New technologies, science, research, and innovations are recognised as powerful drivers for inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development, as highlighted in the 2030 Agenda . This has led an increasing number of developing countries to incorporate Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in national development agendas. However, relatively few countries have been so far able to leverage the existing stock of knowledge to achieve sustained catch-up with the more advanced economies. There is therefore scope for EU actions that support the partner countries' efforts to build more vibrant and inclusive innovation eco-systems. Research and innovation is also increasingly seen as a driver of economic growth and, as such, it leads to the creation of more and better jobs.

Several European programmes support research and innovation aiming at improving food and nutrition security of vulnerable populations in developing countries, as well as at supporting sustainable and resilient agriculture and food systems.

This page provides an overview of three selected initiatives:

• The DeSira Initiative;
• The Rural Africa Task Force;
• The jointly funded EU-Africa Research & Innovation Partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture of the EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation.

This is a non-exhaustive list of initiatives, partly or totally funded by the EU, on research and innovation in agriculture, food and nutrition security.

The DeSiRA Initiative (2018 - ongoing)

The "Development of Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture" (DeSIRA) initiative was launched in 2018. The objective of DeSIRA is to contribute to climate-relevant, productive and sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems in low and middle-incomes countries.

DeSIRA has 3 pillars:

• Pillar 1: Research and innovation in agricultural and food systems - Fostering innovation in agriculture and food systems based on agroecological principles;
• Pillar 2: Research infrastructure conducive to Innovation - Supporting the organizations in charge of the governance of research at regional, continental and global level;
• Pillar 3: Knowledge and evidence to feed policy design - Drawing lessons for better research and innovation policies.

The funding is coming from the European Commission and represents around €300 million.

See the DeSIRA Project page on Capacity4Dev

The Task Force Rural Africa (2018 - ongoing)

The Task Force Rural Africa (TFRA) was created in 2018 to advise the European Commission on how best to contribute to sustainable development and job creation in Africa’s agri-food sector and rural economy, after President Jean-Claude Juncker State of the Union speech in September 2018.

The TFRA gathered 11 experts in agriculture, agri-business or agroindustry, trade, development policy or migration related issues and first-hand knowledge of the agri-food sector in Africa. The group has issued an executive report in March 2019 proposing strategies and policies, harnessing cooperation between Africa and Europe, contributing to the joint Africa-EU strategy, the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. The group proposed four strategic areas of actions, to apply over the medium to long term, which should serve as the basis for the necessary transformation:

1. A territorial approach for job creation and income growth;
2. Sustainable land and natural resource management and climate action;
3. Supporting the sustainable transformation of African agriculture;
4. Development of the African food industry and food markets.

The TFRA report calls for the implementation of an innovative partnership for the development of Africa’s agri-food sector and rural economy, operating at three levels: people to people, business-to-business and government to government. The 3rd AU-EU agriculture ministerial conference , which was held on 21 June 2019 in Rome hosted by the FAO, provided the opportunity to jointly debate the views and recommendations of the TFRA Report and to agree on an agenda for actions.

The 4th AU EU Agriculture Ministerial Conference  took place the 22 June 2021 and has enabled the AU and EU agriculture ministers to exchange views on the development of more sustainable food systems in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the updated recommendations of the TFRA. To “build back better and greener” after covid-19, the role of strategic, sustainable and responsible investments that take into account smallholder farmers’ needs, has been highlighted. Agroecological approaches, digital solutions for agriculture, and intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services have been at the centre of the discussions.

The 5th AU EU Agricultural Ministerial Conference took place on  30 June 2023. The outcomes of the conference are the “Chair conclusions” of four high level thematic sessions on: i) Sustainable Investment in support of agri-food systems, ii) Research and innovation for smarter policies and technologies, iii) Climate Resilience of agri-food Systems, and iv) Regional Trade Integration. Also, the two Commissions have agreed on the set up of an EU-AU Joint Task Force on Fertilisers, to help identifying short and long-term challenges related to access and affordability of fertilisers and propose solutions.

The EU-Africa Research & Innovation Partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture (2016 - ongoing) 

The EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation was adopted at the 2nd Africa-EU Summit in Tripoli in 2010 as an important element of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES). The dialogue serves as a platform for regular exchanges on research and innovation policy and aims to formulate and implement long-term priorities to strengthen Africa-Europe cooperation on science, technology and innovation. The first R&I Ministerial Meeting of the AU-EU High-Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation8 (HLPD on STI) in July 2020, agreed to focus cooperation efforts on four priority areas, namely: Public Health, Green transition, Innovation & Technology, and Capacities for Science. The The AU-EU Innovation Agenda proposes specific objectives with short-, medium- to long-term actions for all four HLPD priority areas.

The EU-Africa Research & Innovation Partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture stems from the 3rd Senior Officials' meeting of the  EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation, held in Addis Ababa in April 2016. During that event, the HLPD Senior Officials adopted a ten-year roadmap (2016-2026) to contribute to build resilient food systems with four priorities: 

1) Sustainable intensification;

2) Agriculture and food systems for nutrition;

3) Expansion and improvement of agricultural trade and markets;

4) A group of cross-cutting topics.

The activities implemented through this partnership are intended to contribute to achieve food and nutrition security, more sustainable, resilient and greener farming sector, to improve the governance of food systems, and to strengthen African research capacities.

The alignment of the Roadmap against recent policy developments in the European Union and the African Union has been analysed in this report.

Among the 300 join projects under this partnership, the most promising ones with the highest business potential were identified through a pilot mapping. To learn more about the results of this pilot mapping, explore the related narrative available in the Africa Knowledge Platform.