Agriculture food systems

Instream Consulting Group supports governments, development partners, research institutions and private-sector organisations to strengthen agricultural, seed and food systems.

We combine research, policy analysis, market intelligence, monitoring and evaluation, stakeholder engagement and implementation support to address the connections between agricultural production, seed access, food safety, trade, nutrition and climate resilience.

Our Services

Food Systems and Value Chain Development

We assess how food moves from production to consumption and identify the barriers affecting productivity, market access, food security and resilience.

Our support includes:

• Food-system and value-chain diagnostics
• Market systems development and inclusive business models
• Crop, livestock and high-value export value-chain assessments
• Food security and nutrition-sensitive agriculture programmes
• Post-harvest loss assessments
• Urban and peri-urban food-system planning
• Climate-resilient agriculture and food-system strategies

Seed Systems Development

We help clients strengthen formal and farmer-led seed systems so that suitable, high-quality varieties reach farmers and respond to market, nutrition and climate priorities.

Our work includes:

• Formal and informal seed-system assessments
• Seed-sector strategies and transformation plans
• Early Generation Seed system strengthening
• Farmer-led seed systems and Quality Declared Seed advisory
• Seed access, availability and distribution studies
• Climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive seed strategies
• Integration of seed-system priorities into wider food-system programmes

Regulatory and Trade Compliance Advisory

We help organisations understand and respond to agricultural, seed, food-safety and trade requirements.

Our support includes:

• Regulatory and institutional diagnostics
• Seed-law and food-safety policy reviews
• Sanitary and phytosanitary compliance assessments
• Export-readiness and market-access reviews
• Agricultural trade and cross-border compliance analysis
• Regional regulatory harmonisation across the EAC, COMESA and AfCFTA
• Traceability, inspection and compliance-system design

Where regulatory approval, certification or legal interpretation is required, we work with the relevant authorities and qualified professional partners.

Agricultural Intellectual Property and Innovation Systems

We support institutions and businesses in developing practical frameworks for protecting and commercialising agricultural innovations while respecting farmers’ rights, traditional knowledge and applicable access-and-benefit-sharing requirements.

Our services include:

• Plant Breeders’ Rights policy and institutional advisory
• PBR and UPOV implementation support
• Agricultural innovation and intellectual property strategies
• Licensing, royalty and technology-transfer frameworks
• Protection strategies for traditional knowledge and landraces
• Geographical indications and origin-based product positioning
• Innovation-system and research-commercialisation assessments

Formal legal instruments and filings are completed with qualified legal practitioners where required.

Quality Management and Accreditation Readiness

We help laboratories, regulators, producers and value-chain actors strengthen the systems needed to meet domestic and international quality requirements.

Our support includes:

• ISO/IEC 17025 quality-management system development
• Laboratory and accreditation-readiness assessments
• Food-safety testing strategies and laboratory coordination
• Seed quality-assurance and certification-readiness support
• Traceability and farm-to-market compliance systems
• Standard operating procedures and internal quality audits
• Staff training and institutional capacity development

Testing and accreditation services are undertaken through accredited laboratories and recognised accreditation bodies.

Policy, Strategy and Institutional Design

We assist public and development institutions to develop policies and institutional arrangements that connect agriculture, seed, food safety, nutrition, trade and climate priorities.

Our services include:

• National and subnational food-system strategies
• Seed, food-security and nutrition policy integration
• Regulatory impact assessments
• Institutional and organisational design
• Public-private partnership models
• Stakeholder consultation and policy-dialogue processes
• Implementation plans, results frameworks and performance indicators

How We Work

Our assignments normally follow four stages:

Diagnose: Research, system mapping, consultations and regulatory analysis.

Design: Development of strategies, policies, programmes, institutional models and implementation plans.

Support implementation: Technical assistance, training, stakeholder coordination and development of practical tools.

Measure results: Monitoring, evaluation, learning and performance reporting.

The Result

Practical agricultural and food-system solutions that improve farmer access, market performance, regulatory compliance, food safety, resilience and institutional effectiveness.