The goal of Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) is to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Kenya and other African countries through supporting dissemination of information and knowledge on appropriate technologies to increase agricultural production and improve the human, animal, plant, and environmental health. BvAT will achieve this goal through engagement within the continuum of research, policy and practice. BvAT partners with research institutions to generate information that is relevant, accurate and validated. For disseminated information to be useful and taken up by farmers, BvAT through its Farmer Communication Programme downscales the scientific information and disseminate through its pillar communication channels – The Organic Farmer (TOF) Magazine, The Organic Farmer (TOF) Radio, Outreach extension services, the Infonet and The Mkulima Mbunifu Magazine. Through the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative, BvAT has engaged widely with states technocrats and key sector contributors in Kenya and the continent, lobbying and influencing policies that promote agroecology and organic agriculture as the sure option for sustainable agriculture. BvAT also leads coordination of the Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture (KCOA) Project in Eastern Africa with co-hosting arrangements with Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Uganda.  This is an initiative aims to support a network of regional knowledge hubs for organic farming in Africa.

Some of the Agroecology promoted practices  promoted by BvAT are soil fertility management with emphasis on composting; soil and water conservation technologies, agroforestry and organic pest and disease control. BvAT also facilitates linkages with other organisations that provide support along the value chains, such as input suppliers, markets, processors, traders and consumers.

A number of challenges affect scale up of ecological agriculture practices in Africa. Key among them is the absence of an enabling policy frameworks that support sustainable, resilient and productive farming systems. Investment in ecological organic agriculture is low. Institutional capacity amongst different actors also remains inadequate, coupled with absence of sufficient coordination and networking amongst stakeholders. Many gaps exist in research on ecological organic agriculture, leading to poor linkages with industries.  Biovision Africa Trust therefore works with governments and other stakeholders in addressing the mentioned challenges.

Project 1: Farmer Communication Programme – To enhance economic, social and environmental livelihoods of smallholder farmers in East Africa through increased adoption of ecologically sustainable agriculture (ESA) by 2022.

Project 2: Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) – To Improve quality of life for farm Households (HH) resulting from mainstreaming EOA technologies and practices into agriculture systems.

Project 3: Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture – to introduce knowledge hubs successfully as an innovative strategy for promoting organic agriculture with actors in the regions of West, East, and Southern Africa.