On February 1st, 2023, The Agroecology Fund brought together over 100 of its grantee partners, advisors, donors and staff, in a virtual celebration of the Fund’s 10-Year Anniversary. This event marked a decade of moving money to grassroots movements that lead the transformation towards healthy and sustainable food systems.

In a solemn opening moment, participants remembered and celebrated the life of Chris Honahnie, a young Indigenous leader who was part of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), one of the Fund’s long-term partners. Chris had served on the Agroecology Fund’s Executive Committee, a key component of the Fund’s inclusive governance model. Chris’s colleague, Janene Yazzie, spoke to the inspiration, hope, wisdom and leadership that Chris gave to the movement.

Seed sovereignty is core to the Agroecology Fund’s work. In remembrance of Chris – who had devoted himself to recirculating Indigenous seeds – participants from Mexico to Sri Lanka to Côte d’Ivoire engaged in a virtual seed exchange, lifting corn cobs and gourds of bean seeds to their cameras. It was a show of solidarity and commitment to moving Chris’s dream forward.

During the gathering, grantee partners spoke of the Fund’s critical and consistent support of grassroots work, especially in times of adversity.

“During Covid times, we saw that the Agroecology Fund is truly on the side of vulnerable people when they need you. I remember one [authority] of [a] district in Mali saying: ‘It is in hard times that you know your true friends.’ When [Covid-19] broke, many organizations left communal areas in Mali – this was the time when [the] Agroecology Fund allowed us to go and support people.”

– Tsuamba Bourgou (Grantee)

Meanwhile, the Agroecology Fund’s founders emphasized the leadership of grantee partners which lies at the core of the organization’s work. 

“Agroecology as a way of life needs deep and stable roots to flourish, and I really appreciate that the Agroecology Fund now holds front and center the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and the advancement of the right to land and territories.”

– Sarah Hobson (Founder)

Since its inception, the Agroecology Fund has striven to be inclusive, with a deep embrace of adaptive learning – a quality that makes agroecology a resilient food system. Agroecology Fund Co-Directors, Angela Cordeiro and Daniel Moss, expressed pride in the organization’s evolution over the years – in its thinking, especially, but also in its funding, in its capacity, and in its governance structure.

During the event, the Agroecology Fund highlighted key achievements throughout the years. These include the Fund’s first Strategic Plan, developed in early 2017; the 2016 Learning Exchange in Uganda; the 2020 Learning Exchange in India; the Covid-19 Emergency Response Grants (during which 59 grants were disbursed across 45 countries); and the 2021 launch of the Agroecology Fund for the Peninsula of Yucatán (FAPY). This is the first of many regional Agroecology Funds. Most striking in the presentation was a graph of the sharp growth in donors (from four to over 40), and a significant spike in grants to agroecology movements (which by the end of 2022 totaled over $15 million).

New initiatives were briefly described – online learning and ‘Conversation Circles’; the Grassroots Evidence for Agroecology initiative; and contributions to the global discussions which culminated in the 13 principles of agroecology. Executive Committee Co-Chairs expressed gratitude for the active involvement of grantees, advisors and donors in crafting its new 2022-2026 strategy, which charts a clear path forward to strategically support community-led food system transformation.

This virtual celebration was a reflection of the diverse Agroecology Fund community: grantee-driven, far-reaching, visionary and ambitious; an antidote to these troubling times.

The gathering closed with candles on a cupcake and rousing renditions of ‘Happy Birthday’ in multiple languages. Enthusiasm was palpable for the Agroecology Fund to continue to accompany a growing agroecology movement around the globe.

By Catherine Dodaro

At dawn on November 13th, 2022, I left my home in Lima to head to La Havana, Cuba, where Agroecology Fund donors, advisors and staff were to take part in the 8th International Encounter on Agroecology, Food Sovereignty, Nutritional Education and Cooperative Movements. This encounter is held biennially, hosted by Cuba’s National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP). Upon arrival in La Havana, the Agroecology Fund delegation headed south, to the Niceto Pérez Farmer Training School in Güira de Melena, where we would be hosted over the next week. 

The encounter kicked off on the morning of November 14th with a famous Cuban Décima*, recited by two ANAP farmers. This poem, filled with the revolutionary energy of the Cuban agroecological movement, set the tone for the days to come.

*The Décima is a popular form of improvised poetic expression, which has been used historically by peasant communities across Latin America as a means to express and spread ideological struggles. 

We then heard from several influential actors in the Cuban agricultural sector, including Idael Pérez Brito (Minister of Agriculture), Adilén Roque Jaime (researcher and member of ANAP) and Armando Hernandez Romero (member of ANAP’s Directive Board). These actors highlighted the key roles of ANAP and of the farmer-to-farmer movement in building a just food system in Cuba based on the dignity of all people – farmers and consumers alike. This movement is working to promote food sovereignty despite the challenges of an unfavorable and unstable political context.

We witnessed firsthand the achievements of this historic fight led by Cuban peasants when we took part in three full days of site visits across three provinces: La Havana, Mayabeque, and Artemisa.

In the province of La Havana, where peasants work to overcome the difficulties of farming on very small plots of land, we learned about the advantages of a cooperative model which allows small farmers to collectively process and commercialize their harvests. The Cuban government purchases a portion of the harvest as part of its public procurement program and the remainder can be sold on the open market, including to hotels and restaurants.

Next, we visited Mayabeque, a province known for pioneering innovative agrarian technology. We visited an investigation center affiliated with a local university, carrying out  research to improve technical aspects of agroecological production. The center’s researchers highlighted the importance of collaboration with farmers (those who ultimately should decide which technologies are best suited to their needs and to the realities of Cuban agriculture). This participative approach to research is rooted in the values of the farmer-to-farmer movement.

On the final day of field visits, we were warmly received at three farms in the Artemisa province. Here, farmers amazed us with their highly diversified farming systems which integrate many species of animals, trees, and vegetables. During our visit to ‘La Herminita’ farm – part of a cooperative that brings together more than 69 farming families – we learned more about the centrality of solidarity and cooperation among farmers. By being part of ANAP, farmers work collectively towards a common goal – to provide safe and healthy food to the Cuban people while ensuring the protection of their environment, the conservation of native and local varieties, and the dignity of Cuban farmers. ANAP has grown alongside a land reform program which lies at the heart of the Cuban revolution. 60 years later, Cuba, like so many countries, experiences high rates of rural to urban migration. To counteract this, ANAP provides support services to the country’s small producers and the land reform program remains open for families who seek land to cultivate.

My experience in Cuban lands, though short, convinced me that alternatives to industrial farming methods are possible: models that are based on cooperation and solidarity, rather than on competition and profit; models that are sustained in agroecology as a way not only to provide safe foods, but also to restore justice and equity in our food systems. In the face of deep ecological, economical, and political challenges, Cuba’s National Association of Small Farmers has built a system which is favorable to both farmers and consumers – giving us further evidence that agroecology and food sovereignty are truly viable.

Food security is one of a human being’s most basic needs, and the threat of food insecurity causes primal anxiety. Food insecurity is among the main causes of climate-related migration and, in turn, one of the main causes of the growing insecurity of nations.

With these vulnerabilities so raw, it’s no wonder people worldwide are questioning their food supply or that worldwide concern is surging about an industrial food system that feeds climate change and causes political instability – not to mention a system that weakens our immune systems and causes serious nutrition-related health conditions and diseases.

It should also be no surprise that there is rapidly scaling curiosity about alternative food systems that don’t ride roughshod over human rights; about systems that keep people and the planet safe and healthy. And yet it can be confusing to understand the similarities and differences between these alternative systems. Let’s take a look at two approaches: Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture.

Agroecology

Agroecology builds on the ancestral practices, insights, and contributions of Indigenous food systems and studies whole agroecosystems – not only their biology and ecology but social, cultural, economic, and political dimensions as well.

Although agroecology can be traced back to agronomists and zoologists starting in the 1920s, it emerged strongly in Latin America in the 1970s, among both inter-disciplinary academics and NGOs concerned with the ecological and social impacts of industrialized agriculture.

UC Berkeley agroecologist, Miguel Altieri, wrote, 

“NGOs felt the urgent need to combat rural poverty and to conserve and regenerate the deteriorated resource base of small farms, and saw in agroecology a new approach to agricultural research and resource management strategies that lent itself to a more participatory approach for technology development and dissemination.”

The “Green Revolution,” characterized by high-input agriculture – commercial seeds, fertilizers, and fossil fuel-based pesticides deployed on monoculture plantations –  has led to massive small farm loss, farmer indebtedness, and shrinking biodiversity. Farmers have joined together to protect their rights, livelihoods, and natural resource base, leading many agroecologists to align themselves with social movements like the La Via Campesina that have adopted agroecology as their vision of a fair and sustainable food system.

Stephen Gliessman defines agroecology as “a way of redesigning food systems, from the farm to the table, with a goal of achieving ecological, economic, and social sustainability.” Achieving agroecology is necessarily developmental.

Gleissman defines five transitional steps of increasing complexity (condensed here):

1. Among conventional farmers, increase the efficiency of industrial practices in order to reduce the use and consumption of costly, scarce, or environmentally damaging inputs.
2. Replace these inputs and practices with those that are more renewable, based on natural products, and more environmentally sound (as in organic farming and biodynamic agriculture).
3. Redesign the agroecosystem so that it functions on the basis of a new set of ecological processes.
4. Re-establish a more direct connection between those who grow our food and those who consume it.
5. Based on the foundation created by these, “build a new global food system based on equity, participation, democracy, and justice; one that is not only sustainable but helps restore and protect earth’s life support systems upon which we all depend.”

Sometimes derided by Green Revolution advocates and the economic interests behind it as anti-modern, agroecologists see the 20th-century agricultural technologies to enhance crop yield at the cost of eroded land and polluted water as a mistaken path. But in no way is agroecology anti-technology.

Peer-reviewed research by Jules Pretty and others demonstrates that innovative agroecological technologies produce competitive yields and incomes without negative externalities. Moreover, the philosophy of learning that underlies agroecology turns the “technology transfer” of Western patented products on its head. Dozens of agroecology schools around the world recognize farmers as scientists, encouraging them to conduct field experiments to improve soil structure and seeds.

In an era of increasing globalization, agroecology advocates also rally behind food sovereignty or local control of food policy and food systems. In the 21st century, agroecologists argue that farmers and consumers need a modern way to farm productively while ensuring that farmers can steward rather than degrade landscapes, resulting in public benefits such as clean water and high biodiversity.

Many agroecological farmers participate in a “participatory guarantee system” for transparency with consumers about the integrity of the food they produce. Agroecological solutions have been recognized by many governments, the International Panel on Climate Change, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN as helping to achieve climate resilience and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Regenerative Agriculture

Although no fixed definitions exist, regenerative agriculture is defined by many in ways that closely resemble agroecology. Regenerative agriculture today describes farming, ranching, and pastoral practices that stabilize our planet’s climate and carbon cycles by rehabilitating organic matter and microbial activity in the soil, thereby increasing carbon storage, retaining moisture, and safeguarding biodiversity and living systems.

Many of its practitioners speak about its foundation in Indigenous knowledge and ancient practices while embracing new technology that serves to create food and fiber systems that are humane, just and accessible to all; that support biocultural diversity and smallholder farms.

