The first in-person six-month meeting of PrAEctiCe project took place in Kisumu on the 4th and 5th of April.  

The first day, AquaBioTech Group’s team, represented by Freya M. Robinson and Thanasis Chantzaropoulos, attended the first in-person meeting with all the partners, and participated in discussions and presentations of the progress made so far and the future activities to come. It was a combined visit with the University of Karlsruhe at the facilities of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries’ facilities in Kisumu Kenya.  

In this project, ABTG is contributing to all the work packages, but is the task leader in the mapping of Integrated Aqua-Agricultural practices in East Africa, in the installation of monitoring sensors in all living labs that are going to be built, as well as providing its expertise in aquaculture to the partners.  

On the second day, the ABTG Team visited the fish farm built as part of one of our closed projects, VICINAQUA, where we were one of the main contributors by installing the RAS and the monitoring system. 

As part of the PrAEctiCe and FoodLAND projects, ABTG and the other partners had the chance to inspect the existing facilities and the space for the future construction of the Living Lab 1, conduct some field work, exchange views, discuss future plans, but also discover how this new facility’s innovations will contribute to the agroecology practices. 

Many thanks to Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (Kenya) for hosting us and Africa Agribusiness Academy for organising the event. 

Ending the trip, Freya and Thanasis visited the facilities of the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO) in Uganda. 

On the 7th of April, as part of the PrAEctiCe project, the ABTG Team was hosted in the National Crops Resources Research Institute in Namulonge. They were guided through the established Aquaponics unit, which will later be upgraded through the EU funded Horizon 2022 project, with ABT consulting on the design of the new system, as well as designing and installing the monitoring system. In addition, an efficient and circular water and nutrient management system, adapted to the requirements in East Africa, will also be developed.  

On the 8th of April, ABT visited the Aquaculture Research and Development Centre (ARDC) in Kajjansi, this time, as part of the FoodLAND project, aiming to combine fish-farming technologies with low investment methods to promote integrated aqua-agriculture and fight the malnutrition problems in rural and peri-urban regions. At the facility they had the chance to see the extent of NARO-ARDC, their numerous research projects and the future opportunities.  As ABT is the coordinator of the Aquaculture Working Group of this project, NARO-ARDC presented the progress made so far and discussed the future activities of the project.  

Asante sana to all our African Partners and see you again soon!