Ongoing research project titled "Integrated and Circular Technologies for Sustainable Food Systems in African City Regions" (INCiTiS-FOOD)

Funded by Horizon Europe (HE)

Project No.: 101083790

Duration: 01.01.2023–31.12.2026

Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Gertrud Buchenrieder (UniBw, Munich)

Project Staff: Dr. Emmanuel Olatunbosun Benjamin

INCiTiS-FOOD (Integrated and Circular Technologies for Sustainable City Region Food Systems in Africa) is a four-year project aimed at improving Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) in African urban regions, reducing the ecological footprint associated with food systems, and contributing to the circular economy. Additionally, the project will empower local communities by opening opportunities in agricultural food supply and value chains while achieving environmental justice through transformative food policies. This is achieved through interdisciplinary research, integrated best-fit technologies, stakeholder-led actions, capacity building, research-practice-policy collaboration, and a European-African partnership.

As part of the INCiTiS-FOOD project, circular agricultural and food technologies, as well as business models for integrated food systems in African cities and communities, will be co-developed. The technologies include soil-less cultivation (hydroponics), recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), and insect farming for human nutrition and organic fertilizer production. These circular agri-food technologies have been identified as suitable for the context of African cities, as they require minimal upfront land, water, or wealth resources.

The project is based on a multi-actor approach involving 8 Living Labs (LLs) across 6 countries from 3 African regions (East: Kenya; West: Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone; Central: Cameroon, Gabon). INCiTiS-FOOD will apply a lean start-up methodology to develop minimum viable products (MVPs). It is expected that these MVPs will reach a sufficiently high technological, societal, and business level within the first two years of the four-year project. The MVPs will be further validated during a demonstration phase (800-1000+ start-ups and scalable small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs) based on two open calls for the cascade funding mechanism (FSTP: Financial Support to Third Parties). Cascade funding beneficiaries will be surveyed to generate empirical insights into the benefits of the INCiTiS-FOOD technologies and business models, which will serve as a foundation for developing urban food and nutrition policy roadmaps for African cities.

Click here to visit the INCiTiS-FOOD website