Terra Genesis International suggests that regenerative agriculture ‘draws from decades of scientific and applied research by the global communities of organic farming, agroecology, Holistic Management, and agroforestry.” Permaculture ought to be included in that list of influential approaches as well.

It was in the early 1980s that the term ‘regenerative agriculture’ began to be used by the Rodale Institute and gained public visibility in Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, published in 2006.

In 2014, Rodale published a paper titled “Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change,” which argued that we could sequester carbon emissions with a switch to common and inexpensive organic management practices, which the paper termed regenerative organic agriculture.

With the impacts of global climate change becoming increasingly evident, regenerative agriculture began to emerge as a potentially important solution because of its promise to draw carbon out of the air and return it to the soil. While building healthy soil is also central to agroecology, organic agriculture, and permaculture, it is the defining feature of regenerative agriculture.

Many early regenerative agriculture practitioners – but certainly not all – focused on its application in livestock rearing.  Nearly 70% of the world’s agricultural lands are used for grazing, and given limited tillage, thoughtfully managed pastures can build up soil carbon quickly.

At the same time, writes scientist Doug Gurian-Sherman, 

“Regenerative agriculture includes far more than just livestock. It’s a different ethos, one that seeks to respect and mimic natural cycles and processes.”

With numerous exceptions, regenerative agriculture advocates do not tend to focus on the social and political dimensions of the food system as much as the agroecology movement does, perhaps leading to its growing acceptance among policymakers, scientists, and corporations. Regenerative Agriculture is most commonly promoted in the US and Europe, while agroecology has been taken up by movements across the Global South.

Building on the success of the organic label, work is now underway to create a consumer-facing regenerative organic certification. To ensure integrity in a lucrative organic market whose regulations are eroding under corporate pressure, two consumer-facing certifications have been created in the US: Regenerative Organic Certification and Real Organic Project certification.

Conclusion

We hope that this quick examination of agroecology and regenerative agriculture clarifies their close inter-relationship while also diminishing the false competition between approaches that are finally gaining well-deserved traction.

At the same time, we also hope this serves to indicate the differences between the two: their different birth stories, the varying textures of their respective movements, and their differing political agendas.

Moving towards a climate-resilient food system is far too complex for any sort of commercial “silver bullet” to solve. Change will occur through messy social processes. To succeed, we will need brave supporters to shape those processes, to ensure they hew close to principles, and finally, to see that they are inserted into policy at the highest levels.

About the authors:

Nuna Teale, PhD is Program Director at One Earth.

Daniel Moss is co-director of the Agroecology Fund.

This article was originally published on the One Earth website in July 2022 and can be accessed here.

Royalty-free stock photos via Shutterstock.

As early as April 2020, the Agroecology Fund began to award the first of 59 grants to grassroots organizations addressing food insecurity threats on 5 continents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thanks to support from our network of dozens of donors, we were able to award a total of $938,500 to support community-based agroecological food systems, work-arounds to lockdowns, and advocacy efforts to increase access to healthy, nutritious foods.

The Agroecology Fund’s COVID-19 Emergency Response grants highlighted two essential conditions for successful responses to food crises around the world: 

• Organization, partnership, and collaboration are critical. 
• Approaches to disaster relief need to be community-led.

Food insecurity in the time of COVID-19

A highly concentrated global food system delinked from local smallholder farms has proved unable to solve our accelerating food crises. 

Agroecology is central to building the healthy and resilient local food systems we urgently need in the face of increasing global uncertainty.

The COVID-19 pandemic that paralyzed most of the world in 2020 was not the sole cause of food and income insecurities, but it exacerbated existing inequalities and vulnerabilities, especially among small-scale farmers in rural and Indigenous communities. 

For decades, the food security and inequality gaps have been growing due to too much reliance on industrialized food systems. Such unsustainable approaches to agriculture contribute to climate change, biodiversity loss, the depletion of natural resources, and increased poverty and malnourishment. Meanwhile government policies and international funds continue to be biased in favor of industrialized, input-intensive agricultural systems.

“The reality is it’s the inequality that is killing people, it’s not the virus, it’s the discrimination. The policies are not working because they still are marginalizing the poor people, the farmers, the migrants.”

– Glorene Amas Das – Tenaganita

Small-scale farmers among vulnerable populations have been battling to preserve their livelihoods and ways of life for decades. They became even more isolated during the pandemic. Lockdown measures made them unable to sell their produce, obtain seeds, and other products. The other side of the coin is that vulnerable populations had no access to healthy, nutritious food – especially in urban areas. Many of the grant-funded actions made a bridge, facilitating the sale of small farmers’ products at affordable prices or distributing food donations.

Tales of resistance

Local resilience and creative problem-solving were in full display among our grantees despite underfunded government aid.

It became rapidly clear that Indigenous and rural people themselves – women prominently – had to take charge of their own fates – and their own plates, literally.

With a largely paralyzed global economy, cash crop producers and mono-cultivators found they had to reassess their priorities. This was the case in Côte d’Ivoire where Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement (JVE) helped commercial cacao growers to transition to more diverse agroecologically-produced crops to improve their food sovereignty.

Across the globe, farmers re-learned and applied agroecological skills, from producing their own inputs to growing traditional (sometimes forgotten) crops and establishing communal seed banks, or raising adapted livestock breeds.

“People came back to their roots with the pandemic, they came back to agriculture”

– Doaa Zayed – Union of Agricultural Work Committees

Among some communities with limited access to agricultural land, people established peri-urban food gardens, shared land, or reclaimed government-owned land. In Palestine where agricultural land is unavailable or occupied, grassroots initiatives established rooftop gardens.

In true entrepreneurial spirit, grassroots organizations in places like Ecuador, the Philippines, and Uganda took to the internet to work around lockdowns and market farmers’ produce. Through its direct online marketing platform, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas – KMP (the Peasant Movement of the Philippines) even succeeded in eliminating some intermediation costs and keeping food affordable for consumers.

Grassroots initiatives also led to self-organization and the establishment of local communal communications and logistics systems to improve the supply and marketing of agroecological produce.

In Togo, Haiti and elsewhere, our partners teamed up with local radio stations to launch COVID-19 information and precaution campaigns. Through these networks, they were also able to raise awareness of the health benefits of agroecologically-produced food, the dangers of pesticide exposure, food safety and nutrition, etc. More critically, they also called attention to government accountability in upholding land rights and the rights of women and minorities, especially in allocating emergency aid.

We invite you to take a look at some of the milestones achieved under these grants:

Learning from doing

When we launched our COVID-19 Emergency Response, we knew we could make mistakes. But quick action was essential and we were committed to learning.

During the pandemic, our grantee partners demonstrated that with just a little bit of help they can design and implement sustainable and equitable local solutions based on delocalized food systems. 

To contribute to re-imagining how local communities can lead responses to food crises and fortify agroecological solutions, we invited our grantee partners to recount the challenges they faced and the solutions they devised during and prior to the pandemic.

From November 2020 to May 2022, representatives from these grassroots organizations took part in a series of 23 “Conversation Circles.” Around 30 attendees, spanning different time zones from Malaysia to Zambia to Mexico, took part in each Conversation Circle to share inspirational stories of success, solidarity, and sustainability with their peers around the world.

The Conversation Circles were also an opportunity to celebrate different cultures. At the start of its intervention, for example, Monlar (Sri Lanka) introduced the attendees to a traditional dance asking the gods’ help in times of drought or sickness. Partners from the Potato Park (Peru) live streamed a ceremony of gratitude to Pachamama (Earth Mother) from the Andes mountains.

Across cultures and continents, we learned about remarkable innovations in overcoming obstacles and regenerating land, crops, livelihoods, and mentalities.

“For a long time we have been promoting agroecology as a public good, but now we can also promote it as an economic opportunity that gives returns to smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods.”

– Agnes Kirabo, Food Rights Association

When their stories are shared widely, they can inspire donors  to rethink their strategies.

“The Agroecology Fund’s special potential as a pooled fund was brought home to me early in the pandemic, with the launch of the COVID-19 emergency fund in response to food security needs. Witnessing the speedy growth of that emergency response fund and its reach worldwide was an inspiration during a dark time, as I am sure it was for many in the Agroecology Fund community.”

-Jessica Brown – New England Biolabs Foundation

Speaking as one voice, Africa is telling the world: Agroecology is not a transition, it is a rebirth.

Agroecology was our past. Agroecology needs to be our future. The missing link is in the present, and it is our responsibility to fill it.

The first African Agroecological Entrepreneurship and Territorial Markets convening

Grain and fertilizer shortages have caused a panic among many world governments. The Russia-Ukraine conflict, emerging on the heels of a global pandemic, has exposed the weaknesses of global industrial food systems and markets. Food security concerns are now at the top of national agendas.

Meanwhile, in regions like Africa, smallholder farmers, agroecological enterprises, and local markets have stepped up to meet consumers’ food and nutrition needs. Territorial markets – agricultural retail outlets embedded into local, national and regional food systems – were vital to ensure continued livelihoods and food and nutrition security for populations.

Building on this successful response, our long-term partner, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), organized the first African Agroecological Entrepreneurship and Territorial Markets convening #AAEC2022. The event aimed to strengthen African-led food economies to support agricultural livelihoods, celebrate African culinary traditions, and nurture entrepreneurial and small business ecosystems.

The hybrid event took place in Munyonyo, Uganda, on May 24-26, 2022. Over 130 actors from more than 30 countries, as well as some 100 virtual participants, engaged in the convening.

The AAEC2022 occurred at a timely juncture when the global community is starting to reach an agreement on the need to make our food systems more sustainable. The current context provides an enormous opportunity to amplify the importance and resilience of shorter supply chains, agroecological enterprises, and territorial markets to withstand global crises. It is also a key moment to demonstrate how smallholder farmers using agroecological practices can meet populations’ food and nutrition needs.

Bottom-up solutions

AFSA general coordinator, Dr. Million Belay, set the tone of the convening: “It is time for African governments and the donor and investor communities to place more attention in developing territorial markets and supporting agroecological businesses to make sure that communities will construct a resilient future despite the many crises that they are experiencing.”

A radical shift is underway, indeed. For too long, donors have invested in industrial agriculture with poor results in terms of livelihoods, health, ecosystems and human rights.

The convening served as a “think-tank” where farmers, civil society activists, donors, and journalists actively engaged in person and virtually. Their discussions focused on the necessary shifts in investment, policymaking, and education activities to draw a roadmap that can enhance support systems for territorial markets and agroecological entrepreneurs. [Note: A full report of these discussions and activities will be shared by AFSA soon.]

On the first day, participants visited territorial markets around Kampala to meet local producers and organizers. At the sprawling Nakawa wholesale market, an association of vendors introduced ASFA visitors to the wide variety of foods they sell and expressed their enthusiasm to carry non-chemical products. Among other things, local markets like Nakawa need additional infrastructure investment, for example, “shelf space” and refrigeration for healthy agroecological produce. This would encourage more agroecological producers and consumers to participate in these vibrant, public markets.

Nakawa Territorial Market #AAEC2022

Photo credit: AFSA

Agroecological entrepreneurship also contributes innovative solutions to these issues and more. The AAEC2022 hosted a vibrant exhibition of African agroecological entrepreneurs and initiatives. These dynamic startups market and distribute a wide variety of agroecological products like coffee, cacao, chia seeds, cassava flour, honey, spices, and more.

