InnoFoodAfrica will explore climate-smart African crops in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. It will develop and demonstrate optimal solutions for cropping practices, processing and productisation of crops to foodstuffs and bio-packagings via new value chains to markets. It will enhance adoption of nutritionally balanced food consumption in urban Africa and create opportunities to launch the new foodstuffs to international markets. The main output is to demonstrate the waste potential of African crops as healthy food raw materials in combating malnutrition in the continent. The emphasis will be to target the new foods to vulnerable people such as malnourished infants, expecting mothers and urban adults under the risk of obesity. This will be done by increasing the diversity of affordable, nutrient-dense and healthy food products made of using local crops as raw materials and supporting the people to eat more healthily.

InnoFoodAfrica will address the key barriers of the African agro-food system, i.e. low productivity, limited access to urban and international markets, affordability and convenience of the foodstuffs. Capacity building targeted especially to women in the four countries will include improved practices in increasing productivity of indigenous crops, post-harvesting technologies, crop residue valorization, nutritional guiding and business skills.

InnofoodAfrica will foster international cooperation with European-African project with similar goals by organizing joint events, technology and knowledge transfer and sharing training materials. The project has been planned by a strong cross-disciplinary consortium of 18 partners, dominated by 13 African organisations with deep understanding of local needs from all four countries.