The 17th CSC meeting of the EOA-I was successfully held at the Capital on the Park Hotel in Sandton City, South Africa from the 6 – 9th June 2022. The Sub Committee meeting was held on 6th and 7th June and the Main Committee held on the 8th June 2022. A field visit was organized to the African Marmalade Farm (Siphiwe’s Farm) in Gauteng, Johannesburg where CSC members experienced a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) farm assessment process, seed saving and other EOA practices.
The meetings were Chaired by Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate at the African Union Commission in the absence of its substantive Chair, Dr Simplice Nouala, Head of the Division of Agriculture and Food Security at the African Union Commission who was on another official mission.
In his opening remarks, Dr Bahiigwa conveyed warm greetings of Her Excellency Ambassador Josefa Sacko, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment, whom he reported is aware of the EOA-I’s unwavering commitment to advancing the Ecological Organic Agriculture agenda across Africa.
He noted that the CSC meeting was taking place at a very strategic year when African Union adopted a theme on building resilience for nutrition and food security in the African continent focusing on Agro-food systems, health, and social protection systems on the acceleration of human, social and economic capital development. The Director went on to say that, although there has been great progress made in EOA, a lot still needs to be done. In his statement, he cited the need to ensure that pending key objectives such as mainstreaming Ecological Organic Agriculture into National and Regional Frameworks is achieved.
He applauded the Technical Working Group (TWG) charged with the development of EOA Indicators for measuring progress in the ecological organic agriculture sector in Africa as part of the CAADP bi-annual review reporting mechanism for doing so successfully. He added that the EOA indicators will be reported for the first time in the next CAADP-Malabo Biennial Review cycle whose report will be presented to AU Heads of States and Governments in 2024. He however, applauded the achievement of having the AU Decision on Organic Agriculture annexed to the 3rd BR report as a key building block towards fully integrating EOA into the CAADP BR Process.
He informed the meeting that the MOU between AUC and BvAT has been cleared for signature for formalizing the relationship between the two entities.
The Secretariat reported to the CSC that the Farmer Managed Seed Systems (FMSS) Technical Working Group (TWG) of the CSC had formally presented the FMSS roadmap, work plan and budget to the 3rd Steering Group meeting of the African Seed and Biotechnology Partnership Platform (ASBPP) held in Kampala, Uganda from 23-25 May 2022. The proposal for the development of the FMSS cluster was endorsed by the ASBPP but provided various comments to ensure the cluster compliments the development of the seed sector.
The 17th CSC recommended that EOA partners should leverage on AU activities advancing the theme of the year (Strengthening Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent: Strengthening Agro-Food Systems, Health, and Social Protection Systems for the Acceleration of Human, Social and Economic Capital Development) by either participating in mainstream events or side events to raise the integrity and profile of the EOA-I.
The CSC noted that the review of the EOA-I Strategic Plan (SP) is approaching at the same time when targets of Malabo Declaration are coming to an end. It noted that, proper planning and preparation for the next decade is needed to undertake the review across all dimensions of governance, operations, and institutional support; from national to regional and continental levels considering lessons learnt, failures, gaps and opportunities. It was recommended that the findings of the ongoing SDC-led Phase II Project External Evaluation by FiBL would be valuable in providing insights for the SP Review and subsequent development the new EOAI strategic plan.
It was resolved that the EOA-I should position itself within the space of agroecology and the Africa Common Position on the UN Food Systems Summit (ACP UNFSS) outcomes and other global contests and or declarations like biodiversity and climate change. To do this, the CSC noted that the proposed EOA-I Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) concept note should be finalized and tabled for adoption by the next CSC in December 2022. The concept notes to clearly define purpose and objectives of the MSP, components and structure, coordination, and management of the platform to effectively coordinate the implementation of EOA on the continent.
On Thursday 9th June, the CSC travelled to the field and was hosted by Siphiwe, an organic farmer who owns the African Marmalade Farm approximately 40 minutes out of Sandton City where the visitors experienced a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) farm assessment process and seed saving. The team also witnessed some Integrated Pest Management (IPM), soil fertility and irrigation practices on the farm.
Side meeting with IFOAM Southern Africa Network and the South African Organic Sector Organization (SAOSO)
After the CSC meetings, the Secretariat held a meeting with IFOAM Southern Africa Network and the South African Organic Sector Organization (SAOSO). SAOSO is a public, non-profit organization that was established to represent the Organic Sector as an intermediary between government and the Sector, which is represented by the Organic Sector Strategy Implementation Committee (OSSIC) on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in South Africa.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss among other things, the existing EOA/ Agroecology networks, and the status of EOA implementation and the re-launch of the EOA-I Southern Africa Platform planned by the AUC and its EOA-I Continental Secretariat. The Secretariat also briefed the partners on the status of EOA implementation in other regions of Africa.
The 18th CSC meeting of the EOA-I will be held in Kigali, Rwanda in December back-to-back with the AfrONet led 5th Africa Organic Conference (5th AOC)
Compiled by:
Alex Mutungi (EOA-I Continental Secretariat Coordinator), David Amudavi (Executive Director-BvAT) and Venancia Wambua (EOA Project Manager)