NESTLER is a joint project between the EU and African member states designed to promote One-Health sustainable partnership. The project aims to bring together interdisciplinary technological advances to effectively monitor the well-being of animals, plants, and humans in a holistic approach. The complementarity between the stakeholders will extend upon the ongoing initiatives from FARM2FORK strategies that have resulted in integrated software systems and solutions. The novelty of the NESTLER project lies in the development and integration of advanced remote sensing technologies. The project platform will develop software interfaces for ingesting satellite data sources along with video streams captured from unmanned aerial vehicles and other IoT devices installed for monitoring the environmental and animal well-being. The large-volume of data ingested into the platform will be subjected to additional processing for the extraction of intuitive insights with the assistance of machine learning algorithms and deep-learning network architectures. The extracted insights will be translated into predictive models affecting One-Health sustainability programme using the machine automation. Additionally, the NESTLER project will also undertake research activities to investigate the impact of insect protein on the circular economy for the well-being of animals. The project will develop methodologies for edible insect farming which will be in animal farming. The project will also conduct research studies on the impact of animal waste in crop-based farming. In complementary to the analysis of health benefits, the project will also undertake efforts to evaluate the economic sustainability of such farming practices which will lead to the setup to joint EU-Africa joint task force on One-Health Sustainability. The outcome of the project will result in a transition from a linear economy to a circular economy delivering sustained growth and development.

Food and nutrition security (FNS) remains a challenge for Africa, despite efforts made in agricultural research and extension in the past, due to inefficient implementation and exchange of technologies and knowledge to end users. The main objective of InnovAfrica is to improve FNS by integrating sustainable agriculture intensification (SAI) systems, innovative institutional approaches (IIAs) with novel extension and advisory services (EASs) and enhancing smallholder adaptive capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). InnovAfrica addresses main challenges of the work programme (SFS-42-2016), through a strong multidisciplinary EU-Africa consortium of 16 partners, supported by 6 active Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs) in 6 case countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa). InnovAfrica will test, integrate, and disseminate SAI systems suitable to smallholders, institutional approaches (e.g. MAPs, seed delivery systems) and EASs (e.g. dynamic knowledge platforms supported by smart phones, Village Knowledge centers). The main outcomes of InnovAfrica include: i) better understanding of the needs and opportunities of SAI systems in Africa, ii) improved knowledge and innovation capacity of farmers to implement SAI systems supported by IIAs and EASs, iii) improved product value chains through viable IIAs benefiting women and youth, iv) Innovative policies, increased knowledge of public-private partnerships to strengthen agri-business model in case countries with a view to upscaling successes in other regions through functional MAPs, v) Wider dissemination of SAI systems to smallholders and women within and outside project areas through effective use of smart phones and social media, and vi) Stronger EU-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership to achieve FNS. The outcomes will contribute to smallholder productivity, profitability; and nutritional benefits while reducing negative environmental impacts and enhance FNS and sustainable agriculture in Africa.

Push-pull technology is a major discovery with high potential to increase food security and agricultural sustainability in East African smallholder farms. In project UPSCALE, we aim to scale up understanding and applicability of push-pull from individual fields to farm, landscape and regional scales, and from cereal to other crops and cultivation systems. By determining the factors influencing push-pull success across scales, we will enable targeted implementation and prediction of push-pull effectiveness and resilience under current and future climate conditions. Using novel remote sensing methods combined with simulation and empirical approaches, we will develop functional, chemical and sociocultural maps combined with environmental factors for spatial optimization of push-pull expansion at different scales. UPSCALE will test to what extent push-pull systems impact surrounding fields, farms, landscapes and regions, identifying potential feedbacks, non-linearities and socio-economic or ecological thresholds for adoption. Moreover, UPSCALE will explore the options to expand the use of push-pull for sustainable intensification in crops and systems outside cereal in synergy with other tools, and further intensify the system through incorporation of nutritious and high value crops. By harnessing the benefits of push-pull technology across scales and crops, UPSCALE will catalyse the design and widespread implementation of climate-smart and environmentally-friendly food production in East Africa and beyond.

The humid tropics of Central and Eastern Africa hold much promise for enhancing food and nutritional security within and beyond Africa. With a rich variety of agroecological zones and diverse farming systems, they are home for a great part of the rural population and a large diversity of living organisms, offering vital ecosystem services and potential for sustainable development. Still, if we are to tap into this potential, we need to address the complex environmental, social and economic challenges they face, which in cases are exacerbated by conflict and high vulnerability. In this context, CANALLS aims to drive agroecological transitions in the humid tropics of Central and Eastern Africa via multi-actor transdisciplinary Agroecology Living Labs (ALLs). We start with 8 ALLs in DRC, Burundi, Cameroon and Rwanda, working alongside and enabling over 20,000 farmers and value chain actors to co-create and benefit from optimal combinations of agroecological practices focusing on crops that are vital for subsistence and economic development (cocoa, coffee, cassava, rice, maize). In parallel, we engage in solid multi-actor collaboration with rural communities, advisory services and governments to develop a holistic assessment framework and evaluate the socio-economic and environmental performance of the co-created practices (accounting for trade-offs and synergies). We use the comprehensive evidence generated to build capacity and share knowledge (practice abstracts, replication guidelines, policy recommendations) as well as to deliver fair, inclusive and sustainable business models along with services and tools for facilitating access to markets and enhancing demand for agroecological products. Our vision is to create a growing network of ALLs that leverages EU-AU cooperation to conduct transdisciplinary research, offer scientific support and drive coordinated action for delivering holistic solutions that help shape enabling conditions for agroecological transitions.