Young entrepreneurs were prominently present at the exhibition through the Youth in Agroecology and business Learning Track Africa (YALTA) initiative. Across Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, YALTA has supported over 97 widely diverse youth-led agroecological enterprises, specialized in plant and livestock production, beekeeping, agricultural supplements, foodstuffs, and more.

Other enterprises like Evergreen Organics (South Africa) and Busaino Fruits & Herbs (Uganda) produce agricultural inputs such as organic fertilizers, feeds, pest-management solutions, and seeds.

African Entrepreneurship #AAEC2022

Photo credit: AFSA

Making headway toward the top

For many, the last day of the #AAEC2022 was a special occasion to rejoice.

Indeed, in his closing statement, Hon. Bwino Fred Kyakulaga, Uganda’s Minister of State for Agriculture, reaffirmed his belief in the cause of the convening. “I commit myself to be the champion in linking you to the government of Uganda. It is my sincere hope that the commitments read out here will translate into action,” he stated. 

He underlined the bottom-up and territorial approach of agroecology, which distinguishes it from other “prescriptionist” approaches to sustainable development. This, he appreciated, empowers producers and communities, especially women and youth, as key agents of change.

From farmers, entrepreneurs, and activists, all the way to government officials, Africa has spoken. The rebirth of agroecology is underway. The missing link – ensuring comprehensive implementation of a radically reformed food system – now hinges on a powerful social movement to articulate its bold vision and hold public officials accountable.

To mark International Women’s Day Celebration on March 8 with its theme “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow,” the African Women’s Collaborative for Healthy Food Systems would like to share with you our article ‘African Women Speak Out for Agroecology’. This grew out of our storytelling project in five African countries and is a useful resource for celebrating the contribution of peasant and indigenous women to healthy food systems in Africa. 

The Collaborative is a Pan-African initiative led by peasant and indigenous women with a deep commitment to healthy food systems. We seek to inform key audiences of the importance of local, agroecological and equitable food systems. In the last year, the Collaborative has given voice to rural women, enabling them to share their stories through a range of media, local and national. The article draws attention to the perspectives and achievements of peasant and pastoralist women during the COVID-19 pandemic, while conveying the lack of rights and resources they face, and the urgent need for collaboration and strategic partnerships to increase their access to productive resources.

The full article is available in French and English on the links below:

English – African Women Speak Out For Agroecology

French – Les femmes africaines s’expriment en faveur de l’agroécologie

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Excerpt:

African women speak out for agroecology

By Ofure Odibeli

A 2021 study by the UN’s FAO concludes that around a third of the world’s food is produced by smallholder farmers on less than two hectares of land. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage is much larger, with some 60% of the population engaged as smallholder farmers in food production and processing. At least half of these farmers are women who play a crucial role in the food chain. African women specialize in seeding, weeding, transplanting, harvesting, post-harvest work, processing, marketing and, in some areas, land preparation. They also prepare forest fruits, freshwater fish, and livestock products for consumption by their families and communities.

Women have a special relationship with seeds as sorters, savers, and sharers. Healthy seeds are the source and strength of plants and animals that are central to community food systems. In rural Africa, for as long as women farmers can remember, they, their mothers, their grandmothers and their own daughters have watched their plants grow to then choose the healthiest, best tasting individual plant’s seeds to gather. These seeds will, in the coming years, reliably produce the vegetables, herbs, groundnuts, beans and grains that nurture the growth and health of their own families and communities. Through their various roles, they ensure that communities and regions are food secure, healthier, more dynamic, and able to contribute more to the country’s economy.

Yet the day-to-day realities of African peasant, pastoralist and indigenous women are harsh and have become even more constrained in the last two years with the COVID-19 pandemic. While their role as food producers and providers might be recognized at a high level by the African Union, the United Nations and some African governments, a large proportion of rural women experience extreme marginalization, exclusion from decision-making, denial of essential resources such as land, water, credit, information, and technologies, and disregard for their deep knowledge of local circumstances and feasible solutions.

Faced with these enormous challenges, rural women farmers continue to show admirable tenacity as they grow nutritious foods to feed their families and communities through the use of agroecological farming practices.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed major weaknesses in the food system, especially in developing countries. African countries like Togo, that depend heavily on imports for farm inputs and food products, were greatly affected due to the restrictions on transport and movement across borders.

In Togo, at least 30% of the population is employed in agriculture, which contributes approximately 22% to the country’s GDP (official figures such as these are typically an underrepresentation of actual numbers, as they fail to account for unpaid women and youth farmers, subsistence farming, or the non-commercial exchange of agricultural produce). Many lost their livelihoods due to the drastic market changes and have since had to invent new ways to meet their needs, as well as satisfy new demands for food across the country. As a consequence of this crisis, local foods, including traditional herbs and medicinal remedies, have garnered newfound attention; they have gained value in the market. 

The pandemic reiterated the importance of food sovereignty and agroecology. Given the turn of events, many organizations and community groups have recently joined the agroecology bandwagon, with increased understanding of the value of local production and consumption, and limiting the use of chemical inputs. This growing momentum can also be attributed to the ongoing Agroecology for Climate Action Campaign in Togo led by the NGO Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement (Young Volunteers for the Environment; JVE). This Africa-wide Campaign was launched in March 2019 during the African Climate Week in Accra, Ghana – spearheaded by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and its partners. 

In December 2019, glyphosate products were officially banned in Togo. Since that milestone was achieved, proponents of agroecology have mobilized to support the Ministry of Agriculture in implementing practical, local, and sustainable natural alternatives across the country. This brought more visibility to the Agroecology for Climate Action Campaign at the national level, with many more community groups joining to advance food sovereignty and sustainable practices across the supply chain. 

Organizations like JVE have embarked on a mission to mobilize diverse stakeholders to support the transition to agroecology using a bottom-up approach and engaging in community dialogues, with the financial support of the Agroecology Fund, to incite reflection around key issues in sustainable development. In October 2020 (the national month for local consumption in Togo), JVE organized a workshop titled, “Make agroecology a driving force for climate-resilient development and structural transformation of the agriculture economy in order to achieve the objectives of the National Development Plan,” inviting stakeholders from across the country to share their experiences and strategize on practical steps to ensure the transition to agroecology.

During the workshop, several priorities emerged. Support to the right to food sovereignty and the recognition of agroecology, conservation of local seed, valorization of agroecology products, and support to sustainable food systems in the face of pandemics and climate change were all highlighted as important aspects to  include in the country’s national development plans. Academia and the private sector were called upon to support the movement through: investing in research and studies to support evidence-based arguments for agroecology; supporting farmer-led innovation; and documenting local and traditional best practices.

In the months following the workshop, JVE continued to advocate for the adoption of agroecology in Togo. The youth-led organization has focused on building community resilience in the midst of COVID-19; emphasizing the importance of scaling up agroecology. The organization established three urban gardens so that people could produce their own food. They focus on capacity-building among women and youth, leading training workshops for communities to save seeds, produce their own natural pesticides and fertilizers, and process and market agroecologically-produced foods. 

Still, a lot remains to be done to ensure that agroecology is integrated as a climate solution in policy decisions. Only when all citizens understand the benefits of a transition to agroecology, will there be lasting and sustainable transformation. With policy support, Togo’s food system can be made more resilient, and producers and consumers alike will benefit from social and economic growth and development. 

For more information, follow Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement on Twitter or Facebook. 

About the author: Aluora Annette Luttah is the Project Coordinator at JVE International headquarters in Lomé, Togo. Starting out as a volunteer at the UN Environment Programme, she has been actively involved in youth development projects across Africa working with various civil society organizations to build the capacity of youth as future leaders. Luttah currently coordinates the JVE National Representations set up in 25 African countries, actively engaging young people in social and developmental, environmental activities that contribute to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Deepening agroecological practices and finding new ways of funding could both be vital to the planet’s future.

With hurricanes evermore ferocious and biodiversity vanishing at alarming rates, farming communities are re-embracing traditional agroecology practices to safeguard resilience and sustenance.

At the same time, philanthropic organisations are exploring how to put to rest paternalistic and colonialist giving practices and directly support community-led processes that are inclusive and participatory. An example of this is emerging in the Yucatán Peninsula among the Mayan Cooperative, T’uumben K’ooben, the Agroecology Fund and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

In 2020, Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula was devastated by an intense drought, followed by floods, hurricanes, and frequent outbreaks of pests – in addition to the Covid-19 crisis. These events have undermined food security and livelihoods, especially among small farmer families. Mayan communities are beginning to wonder whether the high input of chemical pesticides and fertilisers introduced since the Green Revolution of the 1950s helped or hurt.

At this moment of overlapping crises, the Agroecology Fund (AEF), a global initiative comprising over 30 donors, announced the launch of the Yucatán Peninsula Agroecological Fund (FAPY) to support Mexican community organisations leading recovery from the ravages of climate change and Covid. With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, FAPY is managed by the local partner, T’uumben K’ooben. FAPY’s mission is to support grassroots projects that strengthen agroecological production, deepen locally-led research and learning, improve market access, and build a more just and climate-resilient food system. FAPY advisers guide the funding of projects led by legally constituted community organisations or by community groups affiliated with organisations eligible to receive financing.

As important as the support is the way it is provided. The T’uumben K’ooben organisers/agronomists, comprised principally of Mayan women, administer FAPY’s grantmaking and provide technical assistance and facilitated learning. Most are first-generation professionals; some are graduates of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Teaching Center (CATIE) and ECOSUR’s agroecology programme. Having worked alongside their grandparents in milpas and in animal husbandry, they know agroecology first-hand and have witnessed, with growing concern, dietary and cultural shifts (white bread instead of corn tortillas, high consumption of Coca-Cola) in their communities, alongside massive out-migration. They’ve seen communities hurt by hotel industry land grabs, agrochemical poisoning and development models that undermine local ways of life.

In the Mayan peasant lifestyle, food depends on the crops of the milpa and resources from the jungle. The losses due to the climate emergencies are discouraging; through agroecology, communities seek to reduce environmental impacts and vulnerabilities and better manage the natural resources essential to food sovereignty and rural life. So, it’s only right that they lead the transformation of food systems towards something much more culturally and ecologically appropriate.

Learning from cultural practices that safeguard healthy food systems lies at the heart of a global agroecology movement. By partnering with the Agroecology Fund, T’uumben K’ooben colleagues and FAPY grantees join Indigenous and peasant communities across the globe, exchanging knowledge and experiences with agroecology practitioners and fortifying powerful, grassroots networks and alliances to move policy in critical global institutions like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Closer to home, Mayan Indigenous communities demonstrate to the Mexican government how to scale up agroecology, a policy commitment – not yet implemented – of the López Obrador administration. Scientists in recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports underscore that improved landscape stewardship of the sort practised by the Mayan beekeepers and agroforesters is fundamental to cooling the planet. Respecting these communities and their practices thus helps the entire global community. When donors genuinely decentralise philanthropic practices and Indigenous leaders have the resources they need to support their communities and collaborate with their allies, sustainable and equitable food systems will be the rule rather than the exception.

About the authors:

Dulce Magaña is president of the T’uumben K’ooben Cooperative.

Daniel Moss is co-director of the Agroecology Fund

This article was originally published in the Alliance in December 2021.

