Teamwork deepens for Land Soil Crop Hubs in Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda

Land Soil Crop Hubs partners gathered in the World Soil Museum in Wageningen, The Netherlands to share ideas for next steps and reflect on project process.

Land Soil Crop Hubs partners gathered in the World Soil Museum in Wageningen, The Netherlands, to share ideas for the next steps and reflect on the project process.

Partners of the “Land Soil Crop Information Services for Climate-Smart Agriculture in East Africa” (LSC Hubs) project collaborated energetically in May. The team members travelled from East Africa to meet in Wageningen for the Annual Project meeting from 9 – 13 May, and then a team representing each partner presented a session on 18 May in Uganda at the ASARECA (Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa) Agriculture Ministerial Conference.

"The LSC Hubs session panelists at the ASARECA Conference, from left to right: Kennedy Were (KALRO), Thaïsa van der Woude (ISRIC), John Recha (ILRI), Girma Mamo (EIAR), Eric Nsabimana (RAB)." — *The LSC Hubs session panellists at the ASARECA Conference, from left to right: Kennedy Were (KALRO), Tha*ï*sa van der Woude (ISRIC), John Recha (ILRI), Girma Mamo (EIAR), Eric Nsabimana (RAB).*

Annual Project Meeting

During the Annual Project Meeting in Wageningen, all partners attended and gave valuable input to clarify the concept of the hub for each country, how it can respond to stakeholder needs for agricultural decision-making and also to identify what has gone well and what areas can be improved for the project moving forward. Project partners for LSC Hubs include:

International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
Ethiopia Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR)
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO)
Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB)
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA)
ICRAF World Agroforestry
Wageningen Center for Development Innovation (WCDI)
Wageningen Environmental Research (WEnR)
ISRIC - World Soil Information

"Michael Okoti (KALRO) summarizes the previous day’s takeaways at the Annual Project Meeting in the ISRIC World Soil Museum on the campus of Wageningen University & Research." — *Michael Okoti (KALRO) summarizes the previous day’s takeaways at the Annual Project Meeting in the ISRIC World Soil Museum on the WUR campus.*

"The project team went on an outing to walk along a floodplain nature reserve along the Rhine River." — *The project team went on an outing to walk along a floodplain nature reserve along the Rhine River.*

ASARECA Agriculture Ministerial Conference

At the ASARECA Conference in Uganda, the team presented a session titled “Land Soil and Crop Information Services for Climate-Resilient Food Systems” where they shared lessons learned from building an information services hub in Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda. The project also had an exhibition booth.

"Thaïsa van der Woude, ISRIC (left) and Jules Rutebuka, ICRAF (center) discuss the Land Soil Crop Hubs concept the Ugandan Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) at the project’s ASARECA booth." — Thaïsa van der Woude, ISRIC (left) and Jules Rutebuka, ICRAF (center) discuss the Land Soil Crop Hubs concept the Ugandan Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) at the project’s ASARECA booth.

"Ermias Betemariam, ICRAF, moderates the projects ASARECA session in Uganda." — *Ermias Betemariam, ICRAF, moderates LSC Hub project's ASARECA session in Uganda.*

Through the session and the booth, LSC Hubs team members shared about the project concept to Ministries of Agriculture present at the conference from the 15 ASARECA member countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Somalia.

Learn more about the project’s ASARECA conference session (including a recording of the presentation) on the project website.

This project is jointly funded by the European Union’s Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) program, The Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a contribution from ISRIC. Learn more about the project at LSC-hubs.org.