Globally, there is an unprecedented increase in the use of agricultural inputs, and particularly inorganic fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation systems are driven by the increasing population and the pressure to intensify production. Such practices have resulted in negative impacts on soils and biodiversity, thereby affecting crop and animal genetic diversity and welfare, human nutrition and increased costs for public health, and communities’ vulnerability to external shocks. These effects are felt in contexts where natural resources are under increasing pressure as revealed by some studies[1] that the earth is fast approaching boundary limits on various natural phenomena including climate change, ocean acidification and global freshwater use. Moreover, inadequate support for improved post-harvest management, sustainable value chains, inappropriate technologies, and coordination failure among research and other value chain actors, including farmers, dampen prospects for achieving genuinely sustainable agricultural systems. Africa, and particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, has been under increasing focus to improve agriculture and food systems to make them more resilient and sustainable.

As captured in the Addis Ababa Declaration on Agroecology, Ecological Organic Agriculture and Food Sovereignty conference held in Addis in November 2016, degraded and infertile soils deficient in essential nutrients are increasing, undermining current and future capability of food production in Africa[2]. In spite of this emerging reality, major decision-making processes continue to discriminate against small-scale farmers and women. Often pitied against large-scale holders and foreign investors who receive preferential state support despite strong evidence that the former is more equitable and more efficient in the use of their resources per unit of land (Ekström and Ekbom, 2011)[3]. The Addis Ababa Declaration also notes that though farmers’ seed systems are the basis of diverse, healthy food and farmer resilience in the face of climate change, the intellectual property rights legislation continues to weaken these systems, undermining social justice and good governance. Consequently, many people in Africa are likely to continue to be food insecure and experience nutritional challenges ranging from growth stunting to obesity, precursors to chronic diseases and increased health costs.

In the various initiatives and institutional arrangements promoted in Africa, smallholder farmers are sidelined, particularly concerning basic infrastructures, consideration of their immense traditional and practical knowledge, practices and innovations. Against this background, over-reliance on non-renewable external inputs associated with greenhouse gas emissions, and the use of industrial production systems as a model for improving agricultural productivity in Africa is not the way to go.

Global frameworks and partnerships such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (1, 2, 3, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17), the African Agenda 2063, International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food” call for new institutional and organizational arrangements to transform agricultural and food supply systems towards ensuring food and livelihood security, in a stable environment, fully supported by appropriate and implementable government policies and strategies.

Need for Ecological based Agriculture

Ecological organic production systems can ensure and sustain local food security and sovereignty, ecosystem services for rural welfare and biodiversity conservation. It is acknowledged that small-scale farmers already produce 70% of the world’s food. And that following agroecological and organic principles and practices small African farmers can produce adequate food to feed the continent sustainably, provided they have secure access to land, water, seeds/breeds and other natural resources. 

Evidence by a United Nations (UN) report reveals that smallholder farmers can double food production within 3-10 years, in critical regions when ecological-based improved methods for farming are applied[4]. The ecological methods draw on agroecology, the science of applying ecological concepts and principles to the creative management of agricultural processes, such as nutrient cycles based on local self-sufficiency and adapted to local social conditions. Agroecology also draws on the accumulated agricultural knowledge, science and technology of farmers and researchers[5] to benefit from the shared physical and social environment to promote relationships based on the organic principles of health, ecology, fairness and care and ensure a quality life for all[6]. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognizes the importance of traditional knowledge in the conservation and sustainable use of [agricultural] biodiversity. Article 8j of the CBD mandates that countries “respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and promote their wider application with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices”. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) also recognizes the vital role of bio-cultural diversity as the fourth pillar in sustainable development.

Ecological agriculture fosters biodiversity that is resilient to the impacts of climate change (Ensor, 2009)[7]. It depends on and sustains ecosystem services as well as tapping into and enhancing the knowledge, practices and innovations of local communities leading to more reliable and increased food security and incomes. Biodiverse organic and local food systems contribute both to the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. Small, biodiverse, organic farms, especially in Third World countries, are fossil fuel free. Energy for farming operations comes from animal energy. Soil fertility is built by feeding soil organisms by recycling organic matter, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Biodiverse systems are also more resilient to droughts and floods because they have a higher water holding capacity and hence contribute to adaptation to climate change. A new study indicates that soils on organic farms store away “appreciably” larger amounts of carbons, and for more extended periods, than typical agricultural soils[8]. The challenge confronting nations then is to speed up, scale-out, and share relevant knowledge, practices, technologies and experiences and appropriate policies and strategies to put into practice ecological organic agriculture by educators and farmers. 

The aforementioned issues have prompted African governments to call for initiatives that will better equip professionals with relevant and functional knowledge, skills and desirable work ethics to steer the development of sustainable, resilient, and productive farming systems. The EOA-I in Africa, one such initiative, is a response to the African Union (AU) Council’s Decision on Organic Farming passed during the Eighteenth Ordinary Session, 24-28 January 2011, EX.CL/Dec.621 (XVIII). The initiative entails a holistic system that sustains the health of ecosystems and relies on functional cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of synthetic inputs which have adverse effects on total health (human, animal, plant and environmental). Agroecology, its foundation for realizing sustainable agriculture, embraces the entire food system, encompassing ecological, economic and social dimensions.  It promotes agricultural practices that are adapted to local environments and stimulate beneficial biological interactions between different plants and species to build long-term fertility and soil health.

The EOA Initiative aligns with various strategic documents that focus on increasing agricultural production and ensuring sustainable environmental resource management (SDGs, IAASTD, CAADP, UNFCCC, CBD, etc.). The design is to promote the conservation of biodiversity and ensure the sustainable use and equitable sharing of genetic resources.

The EOA Initiative is also in tandem with SDC’s Global Programme Food Security (GPFS) aimed to positively shape the transformation of the global food system by increasing the production and productivity of smallholders sustainably; reducing food losses; increasing stability and access to food; improving nutrition through a diverse diet; and improving the food security and nutrition of low-income food-deficit populations, particularly women and vulnerable groups.  The initiative embraces these transformations and all four dimensions of food security and nutrition (availability, stability, access and utilization of food) offering the sustainable agriculture and food system GPFS strives to support in Africa and globally.

[1] See planetary boundaries research studies from the Stockholm Resilience Centre: http://www.stockholmresilience.org/21/research/research-programmes/planetary-boundaries.html

[2] Addis Ababa Declaration on Agroecology, Ecological Organic Agriculture and Food Sovereignty: The Way Forward for Nutrition and Health in Africa November, 2016.

[3] George Ekström and Barbara Ekbom (2011). Pest Control in Agro-ecosystems: An Ecological Approach. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 30:74–94, 2011.

[4] Eco-Farming can double food production in 10 years, says UN report. News Release when Olivier de Shutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, presented his report “Agro-ecology and the Right to Food” http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/annual.htm in Geneva on 8 March 2011.

[5] Vandermeer, J. and Perfecto, I. (2012). Complex Traditions: Intersecting Theoretical Frameworks in Agroecological Research. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 37(1):120911083004002 · September 2012

[6] IFOAM (2006). IFOAM Dossier Organic Agriculture and Food Security. Available at:

https://www.ifoam.bio/sites/default/files/organic_agriculture_and_food_security_printcopy.pdf

[7] Ensor, J. (2009). Biodiverse agriculture for a changing climate. Practical Action, UK.

[8] https://www.environmentalleader.com/2017/09/organic-agriculture-builds-healthy-soil-stores-carbon-study-says/