Federal Office for Agriculture and Food

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Personen in einem Feld Demonstration plots for diversified agriculture Assessment of demonstration plots for diversified agriculture. Source: Paulina M. Kossmann

Funding of separate initiatives

Given that, in addition to ongoing calls for research, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) intends to react flexibly to emerging topics and new requirements in the field of agriculture and food security, it provides targeted funding for topic-specific research projects.

Furthermore, by means of research funding, the BMEL is committed to strengthening research and innovation partnerships in the field of food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture between Africa and the EU. By funding international conferences, the BMEL also strengthens international knowledge exchange.

Funding of individual projects on specific topics

In recent years and apart from regular calls for research, the BMEL funded individual international projects on current agricultural and nutritional research needs:

  1. Genome wide association studies to improve drought stress tolerance in Ethiopian wheat (Triticum durum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) accessions (project duration: 01.01.2014 - 31.12.2019)
  2. Ebola Foresight: The importance of farm, domestic and wild animals as a source of Ebola virus infection - a cooperative project between the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, the Pasteur Institute in Conakry, Guinea, the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute, and Njala University in Sierra Leone (project duration: 01.03.2016 - 30.09.2019)
  3. AflaNET: Networking on aflatoxin reduction in the food value chain (project duration: 01.07.2016 - 31.03.2018)
  4. Promoting food security through the integrated implementation of the Agenda 2030 (project duration: 08.05.2017 - 30.06.2018)
  5. Ethical and legal aspects of Open Data - support for the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) Initiative (project duration: 01.01.2018 - 14.05.2021)

Engagement to strengthen long-term European-African research and innovation partnerships for food security

As a joint European-African initiative for research and innovation related to food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture, the ERA-Net Cofund LEAP-Agri brought together a total of 30 partners, including 24 ministries and other donor institutions from 18 European and African countries, between 2016 and 2022. With financial support from the European Commission, 27 international research projects received funding under LEAP-Agri.

The BLE managed six sub-projects of German research institutions on behalf of the BMEL.

  1. EaTSANE – Education and Training for Sustainable Agriculture and Nutrition in East Africa
  2. STEP-UP – Sustainable Transition to Entrepreneurial Production in Agriculture through Upgrading
  3. VITAPALM – Improving nutritional quality and stability of palm oil produced by African smallholders to fulfil African consumers' needs
  4. ATMA4FS – Agricultural Trade and Market Access for Food Security: Micro- and Macro-level Insights for Africa
  5. SmallFishFood – Small Fish and Food Security: Towards innovative integration of fish in African food systems to improve nutrition
  6. MUSBCEA – Multi-sectoral strategy for brucellosis control in Eastern Africa

Funding of international conferences

To consolidate generated knowledge and to strengthen international knowledge transfer in the field of nutrition-sensitive agricultural research, the BMEL supports strategically relevant conferences and congresses.

International Congress on Hidden Hunger

To address the problem of hidden hunger, i.e. deficiencies in micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals, the BMEL supports the "International Congress Hidden Hunger". It brings together international scientists, policy makers, representatives of non-governmental organizations and the private sector to discuss innovative and viable strategies to improve nutrition and to ensure healthy diets worldwide.

Tropentag

The BMEL co-funds the annual "Tropentag conference" and contributes its own conference presentations, managed by the BLE. As the international expert audience of the “Tropentag” is involved in development-oriented agricultural research as well as rural development in the Global South, it plays a key role in improving nutrition worldwide.

Contributing to international discussions on food systems

The BLE is a member of the Strategic Working Group ARCH (European Agricultural Research towards greater impact on global CHallenges) of the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR). The group aims to better integrate national, European and international research efforts to address hunger and malnutrition.

In addition, the BLE supports the BMEL at conferences, at events and in the public presentation of funding activities in the field of food security and nutrition, such as the "Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA)" or the conference "Policies against Hunger (PgH)".