Dr. Sali Ndindeng’s Strategic Visit to Food Security for Peace and Nutrition (FSPN) Africa’s Eu-Funded HealthyDiets4Africa Living Lab : Bridging Innovation and Impact .
Date of Visit: 10 April 2025
Location: FSPN Africa Head Office, Nairobi, Kenya.
Introduction
On 10th April 2025, FSPN Africa had the honour of hosting Dr. Sali Ndindeng at Head Office and later at our EU-Funded HealthyDiets4Africa project Living Lab in Kabete, Nairobi. Dr Sali Ndindeng is a Principal Scientific Staff working at the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and leading the HealthyDiets4Africa work package on scaling. The visit was more than ceremonial — it was a deep dive into how FSPN Africa is designing, piloting, and scaling digital, inclusive, and climate-smart food system solutions, offering a platform to reflect on progress, explore new collaborative opportunities, and deepen commitment to transforming Africa’s food systems through innovation, youth engagement, and climate-smart solutions.It also marked a moment of validation for the homegrown innovations we have pioneered — innovations now shaping regional food security narratives.
FSPN Africa: A Decade of Digital Agriculture Leadership : From DAA to a Continental Innovation Ecosystem
Regional Director Kalvince Otieno traced FSPN Africa’s journey from humble beginnings to continental influence, anchored in the Digital Agriculture Africa (DAA) project. DAA was conceived to close the information gap choking smallholder productivity — enabling farmers to access timely agronomic advice, market insights, and weather forecasts via low-tech digital solutions.
Out of this flagship initiative emerged two pivotal innovations:
- The Shamba Calendar App
A two-sided digital platform designed for both farmers and market actors:- The farmer interface offers advisory services across 50 crop value chains, coupled with hyperlocal weather data to support season planning and boost yield predictability.
- The market interface allows producers to list crops pre-harvest, enabling market actors to forecast demand and engage with supply chains in advance — reducing waste and price volatility.
- Shamba Connectors
Recognizing the digital divide, FSPN deployed tech-savvy community agents — Shamba Connectors — to support smallholders in listing produce, accessing pricing trends, and receiving customized advisories. This human-centric approach extended digital reach and built trust across farming communities.
Despite its successful rollout, Shamba Calendar’s scale-up has been constrained by funding gaps — particularly in developing aggregation hubs, streamlining backend data systems, and expanding its user base nationally. However, through DAA’s broader methodology of leveraging lead farmers as local trainers and communicators, FSPN Africa has reached over 200,000 smallholder farmers across East Africa — a testament to the power of trust-based, decentralized extension systems.
The Community Virtual Hub: Unlocking Africa’s Agri-Innovation Pipeline
As DAA matured, a broader question emerged: How do we not only inform farmers but also incubate the next generation of agribusiness leaders?
This led to the creation of CVH.Africa (Community Virtual Hub) — Africa’s first agriculture-centered virtual accelerator for youth and women in food systems.
About CVH.Africa – The Community Virtual Hub
A cornerstone of FSPN Africa's digital empowerment model is CVH.Africa, the Community Virtual Hub — Africa’s first pan-African virtual platform dedicated to accelerating food systems transformation through learning, connection, and investment readiness. CVH is not just an e-learning platform — it is a digital ecosystem purpose-built to:
- Equip agri-innovators, especially youth and women, with access to expert-led, practical, self-paced courses
- Host innovation showcases and pitch decks for funder visibility
- Serve as a knowledge marketplace where African food system actors (farmers, SMEs, researchers, and consumers) interact, co-create, and exchange opportunities
The platform bridges the information and access gap, enabling participants from remote or underserved areas to engage with technical content, receive certification, and increase their market exposure.
The Bigger Picture: CVH.Africa is envisioned as a catalytic infrastructure for scaling regenerative, nutrition-sensitive, and climate-resilient agribusiness across Africa. It serves as the backbone of FSPN Africa’s vision to democratize access to food systems knowledge and unlock a new generation of African agri-leaders who are not just innovating — but building scalable, investable ventures.
Driving Innovation through HealthyDiets4Africa (HD4A) FSPN Africa plays a key role in HD4A, particularly under:
- WP6: Enhancing Food Safety Through Dietary Diversification
- WP8: Scaling Innovations via Diversified Delivery Models
Under WP8, FSPN Africa is scaling youth and women-led agribusiness innovations through a structured acceleration model:
- National calls for agri-innovators and prize competitions
- Needs-based virtual training in business modeling, legal registration, food safety, and pitch development
- Self-paced learning and certification via the Community Virtual Hub
- Finalist pitch events with investor exposure
- Innovation profiles listed on the Virtual Hub for continued matchmaking
- Virtual dietary guide for the population
Impact to Date:
- Cohort I (2023–2024): 31 innovators recruited
- Cohort II (2024–2025): 99 innovators currently enrolled and undergoing mentorship
Dr. Sali Ndindeng commended the approach as a scalable, cost-effective, and gender-inclusive model that is activating Africa's next generation of agri-preneurs. He particularly noted the power of the Community Virtual Hub in democratizing access to food systems knowledge and fostering a more equitable ecosystem for food innovation.