Photos courtesy of Paolo Xiu from Mayahorticultores SPR, Carla Avíles from the FAPY Coordination Team and Carlos Ucán Yan from Organización ka’a kuxtal-PROTEINNA.

We, the people, leave our footprint in history by means of our organizations and the popular power we build. The Union of Land Workers (Unión de Trabajadores de la Tierra, UTT) is one such organization, comprising 16,000 families producing food for local consumption in Argentina. 

In Argentina, family agriculture produces more than 70% of the nation’s yerba mate, more than half of the vegetables and citrus fruits, more than half of the poultry and pork, almost all the goat meat, more than a fifth of the beef, and about a third of the milk consumed by Argentineans, among other produce. 

Yet, more than half of the families working the land are forced to rent the land they labor on. We work daily, we train ourselves so that our practices are better, healthy and more diversified, and yet we live impoverished, without the right to decent housing because we cannot build on the spaces we rent.

In fact, the 2018 Agricultural Census revealed that big agribusinesses represented 1.08% of the total number of farms in the country, but they owned 36.4% of the land! Agribusinesses promise food for the world based on the application of agrochemicals — we call them agro-toxins — associated with genetically modified seeds. (The most emblematic case of this model is the large-scale production of GM soybeans; after Argentina opened its borders to Monsanto’s soybeans in 1996, it is now the third largest exporter of soy and is estimated to be the country with the largest use of glyphosate in the world, despite the fact that the World Health Organization designates this herbicide as probably carcinogenic). In 2019, an official report showed that 60% of the fruits and vegetables arriving at the Central Market of Buenos Aires contained residues of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides at non-permitted levels. 

We live under a capitalist system; most of the land is controlled by a few, leaving many impoverished and poisoned. Systemic hunger has forced us to accept products that are not food, in order to survive. In this scenario, the social forces that fight for a dignified life are indispensable: peasants, farmers, popular and environmental actors that propose alternative models that protect the land, water and territories and pursue food sovereignty as a form of social justice to build a better future. 

Food sovereignty in these latitudes translates to public companies and food production cooperatives, agroecological colonies, fair access to land, peasants owning their technology, fair and direct trade between producers and consumers, patent-free seeds, protection of biodiversity, healthy and safe food for all people, and gender equality in production and commercial decision-making. We, as workers of the land, promote these changes that we dream of with concrete actions: 

1. Recently, we have formally proposed the Law of Access to Land, which recommends the creation of a line of soft credits so that we can buy the land we work on. This would allow us to expand the scale of our production and implement processes of recovery and regeneration of the soil in a sustained manner.  In this way, we could improve living conditions and the quality of food for the people across Argentina. 
2. We also promote the creation of Integral Agroecological Colonies for Urban Supply as a strategy to access community land, and to generate productive networks to supply towns with healthy and fresh local produce, promoting a more efficient, economic and sustainable distribution chain. The Colonia “20 de abril Darío Santillán” located in Jáuregui, Luján, is an example.
3. Likewise, through the famous “verdurazos”, we wield the flag of food sovereignty with an innovative form of peaceful protest that conveys our message to urban people. Through the verdurazos we donate thousands of kilos of vegetables to vulnerable populations at public spaces, sometimes as a gesture of solidarity, other times to demonstrate the absence of public policies for small producers at a time of great socio-ecological crisis. 
4. Every day we promote the construction of training tools that play a central role in strengthening agroecology and productive planning. To this end, we created the Popular Technical Consulting room (Co.Te.Po), a system of horizontal transfer of technical knowledge of local and cultural relevance, highlighting successful experiences of agroecological transitions, enriching our resources to promote empowerment, organizing, and gender equity in productive and commercial decision-making.

We understand ourselves to be part of nature and we aim to break the fallacious division between nature and human societies. We propose an agroecological reconstruction of the territories we inhabit on which we can pursue liveable lives, with our own land, decent housing, and with greater levels of equality. 

With our heads and hearts set on building a decent present and a better future from the ground up, we create alternatives, hand-in-hand with agroecology and fair trade. We prioritize access to healthy and nutritious food over profit. Our cooperative market arrangement is based on the premise that both producers and consumers pay fair and ethical prices.

We are proud to produce food in harmony with the soils, the waters, the air, the seeds and our bodies. This is our revolutionary praxis; it is the route that leads us down the path of transformation and socio-environmental justice. In every bite of agroecologically produced food, you can taste fragments of a diverse, popular, ecological and feminist revolution.

This contribution was lightly edited for length and clarity.

About the Author: Andrea P. Sosa Varrotti is a Postdoctoral Researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) at the Interdisciplinary School of High Social Studies, National University of San Martin (IDAES-UNSAM), Argentina; a Lecturer at Universidad de Buenos Aires and consultant for the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. She is a member of the Land Workers Union (Unión de Trabajadores de la Tierra, UTT) and the Collective of Agrarian Scholar-Activists from the South (CASAS).  She specializes in the financialization of agriculture, land grabbing, entrepreneurial practices and discourses, and business models. Her research is currently focused on agroecological transitions and food sovereignty.

There’s a mistaken belief that keeps re-emerging that agroecology is about going backwards. It may be a convenient way to dismiss it. Nevertheless, how do we challenge and reverse this mistaken perspective?

“If we don’t deepen our relationship with Nature and reconnect to our culture and history that are deeply embedded in this landscape, we will never find our way to living in harmony with Nature,” said Nomore, a junior village head in Mhandarume, Chimanimani District in Zimbabwe, at a meeting I attended there. “And only when we live again in harmony with Nature will we have streams and rivers running again. Only then will we learn to restore health to our soils.”

Nomore was part of a gathering at PORET, an Agroecology centre for arid and semi-arid areas. PORET is a member of PELUM, a founding member of AFSA (Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa). The gathering was looking at how to establish an ABN (African Biodiversity Network) node in Zimbabwe. ABN is also a founding member of AFSA. As AFSA we are a gathering of civil society voices and actions from around the continent. At the heart of our work, which reaches to villages and communities all over the continent through organisations like PORET, is agroecology.

Yet, there exists a perception that agroecology wants to take people backwards.  “An army of internationally-funded NGOs claiming FAO’s imprimatur and support have descended on Africa. They’re working hard to stop 21st Century agricultural technologies such as genetically modified crops (GMOs) and advanced seed varieties, modern and safe pesticides and fertilizers. In its place, they advocate agroecology idealizing peasant labour and retrograde subsistence farming. In short, they reject the Green Revolution’s successes and dismiss the billions of lives saved from starvation, instead promoting, in the recent words of US FAO ambassador Kip Tom, an “endless cycle of back-breaking labour and low yield production” that today keeps “much of the world in underdevelopment.” So writes James Njoroge recently in the European Scientist, quoting from articles of a similar tone from Kip Tom, the United States Ambassador to the FAO. 

This is plainly a mistaken perception, whether purposeful or not. Perhaps someone like James Njoroge doesn’t want to see what agroecology really is because it’s threatening to his world view and to the interests of those who pay him. I hope otherwise.

Many cultures have a saying along the lines of ‘we need to go back to go forward’. This is what agroecology in Africa is about. It’s about reconnecting and re-rooting. Many people think that these arid and semi-arid areas of southern Africa, northern Kenya and Uganda, parts of Ethiopia and South Sudan, and the Sahel are inherently poor. This is far from the truth. As I write this I am surrounded by a richness of biodiversity. As the sun breaks the birdsong echoes from every corner of this small community centre in the driest part of Zimbabwe. There are well over 70 species of trees on this 20-hectare piece of land. This is a piece of natural woodland that acts as a reminder of the abundance of Nature in our dry, hot regions.

The community have interplanted exotic fruit trees throughout, near the 17 traditional-design huts that house visitors. They grow vegetables in small, more open areas around the centre, the natural trees giving needed shade to the vegetables. All this is enabled by a water-harvesting system that captures every drop of rain that may run off the surface, whether off roofs, roads, paths or soil that is still baked hard and not recovered yet. There are ponds and swales that double as spillways, all interlinked and woven across the sloping landscape; a design that captures all rain, including run-off from the hills above in heavy storms.

They are not going backwards here. They are heading forwards into the 21st century with agroecology providing the framework for their land-use practices. This is a highly sophisticated grassroots land management based on restoring their relationship with Nature.

One afternoon, we visited Mr. and Mrs. Mazungunye, a young couple who are putting into practice what PORET has helped them understand. They are re-rooting and reconnecting to their land in creative ways. What I found most impressive about our walk around their small farm was their energy in explaining to us what they are doing. They are young farmers who know where they are heading, who now understand how to move forward. They are reconnecting to their land in the same way that their ancestors were connected. What was a degrading farm landscape is now recovering. Their efforts to increase ground cover and species diversity, while producing a variety of foods, are based on the latest biological science on soil regeneration.

The modern agriculture that people like James Njoroge and others claim is the agriculture of the future is what I would call a 20th century mistake. Chemistry along with vested interests combined to create a kind of agriculture that appeared modern and successful. But we now know how mistaken this perception is. These so-called modern practices have laid bare the earth, millions of hectares of the Earth. The chemicals have killed the life in the soil and water systems everywhere; the pulverizing machine technologies continue to beat the life out of soil everywhere.

By recalling the wisdom of our ancestors’ relationship to land, life and Nature and combining it with the latest understanding and science of biodiversity, we are putting agroecology into practice, a truly modern 21st century practice. Mr. and Mrs. Mazungunye don’t want to go backwards. They are going forwards in their small way, re-rooting and reconnecting themselves to the spirit of their land. They are at the beginning of a transition to agroecology. If I visit them in 10 years time, I’ll return to a landscape in which no water runs off the surface into streams and rivers. Instead the water that used to run off now enters the healthy soil ‘sponge’ on their farm and gives a diversity of multi-storey species nourishment, enabling vast amounts of photosynthesis to happen again, the process that drives healthy landscapes everywhere, in ways that science can now explain to us, to some extent.

The foundation of all agroecology work in Africa is a reconnection to culture and Nature. I hope James Njoroge and others are able to correct their misperception of agroecology. 

About the author: John Wilson is a free range facilitator and activist in East and Southern Africa, with strong links to West Africa. He has worked with many different organizations at different levels — from community-based organizations to regional and continental networks, to help facilitate a stronger food sovereignty movement in Africa. Increasingly, he is focused on helping to catalyze and support collaborative and strategic work on agroecology and food sovereignty. In recent years, he has also become a strong proponent and facilitator for a principles-based approach to development work. Working with very complex situations requires a way of decision-making and assessment based on guidance rather than goals; Principles Focused Evaluation has been a strong source of inspiration and experience for his practice.

In February 2020, the first Slow Food Academy on Agroecology welcomed participants from four different East and Central African countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo). The initiative aims to train young producers and farmers in agroecology, with the goal of spreading agroecological practices and restoring value to local biodiversity through different field projects, such as the Slow Food Gardens in Africa. One of the Academy’s recent graduates, Ochen Umar Bashir, shared photos and his experience of the program with the Agroecology Fund.

Ochen Umar Bashir (in the above picture), 31, participated in the Slow Food Youth Academy, a six-month program during which youth (aged 18-35) from different regions of Africa had the opportunity to learn more about agroecology and its impacts. Among the trainees were young farmers and agronomists, Indigenous peoples, agricultural officers and teachers, journalists and academic students. During their time together, students shared their diverse farming experiences and agricultural practices with each other, unique to the ecosystems they call home. “I liked that there was a lot of experience sharing about the way we do different things in different regions.”

