1st All Africa Postharvest Congress & Exhibition and All Africa Postharvest Technologies and Innovations Challenge

Last 17^th January, the 1^st all Africa Post-harvest congress was officially launched in Nairobi, Kenya.

Jane Ambuko, Professor at the University of Nairobi and chair of the local organizing committee of the event, explained to the CoP on food loss reduction that the Congress aims at providing a platform where technology developers and promoters can interact with potential users, sponsors and policy makers with an ultimate goal of scaling up for wider adoption in an enabling policy environment. Success stories of technologies, practices, strategies and policies that have worked to reduce food losses in the African context will also be showcased. Hundreds of abstracts have been received and a variety of initiatives, projects and activities geared towards postharvest loss and waste reduction will be discussed in various congress sessions.

The Organizers of the Congress who include Global stakeholders in the Postharvest sector and other partners have also announced the All Africa Postharvest Technologies and Innovations Challenge, 2017, which is part of the activities we will do in the lead up to the congress. The aim of the challenge is to document and showcase the best emerging postharvest technologies and innovations with potential for scale-up. Additionally the challenge seeks to establish and strengthen linkages between innovators and potential investors to facilitate up-scaling and out-scaling of their innovations with the ultimate goal of reducing postharvest food losses. Ultimately the challenge will identify the top 10 innovations from across Africa as selected by judges drawn from diverse sectors. The top 10 innovators will be show-cased in a special pitching session of the congress.

The call is open to individuals and institutions from or working in Africa. The technologies/innovations should either be at Testing or Market-ready stages.

Diverse stakeholders in the food supply chain are among 500 participants expected in Nairobi. The congress seeks to contribute to the global agenda of reducing post-harvest food loss and waste.

To register online and know more about the Congress please click here. To enter the challenge please click here