EASTERN AFRICA FARMERS' FEDERATION SOCIETY

Their core work

EAFF is a regional farmers' organization representing smallholder farmer interests across Eastern Africa, headquartered in Nairobi. In EU-funded research, they serve as the critical link between European research teams and African farming communities — ensuring that technologies like push-pull cropping, bio-based processing, and nutrient management actually reach the farmers who need them. Their role centers on dissemination, farmer engagement, policy advocacy, and validating that research outputs work under real East African agricultural conditions.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

EAFF's early H2020 involvement (2018) focused on European-centric agri-food challenges — nutrient recycling, manure management, greenhouse gas emissions, and life cycle assessment in the food chain. By 2020-2021, their projects shifted decisively toward Africa-specific agricultural solutions: push-pull cropping technology, biochar production, small-scale biorefineries, and sustainable rural development. This evolution reflects a move from contributing African perspectives to broad EU research toward projects explicitly designed for East African farming contexts.

EAFF is moving toward circular bioeconomy projects tailored to African smallholder contexts, making them an increasingly valuable partner for any EU consortium targeting sub-Saharan agricultural development.

How they like to work

EAFF participates exclusively as a partner — never as coordinator — which fits their role as an end-user representative and dissemination channel rather than a research driver. They work in relatively large consortia (60 unique partners across 3 projects, averaging ~20 partners per consortium), typical of large RIA projects addressing complex food system challenges. Their value lies in providing legitimate farmer representation and ground-level reach across multiple East African countries.

EAFF has collaborated with 60 unique partners across 24 countries through just 3 projects, giving them an unusually broad international network for an organization of their size. Their partnerships span European research institutions and African agricultural organizations, positioning them as a connector between the two continents.

What sets them apart

EAFF is one of few organizations that can offer EU research consortia direct access to smallholder farming networks across Eastern Africa — not as a research lab but as a trusted farmers' federation with political legitimacy and grassroots reach. For any project that needs real-world validation, dissemination, or impact measurement in African agriculture, EAFF provides something no European university can: the actual farmers. Their federation structure means engagement scales across countries rather than being limited to a single pilot site.

Highlights from their portfolio

• UPSCALE
  Largest single grant (EUR 317,000) and the most Africa-focused project, scaling push-pull technology — a proven pest and weed control method — across East African farming systems.
• BIO4AFRICA
  Represents EAFF's move into circular bioeconomy, combining biochar, biomaterials, and small-scale biorefineries specifically designed for rural African income diversification.
• Circular Agronomics
  EAFF's entry point into H2020, contributing African agricultural perspectives to a primarily European agri-food nutrient cycling project.