Bashir, who is an agronomist by profession, joined the program to learn more about agroecology and how to better protect biodiversity through farming practices. “When we farm we should consider future generations and our surrounding areas. If we are to continue the same way without minding the environment, things will not be good.”

“Many of us studied agriculture in school and university but we realized that what we studied was misleading. The government supplies seeds to farmers for planting, but they don’t correlate with our current climatic conditions. We suffer prolonged dry spells, and rain is uncertain” said Bashir.

“Industrial agriculture has made farmers dependent on outside supplies, and minimized the processes they can have control over. Fertilizers, pesticides, seeds — we are in an era where business has taken over everything.”

“When I got to know about agroecology I was very interested in learning how it can lead to a reduction in food insecurity in my region, and to understand more about sustainable farming even in drought conditions.”

The program was as much about unlearning as it was about learning. “Farmers were taught that one crop planted in a very clean field was the correct way. Everyone would be spraying pesticides that affect the soil. Now, we learn that we must encourage mixed cropping, and the growing of trees. There is a relationship between biodiversity and farming.” 

“It is important for youth to be interested in agroecology. Youth are the future generation and they are the ones who have to face the challenges ahead. They are strong and if they embrace agroecology, they will help it spread” explained Bashir. “Our elders would practice these traditional methods of agriculture which protected the soil and the water. But the challenge is they did not pass their knowledge to the youth. Or maybe the youth wanted a modern life! But now we need to take that knowledge and spread it further.” 

“As a result of drought, pest outbreaks, and Covid-19, there is growing awareness that we should learn how to diversify and survive on local seeds. We are returning to our staples like sorghum; local varieties will grow even during a dry spell.” 

After the program, Bashir formed an Indigenous Youth Network on Facebook where young farmers share their successes and challenges in practicing agroecology. He has also formed a group of 30 trainers who will establish demo Slow Food gardens and offer technical support to those in their community who are transitioning to agroecology. 

Still, there is much more to be done. The youth from the Academy engage with local leaders and agriculture officials at community forums, and discuss with them the effects of pesticide use and so-called “improved” seeds from other regions. “Commercial farming is what is promoted, which promotes productivity at the expense of the environment”. With positive influence from above, Bashir feels many more community members will appreciate the concepts of agroecology and be convinced about its benefits. 

The Slow Food Youth Academy was developed within the framework of the project “Building Local Economies in Eastern Africa through Agroecology” supported by the Agroecology Fund. The project will continue to establish new Slow Food gardens in the schools and communities of the four East African countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo), encouraging youth involvement, livelihoods, and food sovereignty through agroeocology. 

Is it possible for African farmers to feed Africa? Let’s look at the case study of Mali.

In Mali, 85% of the country’s population is engaged in agriculture. We use 15% of the country’s budget on agriculture, which is even more than what is recommended by the African Union (10%). And every year, nearly half of the total remittances sent back from families outside Mali is also invested in agriculture — this in itself exceeds the contribution from external funding by bilateral and multilateral agencies.

Since its inception, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa’s (AGRA) total investment in Mali represents just 1% of Mali’s own agriculture budget. So AGRA cannot claim to be transforming the country’s agricultural sector structurally, by putting in only 1% of public funds. That is peanuts in terms of an investment budget. So psychologically, African countries may feel trapped in this model, but if you look at how much they have been putting in, it is a very very small amount of money.

More than half of the resources the Alliance allocated to Mali has been drawn into the input system of the program (promoting the sale of chemical fertilizers in small villages). The Bill Gates funded program is pushing for a Green Revolution through fertilizers and hybrid seeds. Yet, the majority of farmers, pastoralists, and fisherfolk use farmers’ seeds, local breeds of cattle and local species of fish, exchanged by farmers and researched by local institutions. In West African countries, more than 70% of the seeds that are used in production systems is recognized to be farmer’s seeds.

In 2008 we did an assessment of where AGRA money was going and we realized that half the resources were used to fund international institutions (most of these were members of CropLife International, a trade association of agrochemical companies). That is problematic.

Why didn’t AGRA’s Green Revolution work in Mali?

Mali has a strong farmers’ movement that has been mobilizing, fighting against this system since the very beginning, and putting emphasis on agroecology.

An excerpt from the new report:

Mali presents a stark contrast to most other AGRA countries, which may well be due to the government’s more cautious approach to the widespread promotion of the Green Revolution technology package. Mainly small-scale food producers and other non-governmental organizations actively mobilized to stop AGRA from imposing its model in the country. Since democracy was restored in the 1990s, small-scale food producer groups among others have played a role in government policy, even drafting the 2004 Agricultural Orientation Law. Mali’s Coalition for the Protection of African Genetic Heritage (COPAGEN) convened organizations from across Africa to engage with AGRA and dissuade their governments from participating by launching the 2007 campaign “Agroecological Alternatives to AGRA”. Mali’s 2010 seed law recognized farmers’ rights to seeds, and a revision currently under consideration, written with the active involvement of small-scale food producer organizations, will further enshrine those rights. This leaves small scale food producers with greater sovereignty over the seeds and other inputs they choose to adopt.

Although AGRA operates in Mali, it does not enjoy the same level of influence as in many other countries. Maize has been the priority crop, as with a number of other AGRA countries, with input subsidies supporting crop expansion. The area planted with maize has more than doubled, and yields have increased significantly. But because Mali has low population densities and some “uncultivated” land available, this has not come at the expense of traditional crops, as is the case in other AGRA countries. Sorghum, millet, and pulses remain the country’s most important food crops, with sorghum and millet planted on three times the land that is now under maize production.

Poverty and hunger have dramatically decreased. Extreme poverty (USD-$1.90 per person per day) was reduced by more than half since 2006, to 24 percent. The number of the population suffering chronic hunger decreased from 1.4to 1.2 million people and almost reduced by half in percentage terms between the three-year averages for 2004–2006 and 2016–2018. This progress may be attributed more to Mali’s resistance to AGRA’s Green Revolution policies and programmes rather than to their implementation.

Read the full report: False Promises: The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Mali was producing something like 2.5 million tons of cereals in the country in 2002; (this includes varieties of millet, sorghum, wheat, fonio). Currently it produces around 10 million tons of cereal—more than 30% of this is millet and sorghum, the biggest share compared to all other cereals.

If AGRA truly wants to help the farming community, reduce hunger and improve nutrition, it should support the production of such crops that are more nutritious—crops that people know how to grow and are culturally appropriate to eat. Instead, they are focused on promoting maize and rice, which require the intensive use of water, pesticides, fertilizers and “improved” seeds. So how can they say they are concerned about nutrition?

What they prioritize is linking the African population to international seed companies and fertilizer companies. When the soil stops being able to regenerate, they will have to keep increasing their fertilizer use and become dependent.

In the case of Mali, AGRA did not succeed because the farmers’ movement refused to cooperate with AGRA. We have opted for agroecology in our country. In Mali we cannot separate cattle pastoralism and cereal production and fish production (the country is the biggest river fish producer in West Africa, and the second largest producer of rice after Nigeria). No GMOs are allowed in Mali.

If you look at West Africa, we produce more than 59 millions tonnes of cereals, and that is far beyond our needs if we look at the population of this region. With millet, for instance we have had a 3% growth in the region of West Africa; from 2008 to 2011. And with sorghum, it’s about 18% if you look at the figures since 2008. This production is already feeding the West African region. These crops don’t benefit from any support from AGRA. The push from farmers’ organizations to invest in these [true climate-resilient, nutritious crops] has led to this increase of production. Improvements in nutrition have been promoted by smallholder farmers.

There is a need to put more resources into smallholder farmers and put more resources towards the agroecological systems which dominate in Mali. We are in a position to increase production in a sustainable way.

So yes, African farmers can feed Africa, and go even beyond that, creating more wealth in a sustainable way. But there are some structural issues that we need to address.

Reorganizing the market system

AGRA has been reorienting Africa’s production system to the international market. Yet, more than 70% of the continent’s produce is sold in territorial markets or open public markets; less than 20% of the food that is produced and consumed goes through international markets. So we are sure this continent can feed itself.

We need to improve our policies and market infrastructure, especially for territorial markets, where most of the food is circulating in countries like Mali. For instance, toilets for women, or a creche for childcare in markets would be transformative for women vendors. Clean water, good roads, and solar lights would help make markets be more accessible and stay open safely at night.

There is a need for better storage so that less food (especially cereals) is lost between harvesting and the plate. We need to invest more in harvesting and processing and marketing. It is important to focus on such downstream infrastructure issues to add value at the rural level, so that cities can be fed by rural areas in a more sustainable way. Several women’s groups, cooperatives and youth groups processing food need to be supported in their work.

If we can better control food loss and waste, which is about 30% in parts of Africa (in part through more investment in transport, harvesting and processing), then we can not only feed the population, but also contribute in a sustainable way to produce more than enough for our needs.

At the policy level: we don’t need the homogenized policies that AGRA is interested in supporting. Africa is diverse, and we need to support a food system that acknowledges that. Our vision of food sovereignty should not be undermined through policies and the financial system.

Agroecology is key

The agroecological perspective that we are pushing for in the continent will be key to supporting small farmers in feeding Africa.

This contribution was transcribed from a talk and interview, and edited for clarity and length.

Link to watch the full webinar recording: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=593178444725692 (1:02 to 1:20)

About the author: Mamadou Goïta is a development Socio-Economist and specialist in education and training systems. He is the Executive Director of the Institute for Research and Promotion of Alternatives in Development (IRPAD). He works closely with farmers’ organizations in Africa and other continents. He has been Executive Secretary of ROPPA (West Africa Farmers and Producers Organization). Prior to his position at IRPAD, he worked in West Africa with UNICEF, UNDP, OXFAM-Belgium and ACORD. He is a founding member of COPAGEN (the Coalition to Protect African Genetic Heritage) and AFSA (Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa). Mamadou is also on the advisory board for the joint Agroecology Fund and Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa research project: Supporting Agroecological Enterprises (AEEs) in Africa.

Photo credits: C. Perodeaud, IPES-Food (2018)

Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT) is an alliance of small and landless farmers in Pakistan. Formed in 2008, PKMT is active in 16 districts across three provinces of Pakistan: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. PKMT offers a collective voice to small farmers advocating for seed and food sovereignty, and equitable land distribution in Pakistan. 

According to the World Food Program, Pakistan is one of the main producers of wheat on the planet; the country exports more than one million tons of the grain every year. Yet, despite massive food production, national nutrition surveys estimate that around a third of Pakistan’s population suffers from food insecurity. 

To curb food insecurity and increase public health and nutrition,  PKMT has taken the lead in collecting and regenerating traditional seeds. Its members maintain community seed banks, ensuring that locally adapted wheat, rice, corn and nutritious vegetable seed varieties that have been neglected since the Green Revolution are saved and exchanged among farmers. At the policy level, the organization has denounced Pakistan Amended Seed Act 2015, asking for seed laws that promote the rights of small farmers rather than agro-chemical corporations. PKMT filed a petition in Lahore High Court against this anti-farmer seed amended act.

