Adoption pathways

On the 18th of February and the 1st of March, the AIFSC supported project “Identifying Socioeconomic Constraints to and Incentives for Faster Technology Adoption: Pathways to Sustainable Intensification in Eastern and Southern Africa (Adoption Pathways)” held inception meetings in Egerton University, Kenya and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research respectively.

These meetings were meant to launch the project and strengthen partnerships in Kenya and Ethiopia, including ties to the SIMLESA (Sustainable Intensification of Maize and Legume Cropping Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa) project partners. It was valuable for the AIFSC to present to the project partners its new strategy and share information on opportunities for capacity building and research development programs.

It was interesting to note concerns by the stakeholders and project partners about how the data will be collected effectively and linkages between this project and the SIMLESA project. It was also imperative for the partners to see the linkages between this project and other ACIAR-funded and/or AIFSC-funded projects in the same region.

A lot of issues were raised during these two meetings that pointed to the importance of keeping communication and knowledge management an ongoing process and for the AIFSC to introduce and provide linkages to other projects and programs with similar activities.

ACIAR support to the region is highly appreciated and is making positive impact in the research community in these two countries.

At Egerton University the media also attended the meeting and made some reports on KBC TV and a written article in the “Daily Nation” newspaper.