The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa is fast-tracking and coordinating donor and agricultural institutions in the region.
This is aimed at complementing their activities to benefit smallholder farmers.
Asareca executive director Enock Warinda said they are seeking to have agricultural and donor institutions working together with a common approach to harness economies of scale.
He said this will help avoid duplication of agricultural research work, reduce wastage of resources and become more efficient.
Warinda said centralisation of operations is being prompted by the changing dynamics in the global agriculture sector.
He spoke during a two-day agricultural forum in Nairobi.
“Asareca council of ministers recently resolved the need to ensure all organisations working in the agriculture sector are coordinated from one point," Warinda said.
"We have reached out to continental and global agricultural bodies to ensure we develop a common action plan aimed at matching all the activities to adequately serve the smallholder farmer.”
The organisation is reaching out to its sister organisations in Africa so they can replicate the formula.
The approach aims to support implementation of the November 2022 Abidjan II Communique that advocates urgent transformation of Africa's food, land and water systems.
The communique seeks to ensure food and nutrition security despite multiple threats from climate change, conflict and pandemic.
“The focus of the initiative is to prevent duplication of activities, wastage of resources and competition by various continental and global organisations,” Warinda said.
Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi said governments in Asareca region are interested in coordinated activities of various global actors in the continent, subregion and the member states to boost food yield.
“The National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) have noted increasing misalignment of CGIAR resources with national priorities and have called for their activities to be rationalised through regional coordination,” he said. His speech was read by his adviser Dennis Onkundi.
Linturi was recently elected the chairman of Asareca board during a meeting attended by ministers from 15 countries that form the organisations.
He said a recent Asareca Council of Patron Ministers meeting discussed gaps in derailing sustainable financing of AR4D through Asareca as well as in providing needed technical support and facilities for research.
“Effectively, this implies that the envisioned One CGIAR is expected to engage with the countries through Asareca and this decision is aimed at making Asareca responsible and accountable to all the national governments of the member states,” Onkundi said.
Warinda said member countries seek to consolidate their actions to address the common agenda of agricultural research.
“We have so many players scattered in the region and the same brings a lot of confusion. Our aim through this meeting is to agree as the heads of the institutions of common approach to handle agriculture, research, and dissemination of the technologies to reward farmers’ efforts in their localities," he said.
