Eugenia Saini is currently FONTAGRO’s Executive Secretary. FONTAGRO is the Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology. She leads the investment fund and a portfolio of 70 international operations related to science, technology, and innovation for the Latin America and the Caribbean region. She is from Argentina and is an agronomist by training. She holds a doctorate in agricultural sciences, specializing in total factor productivity analysis. One of her seminal works in this field was the estimation of 120 years of TFP for the agricultural sector in Argentina. She is also a National Public Accountant and holds an MS in Food and Agribusiness and an MS in Applied Economics, both from Universidad de Buenos Aires. She has worked in the private and public sectors, both nationally and internationally, especially in multilateral banks. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship at Cornell University and, more recently, with the Abshire-Inamori Leadership Academy (AILA) Scholarship at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
SUMMARY: Across sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural productivity growth remains constrained by systemic gender inequality and poor nutrition – factors that, when overlooked, deepen existing disparities and further limit growth. Since 2018, Tanager’s IGNITE initiative has supported over 35 African agriculture institutions to address these barriers by integrating gender and nutrition considerations across their policies, programs and operations. Now in its second phase, IGNITE+ is deepening systems impact by strengthening local capacity and shifting service delivery ownership directly to African actors. The integrated system aligns gender and nutrition goals within institutional strategies to design more inclusive, effective interventions that improve adoption and drive productivity growth. By positioning local institutions to drive demand for and delivery of technical assistance services as scale, IGNITE+ is demonstrating how investing in integrated approaches leads to better outcomes and fosters more productive, resilient, and equitable agricultural systems.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural productivity growth remains constrained by systemic gender inequality and poor nutrition, creating significant productivity plateaus. Women, who represent two-thirds of agricultural labor, continually face limited access to productive resources, technology, and vital agronomic information. Concurrently, poor nutritional practices weaken the human capital essential for sustained productivity, innovation, and economic resilience.
Research underscores the productivity potential unlocked by addressing these barriers. Studies indicate that closing gender gaps could increase yields by 20–30%, significantly raising overall agricultural output and reducing global hunger. Additionally, gender-sensitive interventions have proven particularly effective, enhancing the adoption of additional improved agricultural practices and driving productivity gains at the farm level.
Since 2018, Tanager’s IGNITE initiative has partnered with 35 African agricultural institutions (AAIs) who span interventions in more than 18 countries, systematically integrating gender and nutrition into their core operations. Institutions have adopted dedicated gender and nutrition experts, budgets, policies, and programmatic strategies, initiating substantial institutional transformation. IGNITE’s gender-sensitive extension services, including women-specific training programs, have demonstrably increased women farmers’ access to critical agricultural knowledge and adoption of productivity-enhancing practices.
Building on these successes, IGNITE+ deepens system integration by fostering robust networks of local service providers (LSPs) to ensure sustained institutional support. Currently, IGNITE+ collaborates with AAIs across five countries, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, and newly added Kenya, ranging from governmental agencies, NGOs, and agribusinesses to farmer organizations.
IGNITE+ employs a strategic localization approach, empowering local institutions and service providers to independently deliver high-quality gender and nutrition technical assistance. By equipping local actors with monitoring and evaluation tools designed to quantify impacts at the farmer level, IGNITE+ ensures measurable accountability and continual improvement in productivity.
This integrated, systems-based approach is vital for addressing productivity stagnation. By embedding gender and nutrition at the heart of agricultural systems, IGNITE+ fosters equitable growth, sustainably breaks productivity plateaus, and positions sub-Saharan Africa on a resilient path toward continuous agricultural advancement.
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