CONCEPT NOTE
BACKGROUND
Providing sufficient, safe and nutritious food to all people is one of the major global concerns historically and in the twenty-first century. Recent global data by FAO, IFAD and WFP show that about 795 million people (every ninth person) are food insecure and therefore undernourished, including 90 million children under the age of five. The situation was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the recent drought episodes in the Horn of Africa (HoA), further confounding the problem. These have had profound implications to food and nutrition security globally, with African Nations being most hit by the phenomenons. Currently, food systems are undergoing rapid transformations with significant implications on people’s diets, partly due to factors such as globalization, expanding food trade, technological innovations, longer food supply and processing chains, and volatile prices of food commodities, a result of the observed global recession post Covid 19 pandemic. In addition to other known biotic and abiotic stresses, food systems in Africa are especially undermined by climatic extremes such as droughts, floods, tropical storms, pests and diseases as well as the observed regional conflicts and instabilities affecting communities. The complex interaction of multiple stressors in agro-ecosystems call for a global food revolution based on a new paradigm to achieve the twin objectives of feeding humanity and living within the boundaries of biophysical processes that define safe operating spaces of stable and resilient food systems.
At global level, all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets are related to the overarching issue of achieving food security. The SDG 2 specifically aims to end hunger by ensuring access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, in addition to promoting sustainable agriculture. The other six targets relate directly or indirectly to sustainable production systems, trade, biodiversity and climate change. At continental level, the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, adopted by the African Union heads of state aims at ending hunger and halving postharvest losses by 2025. At national level, Kenya’s Vision 2030, the Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS) and the Big Four priority agenda emphasize the critical role of agriculture in achieving food security and equitable economic transformation. Achieving these global and national targets will however require new and existing applications of science, technology, and innovation across food systems, addressing food security through improved productivity and minimizing post-harvest losses, while conserving the environment. In addition, continuous research is critical in informing policies that support the transition towards sustainable food and farming systems in a coherent and targeted way.
It is against this background that the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Nairobi is organizing the Agro2023 Conference under the theme “Harnessing Research in Agriculture and Environment for Resilient and Sustainable Food Systems and Livelihoods”. The conference is a platform for the Faculty (academia/researchers and students) and their partners from public and private sectors to show-case their research outputs including technologies, innovations, practices, products, processes, strategies and policies that contribute to enhancing food and nutritional security. The conference will also serve to promote knowledge exchange and networking among stakeholders from various sectors including agriculture, environment, research, education, manufacturing, and industrialization. The proposed conference is part of the wider University of Nairobi Research Week 2023 with the theme ‘Harnessing Research for Resilience and Sustainability’, which is in line with the University’s culture and mandate of Innovation and Outreach. The conference complements other University-wide platforms such as the Nairobi Innovation Week and University of Nairobi Open Days, where innovations from research have been show-cased in adherence to the University’s mission of transmitting and disseminating knowledge.
CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES
Agro 2023 Virtual Biennial Conference will provide an excellent platform for researchers, academicians, practitioners, farmers, industry, development agencies, civil society, policy makers, youth and women groups to learn, share information, build networks and partnerships with the overall objective of addressing the food systems challenges. Specific objectives of the conference are to:
- Disseminate research outputs including technologies, innovations, strategies and policies generated by researchers, research partners and students to address food systems challenges.
- Identify effective multi-stakeholder strategies and policy interventions to address the food systems challenges and gaps.
- Provide a platform for participants drawn from various sub-sectors to build networks and partnerships for resource mobilization and other activities geared towards addressing challenges facing food systems.
- Bring industry players in food systems and technologies in agriculture and environment to showcase and link with users and researchers for enhanced networking and partnerships
CONFERENCE THEME AND SUB THEMES:
Theme: “Harnessing Research in Agriculture and Environment for Resilient and Sustainable Food Systems and Livelihoods“
Sub Themes
- Sustainable crop production systems for better food & nutrition security and livelihoods
- Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Seed Systems, Agronomy, Horticulture, and Pest and Disease Management
- Sustainable livestock production systems
- Animal genetics and Breeding, Animal Nutrition, Livestock Production Systems (dairy, poultry, pigs, apiculture, aquaculture and emerging livestock), Animal Health and Welfare.
- Sustainable safe food systems for healthy diets and nutrition outcomes
- Value Addition, Postharvest Management, Food Loss and Waste Reduction, Nutrition Resilience, Food Safety, Traceability, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards, Market Standards
- Agroecosystems management for resilient livelihoods
- Land and Water Management, Natural Resource Governance, Biodiversity and Environment Conservation, and Climate Change and Mitigation, Soil Science, Range & Wildlife Management, Agro-Ecosystems Management.
- Agribusiness, Marketing, Trade
- Value Chains, Marketing, Trade, Entrepreneurship, Advanc
- Cross cutting issues (Policy and Governance and Gender)
- Research and Development, Continental and National Policies and Agenda for Agriculture, Sustainable Development Goals, COVID-19 Pandemic. ICT technology in applications, Agricultural Technology Transfer, Agricultural Information Systems, Youth in Agriculture/Agri-food entrepreneurship; Gender roles in Agriculture and Food Security.
CONFERENCE STRUCTURE
The conference will have a three-day program with scientific and technical sessions. Research and development papers will be presented in different sessions including plenaries with keynote speakers, panel discussions and break away sessions for oral presentations focusing on the different subthemes. There will be dedicated virtual poster sessions where presenters will be allocated time to share their findings with participants through live or pre-recorded videos. Oral and poster presentations by students will be judged/evaluated and the top three in each case recognized and awarded prizes at the end of the conference.
GUIDELINES FOR PREPARATION OF ABSTRACTS
The abstract should be written in English language in MS word or rich text format and have a maximum of 300 words in Times New Roman font size 12. The abstract MUST have the following details:
- Concise title (maximum 15 words)
- Names of authors, their affiliation and mailing address and the corresponding author contacts
- The body of the abstract should contain the objective(s), methodology, results, discussion and conclusion/recommendations
- Key words
All abstracts MUST be relevant to the conference theme and aligned to one or more of the six conference subthemes.
Submit abstract to: agro-conference2023@uonbi.ac.ke
IMPORTANT DATES
| Call for papers and abstracts | May 30, 2023 |
| Deadline for abstracts submission | August 25, 2023 |
| Notification to authors | September 25, 2022 |
| Deadline for submission of revised abstracts | October 10, 2022 |
| Deadline for participants registration | October 13, 2023 |
| AGRO 2023 CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION | October 25-26 |
CONFERENCE DATES AND VENUE
Conference Convening: Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nairobi (Hybrid conference).
Conference Dates: October 25-26, 2023.
CONFERENCE FEES
| Non-student participants: Physical | KES 2,000 USD 20 |
| Non-student participants: Virtual | KES 1000 USD 10 |
| Students: Physical | KES 1000 USD 10 |
| Students: Virtual | KES 500 USD 5 |
| Exhibitors: Physical | KES 5,000 USD 50 |
| Exhibitors: Virtual | KES 2000 USD 20 |
| Side Events | KES 20,000 USD 200 |
For more Information Contact:
Dr. Oscar Koech (Chair),Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology