Increasing Sustainability of Agribiologicals by Living Labs in sub-Saharan Africa

Climate change and loss of biodiversity is worsening food insecurity, not least in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Agricultural biologicals are nature-based products, which are alternatives to agrochemicals that can increase yields and improve plant health.

Based on a Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) analysis we found a knowledge gap among smallholder farmers and other local stakeholders regarding biologicals. inSALSA addresses the poor uptake of biologicals by establishing Living Labs at two SSA locations.

Additionally, one EU Living Lab will be set up, where European and SSA expertise will be connected as well as a replication Lab in Ethiopia.

In a rural setting, not least in SSA, Living Labs is a novel way to communicate, explore stakeholder interactions and co-create knowledge.After application of biologicals, plant health and biodiversity, specifically pollinators, will be monitored by modern field crop phenotyping tools and next-generation sequence.

An important task is to create a framework for efficient, unbiased and socially inclusive testing of biologicals suited to SSA smallholder farmers.

The Living Lab settings are well suited to assess the role of indigenous knowledge among farmers and communities, which might be a factor in the understanding of biologicals.inSALSA strives to create a robust platform, which enables the introduction of safe and effective biologicals that are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable in the SSA context.