Agroecology in East Africa is gaining momentum due to its potential benefits for food security, the environment, and climate, supported by research, policy, and economic drivers; meanwhile, Integrated Aqua-Agriculture, as one of the promising practices for agroecological transition, confronts challenges like infrastructure and expertise hurdles.

The PrAEctiCe project addresses these by unveiling three distinct “Living Labs” in East Africa. In Kisumu (Kenya), the lab focuses on the synergy between aquaculture and intercropping, utilizing aquaculture wastewater for irrigation and converting aquaculture sludge into fertilizer. The Kajjansi (Uganda) lab delves into aquaponics, experimenting with varying combinations of fish and vegetables to optimize water, energy, and nutrient dynamics. In contrast, the Morogoro (Tanzania) lab integrates fish and poultry systems, utilizing fishpond wastewater for vegetable irrigation and combining aquaculture sludge with poultry manure to enrich the soil. Living Labs are designed following general agroecological principles adopted for aquaculture. By providing tangible demonstrations and fostering knowledge sharing, they contribute crucial data for the ongoing development of agroecology-tailored indicator framework for aquaculture and the decision support tool for smallholder farmers, with the goal of charting a promising agroecological path of African agriculture.

Published in Journal of Central European Agriculture, 2024

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FOODLAND and PrAEctiCe are European funded Horizon projects focusing on food production and farming in Africa. FOODLAND aims to enhance the diversity of food production and consumption in six African countries displaying different stages of the nutrition transition. PrAEctiCe will provide a novel agroecology indicator set for East Africa, aimed at helping smallholder farmers in their agroecological transition.

Each project highlights the different directions into which aquaculture is developing in the different East African countries, emphasizing the technologies, techniques, and systems that are of the highest interest and benefits to the different regions.

Conference Data:
Aquaculture Europe 2023
21 September 2023
Vienna, Austria

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Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology has attracted great attention over the past three decades and has experienced rapid growth in an increasing number of practical small‐ and large‐scale applications worldwide. However, its application in Sub-Saharan Africa has been limited.

The installation and operation of solar-powered pilot membrane bioreactors (MBR) in Kisumu (Kenya) and Kampala (Uganda) takes an integrated approach by providing an integrated, sustainable, cost‐effective, and robust solution for water treatment and reuse that also meets the demand for clean water for a variety of applications as a promising example of the water-energy nexus approach.

Conference Data:
TECHNOSCAPE 2023 – 5th International Conference on Sustainable Technologies for Water and Wastewater Treatment
14 December 2023
VIT, Vellore

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Agroecology in East Africa is gaining momentum due to its potential benefits for food security, the environment, and climate, supported by research, policy, and economic drivers; meanwhile, Integrated Aqua-Agriculture, as one of the promising practices for agroecological transition, confronts challenges like infrastructure and expertise hurdles.

The PrAEctiCe project addresses these by unveiling three distinct Living Labs in East Africa. In Kisumu (Kenya), the lab focuses on the synergy between aquaculture and intercropping, utilizing aquaculture wastewater for irrigation and converting aquaculture sludge into fertilizer. The Kajjansi (Uganda) lab delves into aquaponics, experimenting with varying combinations of fish and vegetables to optimize water, energy, and nutrient dynamics. In contrast, the Morogoro (Tanzania) lab integrates fish and poultry systems, utilizing fishpond wastewater for vegetable irrigation and combining aquaculture sludge with poultry manure to enrich the soil. Living Labs are designed following general agroecological principles adopted for aquaculture. By providing tangible demonstrations and fostering knowledge sharing, they contribute crucial data for the ongoing development of agroecology-tailored indicator framework for aquaculture and the decision support tool for smallholder farmers, with the goal of charting a promising agroecological path of African agriculture.

Conference Data:
59th Croatian and 19th International Symposium on Agriculture
14 February 2024
Dubrovnik, Croatia

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