain progress in Knowledge sharing, learning and management.

As part of this broader collaboration, the institutions jointly implement the Africa Agriculture Space (AASpace)- A Digital knowledge repository powered by Dspace. This robust and scalable platform enables the seamless integration and management of library resources across institutions, extending its reach to the country and institutional levels. The initiative seeks to enhance Agricultural knowledge management across Africa by leveraging ILRI's Leadership and experience in developing and maintaining CGSpace, a CGIAR-wide Dspace platform. The collaboration will drive experience sharing-sharing, inform best practices, and establish a sustainable roadmap for widespread Dspace adoption within the CAADP-XP4 consortium, ensuring last-mile knowledge accessibility.

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Communities in AASpace

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Recent Submissions

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Report of the Regional Consultation on Opportunity Crops in Africa
(FARA, 2026-08) FAO, FARA
FAO and FARA convened a three-day hybrid consultation in Accra with researchers, policymakers, universities, development partners, farmer organizations, private-sector actors and regional institutions. The aim was a unified continental vision for indigenous and traditionally cultivated crops in Africa's agrifood systems. Participants agreed that "opportunity crops" conveys these species' strategic value better than "orphan" or "neglected". They also agreed that conservation alone is insufficient: benefits depend on coordinated investment across genetic resources, breeding, seed systems, value addition, markets, education, policy and finance. Sessions covered genetic resources, breeding for resilience, seed systems, market creation and the enabling environment. Working groups set seven strategic priorities: conserve and mobilize genetic resources; accelerate research and crop improvement; build inclusive seed systems; develop competitive value chains; mainstream the crops in policy and investment; strengthen human and institutional capacity; and establish coordinated continental implementation. The report closes with recommendations for governments, research institutions, universities, financing partners, the private sector, farmer organizations and regional bodies.
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Proposed Roadmap for Integrating Opportunity Crops 2026–2035
(FARA, 2026-08) FAO, FARA
Africa's agrifood systems depend on a narrow range of staples, although the continent holds many indigenous crops with nutritional, climatic, cultural and economic value. Building on commitments from the 2003 Maputo and 2014 Malabo declarations, the 2013 Accra Statement, the Africa Manifesto on Forgotten Foods and the Kampala CAADP agenda, the roadmap aims to turn advocacy into coordinated, measurable action. Its vision is that, by 2035, identified opportunity crops are routinely conserved, improved, produced, traded, processed and consumed. Seven interlinked priorities run from conservation, research and seed delivery to value chains, policy and finance mainstreaming, capacity and coordinated delivery. Countries select crop portfolios against transparent criteria and review them every three years. Implementation runs in three phases: organize and prepare (2026–27), scale and validate (2028–30), and institutionalize and sustain (2031–35). A continental–regional–national coordination model uses existing mandates, with financing organized by portfolio rather than by isolated project. Progress is tracked through an annual continental scorecard and portfolio reviews in 2027, 2030 and 2035.
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Stakeholder Mapping for Integration of Opportunity Crops into African Food Systems
(FARA, 2026-08) FAO, FARA
The report maps organizations working on opportunity crops, forgotten foods and neglected and underutilized species (NUS) to inform an Africa-wide directory and Community of Practice. A purposive online survey yielded 84 complete institutional responses: 73 from 15 African countries, led by Nigeria (33), and 11 from outside Africa. The ecosystem is research-heavy: 67 respondents (79.8%) identify with research and academia, while farmer organizations, financiers and market actors are under-represented. Most organizations do research (69), farmer training (60) and production support (47); far fewer do aggregation (11), trading (8) or financing (8). The most reported species are indigenous leafy vegetables, traditional fruits and nuts, sorghum, Bambara groundnut and cowpea. Lack of funding is the main constraint (94.0%), and 33 organizations report annual NUS budgets under USD 10,000. Support for a continental platform is strong: 79 respondents (94.0%) would join one. The report proposes a seven-point action matrix: a Community of Practice, a governed directory, a catalytic financing facility, crop and value-chain clusters, policy and procurement work, consumer demand building, and a shared evidence framework.
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Country level (Kenya) third-party projects supervisory/monitoring mission: Back to office report
(FARA, 2023-12) FARA
Prompted by problems found in an earlier Uganda mission, and because third-party projects hold 65% of AIRTEA's budget, FARA and EAFF visited the Kenyan projects to check technical and financial compliance with approved work plans and contracts and to resolve conflicts. The team met lead institutions, visited beneficiaries and held debriefings with TPP004 (Koppert), TPP001 (JKUAT), TPP008 (University of Nairobi), TPP010 (Cooperative Alliance of Kenya) and TPP009 (KeFAAS), and reported on the TPP003 potato site in Nyandarua. Projects were generally on track: hybrid solar fish dryers were working, certified potato seed and drought-tolerant maize had reached farmers, cassava processors were linked to growers, and digital connectors had started businesses. Weaknesses included financial reporting gaps (no malfeasance found) and "IPs" that were really farmer groups. Lessons call for routine meetings, financial reporting training and regular backstopping.
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AIRTEA Project Implementation Plan
(FARA, 2021-08) ASARECA, EAFF, FARA
The Project Implementation Plan sets out how the consortium and its stakeholders, including the OACPS and the EU, will deliver AIRTEA's objective of sustainable agrarian livelihoods and rural transformation in East Africa through inclusive research and innovation. It restates the project's theory of change: a research–policy interface creating a conducive policy environment for knowledge exchange, technology transfer and business development. The plan gives an indicative half-yearly work plan for Year 1 and a work plan for the following years, organized by task and activity across the four work packages: institutionalizing innovation platforms and virtual research–user platforms (WP1); collective learning and capacity development of women and youth as advisory service providers (WP2); Agribusiness Learning Alliances and agribusiness incubation (WP3); and partnerships, governance, calls for proposals, communication and M&E (WP4). Each activity names its implementing body and timing.