CABI News

CABI has convened a Regional Consultation Meeting with its African Member Countries to review progress and future plans under the global strategy agreed with Members in 2022.

Held in Nairobi, the meeting was part of CABI’s continuing engagement with its Member Countries and was designed to help align CABI’s efforts with national and regional needs.

CABI was honoured to welcome high-level dignitaries including Hon Mutahi Kagwe, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Kenya.

Also in attendance were Dr Eliud Kireger, Director General of the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), representatives of other African Member Countries and prospective Member Countries, and various partners and experts.

Working in partnership on great challenges

Delegates considered CABI’s plan to update and extend its current 2023-2025 Medium-Term Strategy to 2028, while maintaining the emphasis on joint work to tackle major challenges, including hunger, poverty, gender inequality, climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

The Africa meeting followed similar meetings in Asia and Europe and will be followed in turn by a meeting of Member Countries in the Americas. All the 2025 CABI Regional Consultation Meetings have a particular focus on the area of pesticide risk reduction.

Reducing pesticide-related risks

A series of presentations and workshops on pesticide risk reduction was led by Dr Ulrich Kuhlman, Executive Director, Global Operations.

The topic is highly relevant to health, livelihoods, trade and the environment. CABI already conducts significant work in this area and explored with delegates, who included experts in the field, how this could be further expanded through collaborations at all levels, from the farm to national regulation and policy and international cooperation.

Mechanisms to replace or reduce the use of chemical pesticides were explored, together with barriers and opportunities for the uptake of safer and more sustainable approaches such as Integrated Pest Management and the use of bioprotection products that can help to reduce pesticide-associated risks.

Agricultural transformation and growth

Hon Mutahi Kagwe said, “Our partnership with CABI has helped us strengthen national and regional capacity to respond to major transboundary pests such as African armyworm, fall armyworm, and desert locusts.

“These efforts have directly contributed to enhanced food security, economic growth, and the conservation of biodiversity. In addition, CABI’s support in addressing climate-related challenges such as invasive species and land degradation has been invaluable.”

Hon Mutahi Kagwe added that this year’s consultation comes at a time when Kenya is actively implementing its Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS), which seeks to modernize and transform the agricultural sector through three key pillars.

These are promoting climate-smart and inclusive agriculture; enhancing productivity through sustainable input use; and improving market access by strengthening compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards.

During his address Hon Mutahi Kagwe commended CABI’s decision to focus its 2025 Regional Consultation Meetings mainly on pesticide risk reduction and noted recent action by the Kenyan government to ban imports of many hazardous pesticides.

Impact and future plans

Progress made in Africa under CABI’s Strategy was highlighted by CABI’s Senior Regional Director for Africa, Dr Morris Akiri, and his team. Delegates also reviewed major current and planned CABI programmes, including the flagship food security programme PlantwisePlus, a proposed Landscapes Initiative based on the approach of integrated landscape management (ILM), and work to improve the evidence available to policy makers under frameworks such as the Juno Evidence Alliance.

Delegates considered how CABI can best address national/regional priorities by working with countries on project development and funding. Opportunities for CABI to facilitate new ‘South-South’ collaborations between Members were explored, including participation in the China-Africa Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Alliance (CAASTIA) established in 2024 by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the Africa Academy of Sciences (AAS).

Solutions that serve farmers, agribusinesses and the broader food system

Dr Dennis Rangi, Director General, Development, based at CABI’s regional Centre for Africa in Nairobi, said CABI is keen to align with Member Countries’ mandates of generating and transforming agricultural research into solutions that serve farmers, agribusinesses and the broader food system.

“By working to form even stronger partnerships, we have greater capacity to deliver tangible results in plant health, pest management, invasive species control and knowledge sharing,” he said.

He added that key to this is recognising and utilizing the strength and capabilities of women and youth in Africa’s agriculture – where, for example, women contribute between 24% and 56% of the crop production labour force in different countries across the continent. Furthermore, almost 60% of Africa’s population in 2019 was under the age of 25, making Africa the world’s youngest continent.

Additional information

Main image: Delegates at the Member Country Consultation in Africa (Credit: LensAfrik).

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