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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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.
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AIRTEA agribusiness and private sector training workshop: Consultancy to test Agribusiness Learning Alliances (ABLA) proof of concept towards enhancing the economic value derived from innovation platforms
(FARA, 2024-06) Buruchara, Robin
FARA held a three-day agribusiness workshop in Nairobi with 33 participants from the consortium, third-party projects, IP facilitators and private-sector partners. It combined two days of agribusiness training to support ABLAs with a one-day business consultative forum on mentorship and innovative financing for agricultural research businesses, and engaged projects in identifying women and youth to train as business development support personnel. Sessions covered the IP concept and its gaps, agribusiness opportunities, gap analysis and action planning per project, and a synthesis of a FARA learning event. Conclusions ask digital extension projects (TPP004, TPP007 and TPP009) to extend services to more IPs, and call for a central support platform for IP leaders, simpler training materials, direct market links, reporting of unexpected outcomes, and FARA–ASARECA action plans and tools to assess IP functionality and maturity.
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Report of the third-party selection process of the AIRTEA project
(FARA, 2021-11) FARA
The report documents how AIRTEA selected the multi-stakeholder partnership projects it would fund. A call for proposals for grants of EUR 150,000–400,000, from a third-party envelope of EUR 2,652,000, opened on 10 June 2021 and closed on 9 August 2021, with a virtual information meeting on 8 July. Of 112 applications, 75 passed eligibility and administrative checks and 37 were rejected. An Independent Evaluation Committee scored the eligible proposals. The Project Steering Committee then applied affirmative action for youth-, women- and private-sector-led proposals and raised the number of grants from six to up to fifteen. It approved 12 projects on 8 November 2021, subject to OACPS and EC no-objection. The report lists the selected projects and their distribution by lead institution type and country.
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Agribusiness Learning Alliance (ABLA) toolkit: For business development in agriculture research for development
(FARA, 2024) FARA
The toolkit explains how Agribusiness Learning Alliances build on innovation platforms to drive commercialization of agricultural research technologies, with emphasis on women, youth and persons with disability. It introduces agricultural innovation systems and the IP concept, then sets out the three steps for establishing an ABLA (connect, co-create, capacity). Further chapters cover business development services in agriculture; policy, regulation and standards; and operational guiding principles such as partnerships, multidisciplinary teams, and planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning. It closes with a checklist for planning interventions along a value chain node.