The FSPN-KALRO Living Lab: Ground Zero for Agroecological Excellence
The visit continued with a tour of the FSPN Africa Living Lab, co-managed by KALRO NARL, serving as a practical demonstration center for nutrition-sensitive farming.
Key Highlights:
- Local Innovation Platforms: Bringing farmers, researchers, SMEs, and policymakers together to co-develop agroecological solutions.
- Agri-Nutrition Education: Teaching underutilized food production, nutrition benefits, and culinary techniques.
- Urban Plots & Indigenous Crops: Demonstrating organic production methods for local vegetables and grains especially for urban and peri-urban centers.
Dr. Ndindeng lauded the integration of forgotten indigenous crops and encouraged:
- Profiling each crop: Nutritional data, seed access, and agronomic guides
- Testing Africa-wide rice varieties/innovations especially those of high nutritional importance – high protein, Fe, Zn lines and low glycemic products: Plan demonstration trials with AfricaRice
He also expressed interest in bringing a delegation from the other seven HealthyDiets4Africa project countries – Benin, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Uganda to the site in the next planting cycle, reinforcing its value as a pan-African demonstration hub.
Strategic Takeaways & Next Steps
Dr. Ndindeng’s visit concluded with key commitments and opportunities:
- Cross-Country Collaboration: Enabling south-south learning between Kenya the other seven HealthyDiets4Africa project countries.
- Shamba Calendar Revival: A data-backed concept note requested to advance funding for scale-up
- Outcomes Documentation: Tracking post-program growth trajectories of agri-innovators for investor alignment
His endorsement reaffirmed FSPN Africa’s niche at the convergence of nutrition intelligence, agri-innovation, and digital extension infrastructure.
Conclusion
This visit was more than a showcase — it was a recognition of FSPN Africa’s leadership in building a scalable, inclusive, and future-ready food systems model.
With tools like the Shamba Calendar and CVH.Africa, and strategic partnerships under HD4A, we are not just reaching farmers — we are unleashing a new generation of food system builders across Africa.
We invite partners, funders, and institutions to join us in this mission — to turn bold ideas into systems that nourish the continent.
For more information, contact info@fspnafrica.org
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the Shamba Calendar App and how does it help farmers?
The Shamba Calendar App is a digital platform that supports smallholder farmers with advisory services across over 50 crop value chains. It provides hyperlocal weather data and allows farmers to plan better for planting seasons. Market actors can also forecast supply and demand through the app, reducing food waste and price volatility.
2. Who are Shamba Connectors and what role do they play?
Shamba Connectors are tech-savvy community agents deployed by FSPN Africa to support digitally excluded farmers. They help farmers list produce, access pricing trends, and receive personalized advisories, ensuring last-mile inclusion and digital empowerment.
3. What is CVH.Africa (Community Virtual Hub)?
CVH.Africa is Africa’s first agriculture-focused virtual accelerator. It offers e-learning, expert mentorship, pitch visibility for funders, and certification. It empowers youth and women in agribusiness by providing practical, self-paced training and networking opportunities across the continent.
4. How does FSPN Africa support agri-innovators through the HealthyDiets4Africa project?
Under HD4A, FSPN Africa leads in scaling agribusiness innovations through:
- National calls and competitions
- Business and food safety training
- Access to the Community Virtual Hub
- Investor pitch events and profile exposure
As of 2025, over 130 agri-innovators have been recruited across two cohorts.
5. What is the role of the FSPN Africa Living Lab co-managed with KALRO?
The Living Lab serves as a demonstration center for nutrition-sensitive, agroecological farming. It showcases local innovation platforms, urban farming, indigenous crop cultivation, and agri-nutrition education—making it a practical site for knowledge exchange and policy development.
6. What kinds of crops are promoted at the Living Lab?
The lab highlights underutilized indigenous crops with high nutritional value. These include African grains and vegetables, with a focus on organic farming practices. It also supports comparative trials for African rice varieties like those from AfricaRice.
7. How does FSPN Africa contribute to climate-smart agriculture?
Through digital tools like the Shamba Calendar and its inclusive platforms, FSPN promotes climate-smart practices by:
- Offering weather-smart agronomic planning
- Encouraging resilient, low-input crops
- Building community-based learning networks around agroecology
8. What is the long-term vision for CVH.Africa?
CVH.Africa aims to be a continental backbone for food system innovation—scaling regenerative, nutrition-sensitive, and climate-resilient agribusinesses. It bridges rural and urban divides by offering digital access to knowledge and markets.
9. How can partners or funders support these initiatives?
FSPN Africa welcomes collaboration to:
- Fund the scale-up of digital tools like Shamba Calendar
- Support agri-innovator acceleration cohorts
- Co-develop agroecology curricula and demonstration programs
- Expand cross-country knowledge sharing (e.g., Kenya–Cameroon partnerships)
10. What outcomes has FSPN Africa achieved so far?
FSPN has reached over 200,000 smallholder farmers, created impactful digital tools, and incubated over 130 agri-innovators. Their inclusive and tech-driven model has been praised for scalability and gender sensitivity across Africa’s food systems.