THRIVE East Africa

THRIVE East Africa - Alliance Bioversity International - CIAT

The initiative supports East Africa's food security, farm resilience, and economic growth by strengthening sustainable, inclusive value chains for opportunity crops, African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) and coffee through diversified regenerative production with Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) and enhanced market systems.

Project Name (full): Transforming soil health, livelihoods and nutrition through regenerative diversification and inclusive value chains in East Africa (THRIVE) – East Africa

Start and end year: 2026 - 2028

Region and Countries: Africa (East Africa): Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda

Funder: Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Partners: CIHEAM Bari, ECDPM, UNIDO

Brief description

The project provides a value chain approach to address the decline in agricultural biodiversity and the vulnerabilities of food systems in East Africa.

The region is experiencing challenges such as declining productivity due to soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate variability; structural market barriers (fragmentation, volatility, access, and EUDR compliance risks), and weak capacity for aggregation and access to financing, all of which threaten livelihoods, biodiversity, and exports, pushing millions of smallholder farmers toward malnutrition and economic vulnerability.

But at the same time, rich agrobiodiversity offers untapped potential to co-design and scale diverse resilient systems with Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS), nutrient-dense African Indigenous Vegetable (AIVs)-corridors, and regenerative shade-grown coffee agroforestry systems, boosting soil health, farm resilience and livelihoods.

We aim to reach over 25,000 smallholder farmers through Training of Trainers programs, cooperatives engagement and extension agents, and more than 600 supply chain actors resulting in boosts in yields, incomes, and dietary diversity; rehabilitated soils with enhanced carbon sequestration and water retention; biodiversity corridors via agroecological revival; reliable year-round nutrition for urban poor and school feeding; enhanced market systems and deforestation-free, traceable exports securing premium EU markets. The project hereby seamlessly aligns with continental frameworks like African Union Agenda 2063, Kampala Declaration (CAADP), post-Malabo commitments, Africa's Common Position on Food Systems, Italy's Mattei Plan, and the EU Global Gateway strategy ultimately reimagining nature-positive, equitable livelihoods through revitalized value chains and inclusive, resilient food systems supporting regional economic growth.

THRIVE East Africa - Alliance Bioversity International - CIAT - Image 2

Key activities

To achieve this, the project operates at two levels of intervention:

At the regional level

The initiative fosters dissemination of best agricultural practices, supports policy dialogues through the African Seed and Biotechnology Program's (ASBP) opportunity crop working group, promotes linkages with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and facilitates cross-country knowledge sharing.

At the national level

The initiative addresses diverse needs:

  • Ethiopia: The goal is to diversify production with NUS in regenerative zero-deforestation coffee agroforestry systems, using digital advisory platforms and monitoring tools, as well as multi-stakeholder platforms and inclusive business models, by co-designing regenerative practices aimed at improving soil health and production.
  • Kenya: It establishes coordination platforms, strengthens community seed banks and AIV farmer cooperatives, as well as supports youth-led aggregation and product logistics, strengthening commercial partnerships, and promoting farmer's financial inclusion.
  • Uganda: It promotes diversified production with NUS and improves soil health in regenerative agroforestry coffee systems through stakeholder engagement, the co-design of strategies for agricultural system diversification, the dissemination of agricultural business models, and training and capacity-building activities.
     

Explore the inforgraphics for more details of the project activities

THRIVE Impact

Ethiopia

Smallholder coffee farmers

10000

Benefit from the digital advisory tools.

Extension agents

200

Trained on regenerative systems and digital advisory tools.

Cooperatives

10 +

Strengthened in governance, traceability, and business models.

Private sector actors

20

Benefit from improved traceability and market transparency.

Government staff

50

Supported in forest monitoring and compliance systems.

Kenya

Smallholder AIV/NUS farmers

7000

Overcome limited market access, high costs and losses, and year-round production risks through scaled aggregation.

Market vendors and intermediaries

300

Address fragmentation, perishability, and capital shortages.

Youth and local enterprises

50

Build coordination skills as facilitators.

AgriTech4Kenya start-ups

3

Benefit from matchmaking events, potentially leading to scaling their innovations.

Uganda

Smallholder farmers reached through awareness campaigns

100000

Reached by cooperatives and buyers through field visits, radio, videos, factsheets, and other information, communication and education (ICE) materials.

Farmers benefiting from demo farms and capacity building

7000

Benefit from the establishment of demo farms, capacity building through ToTs, and adoption of agri-tech innovations.

Farmers participating in co-design activities

500

Participate in the co-design activities.

Agri-tech start-ups

20

Participate in the A4IP matchmaking events.

Agri-tech start-ups

20

Participate in the A4IP matchmaking events.

Project leaders

Céline Termote

Senior Scientist - Africa Regional Team leader Food Environment and Consumer Behavior

Project members

David Slane

Senior Manager and Chief of Party, Business Acceleration for Youth Project, Country Representative for Malawi