In his opening remarks, Dr. David Amudavi, the Executive Director of Biovision Africa Trust, emphasized the significance of identifying the role of Agroecology in contributing to food security and nutrition in the country. He acknowledged that food security has been a global concern and stressed that the workshop aimed to explore ways to ensure food security for communities.
- Deepen understanding of agroecology and its pathways to contributing to nutrition and food security.
- Discuss how to enhance farmer adoption of agroecology and pathways to scale.
- Develop a causal loop diagram to demonstrate the important feedback loops responsible for observed performance in agroecology-based systems.
- Derive data types on agroecology and its contribution to nutrition and food security.
Key areas that formed the discussions and data collection exercise were:
- Understanding agroecology and its contribution to food nutrition and security
- Resilience of agroecology versus external input (chemical) agriculture.
- Identify policies, drivers, and constraints of farmer adoption of agroecology.
- Generating a “mental model” of farmers becoming adopters of agroecology.
- Agroecology vs agrochemical promotional strategies.
In conclusion, agroecology stands as a promising and sustainable approach to address food security, nutrition, and environmental challenges. By fostering awareness, providing technical support, and advocating for supportive policies, the adoption of agroecology can be scaled up to create resilient, nutritious, and sustainable food systems for present and future generations. Similar workshops to collect views of stakeholders from eastern Africa countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia will be undertaken by end of August.
Compiled by: Mercy Zakayo
