The AgriTech4Kenya Innovation Challenge 2024, an initiative powered by A4IP, is an agri-food systems innovation challenge launched in April 2024 to support startups, entrepreneurs, and researchers to address existing gaps in Kenya’s agricultural sector.
The AgriTech4Kenya Innovation Challenge 2024 is designed to empower international early-stage innovators to develop, deploy, and scale high-impact, science-driven agri-tech solutions tailored for smallholder farmers and agricultural value chain players across Kenya.
“Launched to bridge the gap between research and market adoption, the AgriTech4Kenya Innovation Challenge aims to address critical challenges in Kenya’s agricultural value chain while driving economic growth, sustainability, and resilience,” said Gianpiero Menza, Senior Manager Partnership and Innovative Finance, Alliance of Bioversity Internation and CIAT.
Focusing on technologies that are easily adoptable by farmers and value chain actors, the program seeks to meet local market needs by attracting top innovators to develop impactful, affordable solutions for the sector.
Despite its fertile land, Kenya continues to struggle with food security, with annual food imports surpassing $1.1 billion. The growing impacts of climate change and urbanization have intensified the need for innovative, localized, and market-driven agri-tech solutions.
The initiative targets key priority areas, namely, sustainable agricultural production, improved market access and supply chain efficiency, gender equality and social inclusion, livestock health and disease management, equitable finance and investment mechanisms, and water use efficiency and sustainable irrigation practices.
“These focus areas are essential for tackling the unique challenges faced by Kenya’s agriculture sector and fostering the development of impactful, sustainable, and market-driven solutions,” Gianpiero added.
The program closed its call for application on the 5 September with more than 300 applications from both local and international applicants. This will see 25 early-stage innovation teams gain business and technical training by world leaders at a Bootcamp scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya from the 26 – 29 November 2024. They will also get an opportunity to pitch their innovation during a side event to be held on the 29 November 2024 during the Kenya Innovation Week led by the Kenya Innovation Agency.
The program aligns with Kenya’s Bottoms-up Economic Transformation Agenda, the Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, Vision 2030, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), addressing 14 of the 17 SDGs under the agriculture sector, and supporting the nation’s broader development objectives.