With the Agroecology Fund’s support, PKMT is scaling up agroecology through its Jazba Farmers’ Cooperative, a network of farmers collaborating with researchers and students at the Nawaz Sharif Agriculture University, leading peer-to-peer educational programs on agroecological farming, and practicing agroecology on 18 cooperative farms in Shikarpur, Ghotki, Multan, Haripur and Dir.  Since 2020, the cooperative has been producing and marketing locally milled organic wheat flour. 

However, as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, farmers faced several production, transport, storage and marketing difficulties; these hardships were exacerbated by water scarcity, untimely rains, a locust outbreak, and a lack of availability of organic manure. Bakhtiyar Zeb, a wheat farmer and member of the Cooperative from Dir,  in the foothills of the Himalayas, shares his story with the Agroecology Fund. 

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? 

I, Bakhtiyar Zeb, have my own land and my family and I work on the land ourselves producing for our needs and some for the market. My father used to practice traditional agriculture, kept his own seeds, used oxen for ploughing and never used chemical fertilizers and pesticides. There was little or no expenditure related to agricultural production. The food we ate was nutritious. Life was simple, and did not have many of the material attractions that are part of our lives now. 

When I started working on the land, I adopted modern agriculture practices and started using hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizer, and pesticide among others to get higher production. But gradually, I realized that this form of production was extremely costly and I could not save much. We were not able to get a good price for our produce in the market. Apart from this, the food produced was not nutritious anymore, and we found we were spending more money on medicines and going to the doctor. I also realized that we had become dependent on external inputs even for seeds; we were left at the mercy of corporations.  Even though I have my own agricultural land, I cannot decide for myself.  Then I decided to go back to my father’s practice. For the past 10 years I have been practicing traditional agriculture and agroecology; there may be less production but certainly less expenditure, as well. Above all, I am not dependent on any external input produced by corporations. I use my own seeds, my own cow dung as fertilizer. I am much more  satisfied now: at least I have nutritious chemical-free food for my family. 

My land is on top of a hill and it’s difficult terrain. My sons and I have gradually increased our cultivable land through terrace farming; we have done this using our own hands. It’s not possible to get machinery in this area. We have a number of cows and goats. My wife, and other women in the family collect all the animal dung and add it to our water tank (constructed by the government, this tank collects rainwater) and it mixes with the water used for land irrigation. It is tough labor as going up and down the hills with not very good walkways is very hard. My sons, once they come back from school, help me in the fields. So it is very hard labor for my entire family but there are many benefits.

What drove you to finally move from conventional agriculture to agroecology? 

In 2010, I had sown hybrid maize on one acre. On another acre of land, I cultivated my own traditional maize seeds. I put the same amount of effort on both patches but the hybrid crop had a pest attack and the traditional crop was healthy with no pest attack. I also noticed that the hybrid seed needed more water than traditional seeds. The traditional maize was ready for harvest 10 days earlier than the hybrid maize. I sold the hybrid maize in the market because my family found traditional maize good for their own consumption. It is also good for our health as there is no chemical or pesticide used. If we care about our health and our family, we should not practice chemical agriculture. 

Why is agroecology the right decision for you and your family? 

Most importantly, it provides nutritious food for my family. Apart from that, it is a low-cost agricultural production method. It is beneficial since most of the time we don’t have cash to buy inputs. This traditional form of agriculture does not need much cash as most of the inputs are our own.

How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your work?

Days and weeks have been very difficult as my daughter and I were infected with COVID-19. It was a very painful experience. I had a terrible cough, fever, and body ache. My sleep was badly impacted and I could hardly sleep for 13 days. I was unable to taste food. Self-isolation was not easy and I only realized this when I had to go through it myself: I wanted to be able to see the skies and my land, my crops! Even when I recovered I was very weak, and could not walk or even sit. Both my parents are diabetic and suffer from high blood pressure; to keep them safe we sent them to another brother’s place. Even after coming out of quarantine I still have a bad cough.

Has this crisis changed your views on food security and food sovereignty?

Since I am a member of Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT), I understand the importance of food security and food sovereignty.  But certainly, the idea of food sovereignty got sharp attention during the COVID-19 period. The self-sufficient communities who have control on their food production are in a better condition as far as food is concerned. It is expected that there will be huge food shortages in the coming months and years. We decided that we will not sell our wheat crop in the market and will save for the expected days of food shortage. PKMT is also planning to store as much as they can store so that it can be distributed to needy PKMT members, if needed. There is already a shortage of wheat flour in the market, and spikes in wheat prices, even just 1.5 months after the wheat harvest. The government has decided to import wheat to resolve the issue. 

What kind of responses are important now, from communities and from policy makers?

Pakistan is an independent country but it is considered to be ruled by feudals and capitalists.  They are 2% of the total population of the country, but they rule and run the country.  The same people make policies for their own interests, with no safeguards for the marginalized people. The people need to stand up and raise their voice. Only organizing and mobilizing peasant labor can bring some kind of relief in our lives. In terms of practical strategies, as mentioned above PKMT members have decided they will store their food crops for communities in need during this crisis. There has also been a call to grow our own vegetables as much as possible. Since I started practicing agroecology, I have grown vegetables in small pots within the boundaries of my home. I will keep doing this.

Nearly a decade after it was founded, the Agroecology Fund’s Executive Committee is pleased to announce a shift in leadership. Effective immediately, Angela Cordeiro and Daniel Moss will be Co-Directors of AEF’s growing programs.

What’s behind this exciting evolution? A Q&A:

Why did you decide to make this leadership change?

Daniel: Since joining the Agroecology Fund I’ve seen the Fund evolve in exciting ways. We’ve created a pretty horizontal network through which grantees, advisors, donors, and allies collaborate to support a growing agroecology movement. It’s now time for AEF staff to walk the talk internally. 

The Agroecology Fund seeks to elevate the voices, wisdom and lived experiences of people from all over the world, especially those who have been historically marginalized. Our leadership structure should reflect our values. Having led AEF for seven years, a white man from the Global North, we felt like it was time to bring new and diverse perspectives to the Fund’s leadership. Angela’s experience and perspective––as a Brazilian woman having spent four decades deeply immersed in agroecology and farmer movements across Latin America and Africa––is essential to AEF. She deepens our learning, responsiveness, and creativity. 

Angela: Actually, the idea and the invitation came from Daniel. I received the invitation with surprise and first asked him: why? He presented the above arguments and convinced me. The Agroecology Fund has always experimented and innovated on many fronts. This will be one of them, and will certainly be a learning process for all of us.

What are some challenges and opportunities you foresee in sharing leadership?

Angela: With Daniel’s leadership, our internal work dynamics have always been based on consultation and a shared decision-making process. At the same time, he motivates everyone to be creative and take action. I believe this facilitates the smooth transition to a co-directorship model. From a personal point of view, it is an opportunity to get to know the philanthropic universe better, to work with Daniel to continue to increase the number of funders to the Agroecology Fund and the number of grants made. I am honored by his invitation to share leadership. An important challenge is to maintain a good balance between shared leadership and the agility that AEF requires. Co-deciding can add time. We will find ways to be more creative and never bureaucratic. That would definitely not fit with AEF´s spirit. 

Daniel: Shared leadership, while certainly presenting opportunities to get tangled up in too many meetings and deliberations, offers so many possibilities for innovation, complementarity, and safeguards against failure –  all characteristics of agroecology itself! I’ve had the honor of working with Angela for the past five years, first in her role as an advisor and most recently as Program Director. As a seasoned Brazilian agroecology activist, Angela offers so much warmth and solidarity to grassroots partners, so much technical integrity in supporting them to monitor and evaluate their work, and so much wisdom about movement-building. Trained as an agronomist with a speciality in plant genetics and with long experience in working with cooperatives, she understands the challenges our partners face in growing and marketing food. Having worked as an evaluation consultant with bilateral and multilateral donors, she is fastidious about gathering and interpreting data. And unlike me, she knows the difference between outcomes and outputs. I couldn’t be more thrilled and energized. 

It sounds complicated! Who will do what?

Daniel: Angela and I welcome shared thinking and mutual accountability. While we look forward to active co-management of the growing AEF network, we will retain clear areas of responsibility. I will continue to focus primarily on resource mobilization and our growing communications work, which will include new staff and capacity building grants, while Angela will be the point person for our grantmaking process, operations and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL). I will continue to be the primary point of contact with our donors.

Angela: As Daniel said, we will continue with the same responsibilities that we already have. In my case, I´ll add the supervision of the Operations Manager, a new position. AEF’s growth in the volume of grants and new regional funds like Fondo Agroecologico en la Península del Yucatán (FAPY) have significantly increased the operational workload and we are very happy to bring on a colleague to support this work. It is important to say that we are privileged to have a governance structure that includes long-term partners, advisory board members, and donors. They have helped us enormously in steering AEF’s growth. Certainly we will continue to count on them. 

With co-leaders at the helm, what’s next for the Fund? 

Angela: We can learn from organizations that already practice co-directorship that there is no recipe. Each organization has its own route. Leadership is always associated with power, and each of us has stereotypes of how that should look. This model challenges perceptions that each of us has ingrained within us. Let’s see how this co-leadership evolves as we put it into practice,learn – and unlearn and relearn where necessary– together. 

Daniel: This leadership transition could not come at a better time – we are just now deliberating a new five-year strategic plan. Angela and I look forward to continuing to work closely with advisors and donors to ensure that our grantee partners have the support they need to re-shape and transform food systems. Co-leaders will undoubtedly improve AEF’s mission-performance, agility, resilience, and sustainability  – as the Fund continues to grow alongside the movements it supports. 

Photographs courtesy Rucha Chitnis.

Mariama Sonko, president of the pan-African organization Nous Sommes la Solution, shares how women farmers have turned entrepreneurs to revive culinary traditions that would otherwise be lost.

There is an ongoing problem in Senegal that is undermining the health of the population: the widespread consumption of industrially produced stock cubes. Since the ’70s and ’80s, there has been massive growth in the industrial broth market in Senegal and some other West African countries, aided by persistent advertising on TV and radio. This has led to an unconscious overuse of these industrially produced stock cubes in meals by Senegalese households. 

(According to a report from Reuters, industrially produced stock cubes have transformed cooking across the West African region, becoming an essential ingredient in many everyday dishes, including the Ivory Coast’s “poulet braisé” and spicy “jollof rice” in Nigeria. Nestlé Maggi dominates West Africa’s stock cube market, valued at $375 million by market research firm Fact.MR.)

Research indicates that home cooks now use five stock cubes in every dish. The cubes are extremely high in salt (40 to 50% of the recommended daily intake, according to Florence Foucaut, member of the French nutritionists’ association, Association Française des Diététiciens Nutritionnistes, AFDN.) So there has been an uptick in the frequency and occurrence of diseases, for example cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and kidney failure, which were previously unknown in most communities, especially in rural areas. These commercially produced cubes are causing diseases that West African populations did not even know about.

It is this spread of industrial bouillon cubes that led us to propose a natural alternative with natural products, using the ingredients and spices that were traditionally used before the ’70s. The leaders of the NSS movement in southern Senegal have been working together to promote the consumption of more locally produced healthy foods. Now, the rural women producers offer a stock cube we call Sum Pak in our localities. 

