GCRF Agri-tech Catalyst Seeding Award - Rothamsted The primary outcome of this award is the adoption of relevant agricultural and food system innovations by farmers and other stakeholders in target countries in Africa. Benefiting residents in rural communities in Ghana.

Secondary outcomes include increased and improved understanding amongst UK businesses of the needs and opportunities in African countries; and increased engagement with African countries by UK businesses, including successful collaborations and lasting partnerships post-project.

The Seeding Award funded five activities to support rural farmers, including four innovation projects, that will contribute to improved yields, tackling plant disease, improving food safety, and resilience to climate-change. Seeding Funding will also address the current inequality in technology readiness, particularly in African agriculture. We will support the nascent agricultural technology community to develop prototypes of new technologies that could be applied to improved agriculture.

The innovation project activities were:
1) A feasibility study of barriers to uptake of a low cost soil and manure phosphorus field testing kit in Ghana
2) Genetic improvement of seed vigour in African rice for direct seeding
3) Investigating the potential to produce, and efficacy of utilising, recycled fertilizer in Ghana
4) Novel biostimulants to boost maize production

Building on previous experience and capitalizing on existing business and academic partnerships, we will organize a Venture Creation Mission (VCM) to Ghana. The VCM, running parallel to the funded projects above, will offer an opportunity to work directly with African partners to understand the barriers to adoption and uptake of potential innovative solutions, economic, financial, social, gender or environmental. Equipped with that knowledge the VCM Team will investigate and identify focused innovation challenges, some from our funded projects, across the local value chain and identify opportunities for further collaborative activities with UK science and businesses, that have the potential to expand across Africa. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.