Advancing Availability of Biofortified Foods for Institutional Markets Project (AABFIMP)
Advancing Availability of Biofortified Foods for Institutional Markets Project (AABFIMP) is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation through the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The project is being implemented by Cereal Growers Association (CGA), Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KARLO) seed Unit, and Harvest Plus in Elgeyo Marakwet, Bomet, Narok, Embu, and Tharaka Nithi counties. This a 2 year pilot project spanning from May 1 2023, to April 30, 2025. The project’s overall goal is to improve nutrition by enhancing the consumption of biofortified crops in schools and the community through increased HIB production and productivity and a strengthened market between farmers and institutional suppliers.
The project endeavors to achieve two key outcomes outlined below:
Outcome 1– Increased production and productivity of biofortified foods for institutional markets
Outcome 2– Strengthened market linkages between farmers and institutional suppliers, including schools, to enhance the availability of biofortified foods and food products for institutional markets.
The project seeks to address major identified challenges hindering the commercialization of High Iron Beans (HIB) value chain in the country, namely, low adoption of high-yielding HIBs, limited access to HIB seeds, limited access to extension services, inadequate linkages to structured markets and little knowledge or attention to nutritional value and high yielding bean varieties by the consumers. Addressing these bottlenecks and campaigning for increased production and productivity of nutrient-rich foods bio-fortified with Zinc, iron, and vitamins is momentous in mitigating the alarming nutrition deficiencies in Kenya. This will also help realize the food and nutrition security for all in Kenya and the consequent increase in smallholder incomes, hence improved livelihoods.
CGA will facilitate profiling and training of 15,000 smallholder farmers with at least 15,000 acres of land under the HIB value chain growing through a network of over 100 VBAs linked to input suppliers and output off-takers with a skew on institutional markets. Over 15,000MT of HIB is to be produced and aggregated through the village-based advisors (VBAs) and over 400,000 school-going children will be consuming HIB in schools by the end of the two years. The VBAs will participate at the grassroots level in enhancing farmer growing knowledge, creating HIB awareness, and promoting farmer sensitization to adopt HIB growth and consumption. The VBAs will also be important tools and platforms in addressing the first and last-mile challenges as they will be expected to offer end-to-end services to the farmers at grassroots level.
Geographic Coverage
- Elgeyo Marakwet
- Bomet
- Narok
- Embu
- Tharaka Nithi
Implementation period: May 1, 2023, to April 30, 2025