Sum Pak is a flavor enhancer produced naturally without chemical inputs. It is rich in proteins, minerals and other nutrients beneficial to health. We offer two types of broths: the Shrimp Sum Pak, made with shrimp, dried fish, green onion leaves, salt, garlic, bell pepper, chilli, white sorrel calyx, lemon juice, bay leaves and ginger. The second contains the same ingredients as those mentioned above, except that shrimp is replaced by nététou. (Nététou or Soumbala is a condiment frequently used in traditional West African cooking. It is a pungent, fermented bean paste made from the fruit of the African locust bean, or Néré tree).

To make nététou or soumbala, we use large pots to boil the néré nuts and then use a pestle to peel the hull from the seeds in a mortar containing rice bran. (Traditionally we would use fine sand for this step, but now we prefer to use rice bran.) We wash and dry the ingredients on tables with screens to ensure that it is free of any impurities. Then we use a mill to grind it into a powder. We mix the ingredients according to a traditional recipe, and then we season with lemon juice, which helps to preserve the product. Then we package and label the products before distributing them for the market. The process is very hard work and takes the women a few days. 

The use of this authentic seasoning enhances the taste of our meals, provides us with nutrients and improves our  health and nutrition. Local production—with the installation of small shrimp-drying manufacturing units, for instance—enables us to create jobs and improve the income of women producers. It allows us to promote local know-how and increase the recognition and appreciation of local products, which in turn, encourages the protection of our local environment—when we value our foods, we care about maintaining the indigenous Néré trees that are in the process of disappearing. 

As part of our efforts to promote this product, we have led awareness-raising sessions with peasant leaders about the dangers of the excessive use of industrialized broths and its impact on the health of the population. We have conducted workshops with grassroots facilitators on the importance of promoting local food products. We have trained peasant leaders on the production of Sum Pak natural broths and its use in the kitchen. Also, we have worked with community radio hosts and peasant leaders to promote Sum Pak over the radio in four local languages (Diola, French, Wolof and Mandingo). We are setting up culinary contests to encourage women to prepare appealing creations to attract the consumer, yet filled with nutrients to ensure health. We organize tasting sessions, exhibitions and sales during local and national forums on peasant seeds, agroecology, and food sovereignty, and during fairs and festivals celebrating agroecology, rural women and special foods. 

We are part of a network of seven countries, and our sisters who are in other countries would like for us to share more about our experience in the production of our natural broths. Another notable success is that now we see that these natural broths are being accepted well by consumers. Currently the demand is higher than the supply; we can’t produce enough for the consumers in Senegal.

Mariama Sonko made a presentation at AFSA’s 3rd Biennial Food System Conference and Celebration (27-29 October 2020). Her talk has been translated from English to French and lightly edited for clarity and length. You can watch the full recording here. You can find more information on the preparation of soumbala here.

Photographs courtesy Rucha Chitnis and Nous Sommes La Solution.

By strengthening Indigenous seed systems, Indigenous communities are protecting their food sovereignty and culture.

Indigenous communities in the United States—and beyond—have been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 virus. The pandemic highlighted the grave consequences of a weakened food and agriculture system, contaminated lands, decades of extractive policies, and the systemic erosion of public healthcare. To many Indigenous activists and leaders, Covid-19 was also a catalyst: an urgent call to rebuild and restore Indigenous peoples’ health, resilience and livelihoods. 

The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), a long-term partner of the Agroecology Fund, has been supporting interventions to do exactly this. Faced with the dual crises of the coronavirus and climate change, the organization is dedicated to supporting Indigenous-led initiatives to strengthen food sovereignty. The IITC amplifies the voices of Indigenous peoples in decision-making spaces, offers training and leadership opportunities for Indigenous youth and revives traditional practices to increase sustainable food production, including farmer-managed seed saving.

“Saving our seeds is what is going to keep us alive, physically but also mentally and culturally as Indigenous people.”

— Chris Honahnie, member of the Diné and Hopi Nations, and IITC’s Administrative and Programs Assistant

Along with their partners—the Comobabi Community in the Schuk Toak District, San Xavier Cooperative Association Farm in the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation, I’iolgam Youth Alliance and Yoemem Tekia Foundation (Pascua Yaqui Tribe), Shiprock Traditional Farmers’ Association, Shiprock Chapter of the Navajo Nation and Sixth World Solutions, Association of World Reindeer Herders, International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry, Sami Parliaments of Finland and Norway, and the Arctic Athabaskan Council, CONAVIGUA (Indigenous Widows Association, Guatemala), Kuna Youth Movement (Panama), and the Seminole Sovereignty Protection Initiative (Oklahoma), and others—the IITC has initiated a process of rematriation of their seeds (in essence, “reclaiming Indigenous spirituality, culture, knowledge and resources in respect of Mother Earth, in opposition to the patriarchal destruction and colonization that is continuing to endanger the way of life of Indigenous communities around the world.”) 

“As Indigenous people, we are more than capable of taking care of our own seeds,” said Nicole Yanes, Opata from Arizona and IITC’s food sovereignty program consultant, in a recent webinar exchange organized for communities to share practical knowledge on preserving native seeds. 

Clayton Brascoupe, the program director of the Traditional Native American Farmers Association shared that in New Mexico, members of the Mohawk/Anishnabeg Nation were stewarding a “low-tech seed bank” that stays cool naturally and allows seeds to be preserved at the community level.” They have a back-up collection in case something goes wrong with the principal one, and continue to exchange—never sell—seeds with other Indigenous groups in the region. 

Duane ‘Chili’ Yazzie, member of the Diné Nation and Coordinator of the Shiprock Traditional Farmers’ Cooperative in New Mexico, also spoke about starting a seed library to protect the “seeds that were passed down from our ancestors and keeping the history of those seeds alive. As farmers, as indigenous people, we have the responsibility to protect our seeds,” he said. 

“As farmers, as Indigenous people, we have the responsibility to protect our seeds.”

— Duane ‘Chili’ Yazzie, member of the Diné Nation and Coordinator of the Shiprock Traditional Farmers’ Cooperative

Yet, the free exchange of seeds is increasingly threatened by policies in support of seed privatization, such as the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (Watch this video produced by AEF partner, GRAIN, to learn more.) Traditional, age-old practices are being criminalized and Indigenous agro-biodiversity faces the risk of being appropriated—and genetically contaminated—by agroindustrial corporations. “Those who don’t understand our way of life are trying to modify our seeds and our lands, but we need to stand against them,” said Chili Yazzie. 

The Agroecology Fund is in support of Indigenous communities from across the globe as they reaffirm their rights over their own food systems. As stated in Article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions”, which includes the right to protect, reproduce and share Indigenous seeds. 

Protecting these rights—and seeds—has never been more urgent. Stephen McComber, a Mohawk from Québec, noted that they are already seeing the seasons starting to change due to climate change. “We are at the northern limit where corn can be grown. We have flour corn, corn for cooking and corn for when the mind is lost (for example, when someone is grieving). We have a spiritual connection to our corn, which non-Indigenous people find it difficult to understand,” he said. 

“We need the corn, and the corn needs us for its survival,” added Clayton Brascoupe from New Mexico. In all their diversity and ability to adapt, “native seeds [corn, beans, squash and more] address our nutritional needs, our spiritual needs and the needs of the earth also.” With sovereignty over their seeds, Indigenous peoples can ensure they remain healthy and nourished, even in the face of future pandemics and climate change. 

Watch IITC webinars “Protecting and Restoring our Food and Ecosystems: Practical Knowledge Sharing with Indigenous Peoples, Part 1 and Part 2 on YouTube.

Photographs courtesy Unsplash/Markus Winkler and IITC.

The Agroecology Fund, Dominican Republic, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, IPES-Food, and SDG2 Advocacy Hub co-hosted a side event on February 11, 2021, at the 47th Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). The side event brought together diverse stakeholders to explore pathways to uphold integrated, participatory and inclusive food systems governance, in the context of the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) and beyond. 

In the face of multiple and urgent threats from Covid-19 to climate change, governance determines “who has power over how the food system will be transformed,” noted the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food,as he called for a rights-based approach that included agroecology and Indigenous knowledge in the UNFSS agenda. 

Ambassadors from the Dominican Republic and France emphasized the importance of civil society engagement through the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) of the CFS; they held that a holistic, multilateral approach would be key to a meaningful Summit later this year, and to successfully eradicate global hunger and achieve SDG2 in decades to come.

Speakers from the CSM were critical of what they described as the corporate capture of the UNFSS. They reiterated the need to center CFS—where civil society and a science-policy interface have been guaranteed representation since its reform in 2009—as the overarching mechanism for robust food systems governance. Just as food is diverse, so too should the diverse voices and perspectives represented in the CFS be respected as we ensure equitable and sustainable food systems, the CSM delegates emphasized. 

Discussants demanded that governance address existing asymmetries of power. The spokesperson from the UN Global Indigenous Youth Caucus called for the participation of marginalized groups —women, Indigenous peoples, and youth— to be ensured at the Summit and beyond. Indeed, questions of accountability and political economy should not be sidelined, cautioned the former Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). 

The Director of the SDG2 Advocacy Hub urged all stakeholders to embrace disruptive thinking and find common ground in the coming months, such that the UNFSS succeeds in accelerating food systems transformation. Speakers suggested a number of pathways to action, including that the Summit adopt another action track focused on reversing the corporate control of food systems; that outcomes of the Summit be sent to the CFS as a way of evaluating and operationalizing its recommendations; and that food systems reform be sought at the territorial level in support of smallholder farmers and their rights.

In his closing reflection, the CFS chair reinforced that the Committee is a unique intergovernmental and international platform that could certainly be further strengthened as a mechanism for food systems governance. Acknowledging that the CFS mechanism has an important role ahead of the Summit, and well after it, the event moderator concluded that  “integrated governance is essential for systemic change.” The moderator repeated that only by challenging established structures and improving upon them will food systems transformation be within our collective reach.

Watch the session here. Passcode: CFS47SE10+

Across Latin America, there are eight agroecology schools established by La Via Campesina, the world’s largest peasant movement, and the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC). Better known as the Latin American Agroecological Institutes (IALAs), these educational institutes are situated in Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Colombia. (The IALA María Cano in Colombia was founded in 2017, with support from the Agroecology Fund.)

Each of these IALAs are an important space for youth, women, and Indigenous communities to receive practical training in agroecology, but also to strengthen ideological values.

“In Latin America, universities are part of how capitalism educates people to serve the dominant model [of extractive, industrial agriculture]. No opportunities were available for the peasants in these educational spaces; so there was a need to build our own schools,” said Marlen Sanchez, the Academic Director of the IALA Ixim Ulew in Nicaragua.

As Sanchez points out, in most parts of Latin America, the formal education system prepares agriculture students for opportunities oriented towards industrial agriculture rather than agroecology. Unfortunately, state-supported agronomists continue to promote industrial agriculture practices that, for decades, have degraded lands, decimated livelihoods, and increased the incidence of poverty and hunger among rural communities. This contributes to the erosion of traditional knowledge and practices in the countryside. It does not align with the needs of small agroecological farmers and grassroots advocates of food sovereignty and agroecology, who are seeking to defend their rights and transform the global food system from the ground up.

For students of the IALAs’, agroecology is not an option; it’s a necessity to build a just food system.

