Following the end of the VicInAqua project, the pilot site was handed over to PrAEctiCe partner DALF of Kisumu County, Kenya, to continue running. Partners NARO and SAT, who also operate living labs in Tanzania and Uganda, are committed to providing access to all PrAEctiCe partners for successfully implementing project activities on-site.

‘The development of a sustainable aquaculture sector can play an important role in providing livelihoods for people living around Lake Victoria’, stated Edwin Oyoo, DALF Fisheries Officer at Living Lab 1. Susan Adhiambo, the coordinator of DALF activities relating to PrAEctiCe project, explains the importance of the Living Lab to youth in Kenya: “We have 17 youth groups visiting the lab to access facilities and develop ideas that create employment opportunities through downscaled technology for farmers.” She explained that their work involves designing and installing grow-out fishponds, including flow-through and static fishponds near the Kisumu waste ponds. The pilot hatchery, established during the Horizon 2020 project VicInAqua, is already there. The drainage from the fishponds will be used to irrigate crops, and pumps for the water will be powered by floating solar PV. They also contribute to designing and installing a membrane bioreactor (MBR) for treating domestic wastewater, aiming to create a prototype.

The implementation and operation of ground-based agricultural sensors to collect statistical data is just one aspect of the multifaceted effort undertaken by DALF overseeing the living lab in Kisumu. In addition, their efforts also involve imparting knowledge to smallholder farmers regarding the numerous benefits of adopting agroecology and further facilitating them in transitioning towards sustainable agroecological farming practices.