Innovation in food and agriculture offers a pathway to more nutritious, climate-smart, resilient and equitable food systems. These innovations, however, must overcome multiple hurdles to achieve scale and reach their full potential.

The CGIAR Scaling Week 2024 was designed to be more than just a conference. Scaling experts, scientists, practitioners, funders and innovators from across the CGIAR and beyond came together in Nairobi for an interactive and lively learning and networking experience designed to advance the conversation around scaling innovations in the agrifood sector.

HarvestPlus Solutions (HPS) in collaboration with HarvestPlus, and the CGIAR Portfolio Performance Unit (PPU), was honoured to host a conversation around Scaling Agricultural Innovations for Transformative Impact: The Role of Private Sector and Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships.

Since 2003, HarvestPlus, in close collaboration with crop breeding programs of CGIAR centres and National Agricultural Research Systems, has facilitated the release of more than 443 conventionally bred, high-yielding, climate-smart and micronutrient enriched varieties, in more than 40 countries, reaching over 330 million people.

A discussion facilitated by Scaling Specialist Dr. Katharina Diehl presented an overview of  the HarvestPlus approach to scaling which has been driven by (1) high quality, market competitive,  biofortified planting materials; (2) a clear strategy to scale and mainstream, and (3) the development and execution of an effective delivery model. HPS, as a dedicated organization to implement future scaling activities, will increase the number of new multi-sectoral partnerships along and across agricultural value chains.

A panel of guest speakers shared specific examples of how the HarvestPlus scaling strategy has been applied in different contexts.

• Iron pearl millet and vitamin A maize in Nigeria: Rewa Misra, Head of National Policy and Innovative Finance at HarvestPlus outlined how policy support for the rapid multiplication of early generation seed, combined with downstream demand creation activities for both seed (agrodealers and farmers) and grain (aggregators, food processors and consumers), and the strategic de-risking of private sector investment has helped scale these crops to reach tens of millions of Nigerians.

• Zinc wheat and iron pearl millet in India: Ravinder Grover, Global Business Manager, HPS described how both commercial and institutional pathways have been deployed to scale these two crops. Efforts to scale zinc-enriched wheat have taken advantage of growing demand for wheat in many of India’s farming regions whilst also addressing the urgent need for climate resilience and increased productivity. In parallel, the integration of biofortified crops into the Indian school feeding program provides an example of an institutional delivery model currently receiving high traction in many African and Asian countries.

• Iron beans in Kenya: HPS and the PPU recently co-hosted a workshop in Nairobi to develop a scaling strategy for iron beans in Kenya, with a target of achieving 25 percent coverage by 2030. Iron beans are an example of a biofortified crop variety with market-relevant characteristics, such as shorter maturing time (relevant for farmers) and shorter cooking time (relevant to consumers). James Muturi, CEO of Delish & Nutri Ltd., an early adopter of iron beans in Kenya explained how his company prioritizes relationship building with farmer cooperatives and developing effective aggregation models that bridge the gap between production and processing. Penina Muoki, HarvestPlus Country Manager, Kenya and Tanzania highlighted the potential of bundling iron beans with biocontrol measures, access to finance, digital sources of information and the provision of training.  

A plenary discussion, facilitated by Edwin Kangethe of the CGIAR PPU, following these presentations highlighted some key observations and recommendations for future scaling activities:

• Stimulating Enabling Conditions: Policy and regulations can be drivers of scale to the point of organic growth by facilitating rapid, early-stage growth. In this case of biofortification, targeting institutional models such as school feeding programs, making strategic investments in the seed sector, and the improvement of distribution infrastructure are examples of catalytic actions that were positively influenced by a supportive policy environment.
• Early Involvement of private sector: The private sector should be included in the formulation of research targeting the development of social and technological innovations. While this poses some challenges, the long-term success of research can benefit from the early involvement of commercial market actors and the differing insights, approaches, and incentives that this engagement offers.
• Bundling innovations: Innovations – whether social or technological – do not exist in isolation. Bundling of complementary innovations and approaches demand different approaches to planning and careful coordination but present opportunities to reach wider audiences and leverage the investments of others.