JR Biotek Foundation Launches AGRIIP: A 10-Year Mission to Reimagine Africa’s Food Future
JR Biotek Foundation, 2 October 2025
JR Biotek Foundation has launched the Agri-Innovation & Impact Platform (AGRIIP), an ambitious 10-year initiative bringing together African scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs and institutions to develop science-backed solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing African agriculture and food systems.
Built on more than a decade of JR Biotek Foundation’s work strengthening scientific capacity across Africa, AGRIIP represents an important evolution in our mission: moving beyond training scientists alone to creating an ecosystem in which scientific research, farmer knowledge, indigenous crops, entrepreneurship and strong local partnerships work together to generate lasting impact.
At the centre of AGRIIP is a simple principle: the people closest to agricultural challenges should help define the problems, shape the research questions and co-create the solutions.
“Africa’s food future cannot be built by science operating separately from the people it is intended to serve. AGRIIP brings scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs and institutions together to identify challenges from the ground up and build solutions around African crops, communities and priorities.” — Dr Carol Ibe, Founder & Executive Director, JR Biotek Foundation
An ambitious 10-year vision
Through AGRIIP, JR Biotek Foundation is working towards four interconnected long-term goals:
- Empower 10,000 scientists to develop research and innovations that respond to real-world agricultural challenges.
- Reach and support 10 million farmers through research, knowledge, innovation and enterprise.
- Elevate at least 30 indigenous and undervalued African crops, strengthening their resilience, productivity, utilisation and value.
- Catalyse 1,000 sustainable ventures that translate agricultural research and innovation into economic and social impact.
Together, these goals reflect a broader ambition: to help build a climate-resilient, food-secure Africa in which scientific innovation strengthens livelihoods while valuing the crops, knowledge and communities that have sustained African food systems for generations.
Starting with farmers
AGRIIP is designed from the ground up. Rather than beginning with a predetermined technology and searching for somewhere to apply it, our teams work with farmers and local institutions to understand the challenges communities are already experiencing, from changing rainfall patterns and declining crop performance to pests and diseases, soil health, post-harvest losses, access to markets and the viability of indigenous crops.
These insights can then inform the questions scientists investigate and the solutions that researchers, farmers and entrepreneurs develop together.
This farmer–scientist partnership is central to AGRIIP because agricultural innovation is more likely to be relevant and sustainable when it reflects farmers’ realities, constraints, indigenous knowledge and environmental conditions.
Re-centering Africa’s indigenous crops
Africa is home to an extraordinary diversity of crops that have supported communities, cultures and livelihoods for generations. Yet many remain undervalued in research, investment, markets and modern food systems, despite their potential contribution to nutrition, climate resilience and rural economies.
AGRIIP seeks to change this.
By connecting scientific research with farmer knowledge, product development and entrepreneurship, the initiative aims to generate new knowledge and opportunities around indigenous and locally important crops, from improving production and resilience to developing new foods, markets and enterprises.
This is not simply about preserving crops from the past. It is about recognising their potential to contribute to Africa’s future.
From research to real-world impact
One of AGRIIP’s central ambitions is to help close the gap between scientific discovery and practical impact.
Through the AGRIIP Research & Entrepreneurship Fellowship, multidisciplinary teams of scientists will work alongside farmers, mentors, entrepreneurs and institutional partners to investigate locally identified challenges and translate promising ideas into practical solutions.
Fellows will receive scientific, innovation and entrepreneurship support, helping them move beyond research outputs alone towards innovations, products, services and ventures that can create value for farming communities.
Because impact requires more than one discipline or institution, AGRIIP connects several parts of the innovation ecosystem: scientific research, farmer engagement, entrepreneurship, institutional partnerships, communication, cultural storytelling and resource mobilisation.
Building through African institutions
AGRIIP is beginning with implementation and institutional partnerships in Nigeria, working through universities, research institutes and locally based teams. This approach is intentional.
Rather than creating parallel structures, AGRIIP seeks to strengthen existing African scientific and agricultural ecosystems, building long-term relationships between researchers, institutions and farming communities.
Country teams will facilitate farmer engagement, support research and innovation activities, document field insights and help ensure that solutions are adapted to local contexts.
The lessons generated during these initial phases will help refine the model before expansion into additional countries.
Science, culture and the stories behind our food
AGRIIP also recognises that agriculture is about more than crops and technologies. Food carries history, identity, memory, knowledge and culture.
Through storytelling, exhibitions, creative collaborations and convenings, AGRIIP will amplify the experiences of farmers, scientists and communities while bringing greater visibility to Africa’s agricultural heritage.
These stories matter because the future of African agriculture should not be defined only by what produces the highest yield. It should also consider what communities value, what knowledge is at risk of disappearing, whose voices shape research priorities and what kinds of food systems future generations inherit.
A platform for collective action
The scale of AGRIIP’s ambition means it cannot be delivered by JR Biotek Foundation alone.
We are building a platform through which farmers, scientists, universities, research institutions, governments, funders, businesses, investors, artists, diaspora communities and development organisations can contribute their expertise and resources towards a shared mission.
For JR Biotek Foundation, AGRIIP also represents the next chapter of a journey that began in 2015 with a commitment to expand opportunities for African scientists.
That commitment remains at the heart of our work. But our ambition has grown.
We want scientists to have not only the skills to conduct excellent research, but also the relationships, resources and platforms needed to ensure that their science reaches the people and places where it can make a difference.
“For more than a decade, we have seen what becomes possible when talented African scientists are given opportunities, mentorship and trusted partnerships. AGRIIP asks the next question: what happens when we connect that scientific talent directly with farmers, indigenous knowledge and entrepreneurship, and build an ecosystem around them that is designed for impact?” — Dr Carol Ibe
AGRIIP is our answer to that question, and an invitation to others to help build it with us.
Join us as we reimagine Africa’s food future through science, indigenous crops, innovation and partnership.
