Project description
Support the development of the bioeconomy in rural Africa
As Africa will need to feed 2 billion people by 2050, the continent's bioeconomy must play a leading role in safeguarding food security. The EU-funded BIO4AFRICA project will address this challenge, facilitating the growth of the bioeconomy in rural Africa by developing circular biobased solutions and value chains to encourage the use of local resources and diversify the income of farmers. The initiative will focus on transferring simple, small-scale and robust biobased technologies adapted to local biomass, needs and contexts. The goal is to empower local farmers to sustainably produce a variety of higher-value biobased products and energy, thereby significantly improving the environmental, economic and social performance of their forage and agri-food systems.
Objective
Africa will need to feed over 2 billion people by 2050 while coping with unprecedented demographic, socio-economic, environmental, climatic and health transitions. Meanwhile, undernourishment is still on the rise, affecting almost 20% of its population now. Under this light, ensuring Africa’s food security becomes imperative, with the bioeconomy posed to play a leading role to this end. It is against this backdrop that BIO4AFRICA sets off to support the deployment of the bioeconomy in rural Africa via the development of bio-based solutions and value chains with a circular approach to drive the cascading use of local resources and diversify the income of farmers. Our focus is on transferring simple, small-scale and robust bio-based technologies adapted to local biomass, needs and contexts (green biorefinery, pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonisation, briquetting, pelletising, bio-composites and bioplastics production). In doing so we aim at empowering farmers to sustainably produce a variety of higher value bio-based products and energy (animal feed, fertiliser, pollutant absorbents, construction materials, packaging, solid fuel for cooking and catalysts for biogas production), significantly improving the environmental, economic and social performance of their forage agri-food systems. To this end, we have set up 4 pilot cases with over 8 testing sites in Uganda, Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast, offering more than 300 farmers and farmer groups of all sizes (incl. small dairy and lower-income farmers, women farmer groups and transhumant pastoralists among others) the opportunity to test them in real productive conditions. Along the way, our balanced mix of 13 African and 12 EU partners will engage in solid multi-actor collaboration with rural communities and government, co-developing novel sustainable value chains driven by circular business models and supporting deployment in other areas, all while safeguarding agronomic, environmental, social and economic sustainability.
Fields of science
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagricultureindustrial cropsfodder
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsbioeconomy
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandryanimal feed
Keywords
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy Main Programme
- H2020-EU.3.2.4.3. - Supporting market development for bio-based products and processes
- H2020-EU.3.2.1.3. - Empowerment of rural areas, support to policies and rural innovation
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
75016 Paris
France
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Participants (24)
551 33 Kalamaria, Thessaloniki
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
2611 AX Delft
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5928 SZ Venlo
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
T12 P928 Cork
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V94 Limerick
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
12000 Rodez
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Tamale
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Tamale
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Accra
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PO BOX 1093 Yamoussoukro
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00800 Nairobi
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EC2N 1HQ London
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000 Fort Portal
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Kampala
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Ziguinchor
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Ziguinchor
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ZINGUINCHOR
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
12148 Dakar
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Ziguinchor
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54655 Thessaloniki
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
08006 Barcelona
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
41092 Sevilla
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28013 Madrid
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
8830 Tjele
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.