1st All-Africa Post Harvest Congress and Exhibition

Dear Delegate,

We have the honor of inviting you to the 1stAll-Africa Post Harvest Congress and Exhibition which is scheduled to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 28th to 31st March, 2017 at Safari Park Hotel. The theme of the Congress is “Reducing Food Losses and Waste: Sustainable Solutions for Africa”.

The congress is organized by a consortium of Universities; Research and Development Organizations; Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in conjunction with the World Food and Preservation Center and hosted by the University of Nairobi. It will bring together diverse stakeholders in the food supply chain including policy makers, local and international agribusiness firms, potential investors, government officials, financial institutions, farmers, traders, processors, academic institutions, researchers, civil society organizations and thought leaders to discuss and develop concrete plans for postharvest food loss and waste reduction in the African context. The Congress aims at facilitating the exchange of experience and advancement of collective knowledge among the stakeholders in the food supply chain and specifically in the post-harvest space to develop action plans that will move Africa’s postharvest food loss and waste management agenda forward. The congress also features a competition involving innovators of new postharvest technologies where the top 15 innovations and technologies in various value chains (as selected by a panel of experts) will be show-cased during a special session of the congress.

The main strategic partner in this initiative is the Rockefeller Foundation. The initiative is also supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), African Union Commission, Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), East African Grain Council (EAGC), East Africa Trade and Investment Hub (USAID), Postharvest Education Foundation, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Horticulture Innovation Lab (USAID), Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) among others.

The congress theme has been unpacked into five sub-thematic areas in order to achieve sector-specific outputs and recommendations of the congress.

The subthemes include: 1) Perishable food crop commodities including fruits, vegetables, roots & tubers, edible fungi 2) Perishable livestock and fishery food products including milk, meat, eggs, fish 3) Non-perishable food commodities including grains (cereals and pulses) and processed foods 4) Capacity development including training, education, research and extension/outreach programs 5) Gender, Policy and Governance issues affecting postharvest management. Under these subthemes, various aspects of postharvest loss management including postharvest loss assessment methods and data, technologies, practices, strategies, investment, policies, cases studies, success stories among other topics will be discussed.

As a major stakeholder in agriculture and the food sector in general, the 1st All-Africa Post Harvest Congress and Exhibition offers various platforms and opportunities to participate and partner with us. Should you wish to register for this important Congress, click on the registration tab on our website www.africa-postharvestconference.uonbi.ac.ke. Should you have difficulties registering online from the website, please fill out the attached form and return via email to register.conference@uonbi.ac.ke with a copy to postharvest.conference@gmail.com and postharvest.conference@uonbi.ac.ke. If you have not yet submitted your abstract, please note that there is a short extension to 15th December,

2016 and no abstracts will be received thereafter.

We look forward to welcoming you during the upcoming Congress and the opportunity to exchange ideas and share experiences on the important topic of postharvest loss management and Africa’s Agriculture in general.