The IALAs offer high school graduates from peasant or Indigenous backgrounds tools to resist the dominant model through educational and professional opportunities to support their local farming communities. They know the crises in the countryside cannot be solved with techno-fixes, whether GMOs or chemical inputs. The IALAs are central in scaling up agroecology at the regional level and strengthening the grassroots food movement in Latin America. For the past 12 years, they have functioned to strengthen the capacities of young activists and to forge a peer-to-peer extension system that recognizes the role of peasant and Indigenous agriculture—from cosmovisions to the milpa production model—in achieving food sovereignty.

So, what does the academic curriculum in the IALA look like? Usually, it begins with a “mística”, a practice that seeks to connect the students with nature and with each other. Theory classes are an open space to create shared knowledge between the teacher and the students; everyone is invited to contribute to discussions and bring their diverse perspectives into the classroom. Afternoons are dedicated to putting knowledge into practice on the IALAs’ farm plots. IALAs produce the majority of their own food in addition to surplus agricultural products for income-generation. The students apply what they have learned, experiment, and eventually take this know-how to their own plots and share it with their communities.

“Our agroecology is highly political. It challenges existing power dynamics and places the peasant community at the center of agricultural production. Agroecology is a tool for collective transformation, where there is room for both traditional knowledge and innovation,” said Blanca Ruiz, a member of the CLOC-Via Campesina secretariat team in Nicaragua.

There is also time within the program for students to reflect with their peers on social dynamics, discuss the impacts of development policies, and the struggles of their respective organizations.

Ramona Acuña, a former student at the IALA in Paraguay, explained how the training helps move gender equity forward: “[For years] the contribution of women to agriculture has been made invisible. Agroecology is a radical political proposal: it aims to liberate those who have been oppressed, and for this reason, agroecology is also feminist.”

By educating students in this holistic way, which encompasses philosophical and political dimensions as well as the practical, the IALAs are accelerating social transformation, encouraging the new generation of agroecological food producers to become progressive agents of change, with able hands to steward the land and mindsets that are anti-colonial, anti-patriarchal and anti-racist.

Photographs courtesy IALA Ixim Ulew, Nicaragua.

Sources: 

• The IALAs of Latin America and Agroecological Formation for Youth (Oxford Real Farming Conference, January 10, 2021). 
• Land, Agroecology & Peasant Identity: The experience of young people in Nicaragua (Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, September 23, 2020).
• Il Seminario Internacional Agroecología y Educación Rural (ANAMURI, October 8, 2020).

The Agroecology Fund recently collaborated with A Growing Culture on five episodes of their Hunger For Justice Series. Launched to highlight the inequities of the industrial food system exposed by Covid-19, these live broadcasts featured agroecology leaders from the AEF grantee network, and sought to amplify their grassroots community-led solutions for resilience.

“The series is a chance to pull people with an environmental focus into the social aspect of the food movement. A lot of the people tuning in are familiar with regenerative agriculture and sustainability but not food sovereignty and agroecology,” says A Growing Culture’s Loren Cardeli.

On October 2, the series featured AEF grantee partner, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, the Landless Rural Workers Movement from Brazil. Adriana Oliveira and Ceres Hadich of MST shared the importance of solidarity in times of uncertainty and why agroecology is crucial in the fight against inequality. 

The MST, or Landless Workers’ Movement, is one the largest peasant movements in the world, with an estimated informal membership of 1.5 million across 23 of Brazil’s 26 states. They have been striving for land reform and the right to healthy food in Brazil for nearly four decades. Their actions—increasingly met with state opposition and violence—are part of a larger fight against inequality and injustice, which disproportionately affects rural women, Indigenous peoples, and the urban poor. “We stand against hunger, against imperialism. We cannot lose our solidarity,” said Adriana Oliveira, a member of the International relations team of the MST.

“When we distribute food, we are sharing the wealth that was created between all of us.”

Covid-19 highlighted the importance of solidarity at the grassroots. Since the start of the pandemic, as part of their emergency plan to overcome the crisis, MST delivered more than 3,500 tons of food to people in need—a coordinated effort across 52 camps, 127 settlements and 20 communities. More than 800,000 boxed lunches were also delivered to people in low-income urban neighborhoods.

“Solidarity is not charity,” explained Ceres Hadich, a settler from the state of Parana. “When we distribute food from our settlement, we are sharing the wealth that was created between all of us; sharing the right to good food and food sovereignty. It’s a way to educate others.” 

Importantly, the MST’s actions also demonstrate that Brazilians are able to feed themselves with the bounty produced on their own lands.  “Look at the food we give in the boxed lunch: there are more than 80 different products—from corn to squash to beans to fish to a wide variety of greens. This food diversity reflects our agriculture, and our values,” said Adriana. 

In promoting diversity, the MST’s small producers also confront the import-dependent and industrialized food system that has standardized their markets and their diets, and compromised their health and livelihoods. They are demonstrating that alternatives to corn and soy monocultures exist, and that commodity agriculture serves only a few, not the many. 

Their community kitchens, community bakeries and food distribution efforts have helped people understand why agroecology and self-sufficiency are so important, especially in times of crisis. “In this time of this pandemic, we work to build a different kind of society,” said Adriana. A society that centers the rights of the people over corporations, and is not based on unsustainable exractivism. 

In the long term, the solution to crises like these lies in agrarian land reform.

“Even though the dominant class does not recognize the need for land reform, the MST knows it’s a way to fight against hunger, but also against all the environmental damage that is currently happening.” explained Ceres. “We seek to ensure dignified living conditions for the people in the countryside, decent housing, access to education, the ability to live without violence, to be respected and respect each other.”

And even in the midst of these challenging months, the working class continues to organize, and offer reasons to hope: “In the peripheries of the city, new leaders of young people, women, and different ethnic groups are emerging.” 

Watch the full recording on YouTube:

Learn more about AEF’s Emergency Fund grantees here.

Photographs courtesy MST.

The Agroecology Fund recently collaborated with A Growing Culture on five episodes of their Hunger For Justice Series. Launched to highlight the inequities of the industrial food system exposed by Covid-19, these live broadcasts featured agroecology leaders from the AEF grantee network, and sought to amplify their grassroots community-led solutions for resilience. 

“The series is a chance to pull people with an environmental focus into the social aspect of the food movement. A lot of the people tuning in are familiar with regenerative agriculture and sustainability but not food sovereignty and agroecology,” says A Growing Culture’s Loren Cardeli. 

On August 21, the series featured AEF grantee partner the Unión de Trabajadores de la Tierra, the Union of Landworkers from Argentina. UTT’s gender secretary Rosalía Pellegrini and food sovereignty activist Lucas Tedesco were in conversation with agroecologist and former Food First director, Eric Holt-Giménez. 

UTT was formed 10 years ago to give a collective voice to small-scale Argentinian producers. Today, the farmworkers’ union brings together thousands of families from 16 provinces across the country, to organize and advocate for agroecology, access to land, and social transformation. Their campaigns over the past decade demand fairer policies for peasants. 

In Argentina, most small producers live in precarity; with no access to land, more than 70% have no choice but to lease the plots they farm on.

“We are the ones who feed Argentina and produce most of the food for our fellow citizens yet we are marginalized and pushed into a grave situation,” said Lucas Tedesco. 

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, UTT would typically organize hundreds of grassroots assemblies every month, to advance the agroecology movement and strengthen their resistance to large corporations taking over their territories. Much of the land in Argentina has been turned over to farm soy and corn, destined for animal feed and export. The expansion of these transgenic monocultures drives deforestation across Argentina. “It is a destruction of our territories under corporate control,” said Lucas. 

“Agroecology is born from the workers”

Through peasant-to-peasant exchange, UTT promotes agroecology as an alternative to the industrial food system: an alternative that benefits small producers and allows them to restore their relationship with the land. The union’s members believe that patented seeds and the “Monsanto model” curtail people’s rights and sovereignty, putting farmers in debt and eroding the sustainable agricultural practices that evolved over hundreds of years.

“Farmworkers are the ones with the knowledge! Through agroecology we rediscovered so much of our traditional produce and recovered our health,” said Rosalía Pellegrini, gender secretary of UTT. 

“We want legitimacy for women farmworkers. We work to combat “machismo” and different forms of gender violence that are prevalent,” said Rosalia. UTT created a group of rural women farmworkers, to promote gender equity in the countryside, and a more feminist perspective in agriculture. “We noticed it was men who kept perpetuating this model of poisoning the earth, killing pests, to get more profit; but we are encouraging each other to take care of our ecosystems,” said Rosalía.

They soon realized that agroecologically grown produce, with its diversity of sizes, shapes and colors, was not always best suited for conventional markets. The farmworkers’ union has created alternative networks to directly supply consumers around the country. UTT collectively decides on pricing, to ensure their fruits and vegetables remain affordable to all. “Agroecology is born from the workers, from the countryside. Healthy food has to be accessible to all of us. Agroecological products should not be turned into a luxury good,” said Lucas. 

They have found that this marketing model helps consumers better understand and support food sovereignty, and helps producers live a more dignified life. “It is not just buying a tomato, it is a step towards social transformation,” said Rosalía. Today, UTT has more than 150 marketing “nodes” or points of distribution, 8 agroecological warehouses and several agroecological markets. 

During the Covid-19 lockdown, UTT quickly mobilized their networks to lead solidarity actions. As part of their relief efforts, they supplied vulnerable communities with fresh produce and healthy meals. With support from the Agroecology Fund, they are expanding their network of “sovereign food canteens” around the country. 

The pandemic made farmworkers across Argentina reflect on what is necessary to live, explained Rosalía. “We are essential workers; structural policies need to recognize that,” she said. 

For UTT, agroecology is a political tool to construct a more democratic and equitable system from the ground up: one that is inclusive of women, youth, Indigenous communities, and other marginalized groups. They seek to break ties with the exploitative, industrial model of agriculture and continue to urge the Argentinian government to support the rights of small-scale producers.

“Without agroecology there is no food sovereignty. We would remain enslaved to large corporations with no decision making power for ourselves,” said Lucas. 

“UTT demonstrates how key the peasant farmworker sector is when it is organized. It is transformative, not just for farming practices but for society,” said moderator Eric Holt-Giménez, in conclusion. 

Watch the full recording on YouTube:

 Learn more about AEF’s Emergency Fund grantees here.

Photographs courtesy UTT.

The Agroecology Fund recently collaborated with A Growing Culture on five episodes of their Hunger For Justice Series. Launched to highlight the inequities of the industrial food system exposed by Covid-19, these weekly live broadcasts featured agroecology leaders from the AEF grantee network, and sought to amplify their grassroots community-led solutions for resilience. 

“The series is a chance to pull people with an environmental focus into the social aspect of the food movement. A lot of the people tuning in are familiar with regenerative agriculture and sustainability but not food sovereignty and agroecology,” says A Growing Culture’s Loren Cardeli. 

On July 24, the series featured AEF grantee partner Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, the Peasant Movement of the Philippines, KMP. KMP is a democratic mass organization of more than 2 million Filipino peasants fighting for land reform, social justice and social change. KMP chairman emeritus Rafael ‘Ka Paeng’ Mariano and project coordinator Kathryn Manga were in conversation with journalist Nancy Matsumoto.

In the Philippines, fewer than 7 out of 10 farmers own the land they farm on. Impoverished by high land rents, they are often driven to debt and hunger. Research from the FAO shows that even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of Filipinos who went hungry increased by 31%. There were 44.9 million hungry Filipinos from 2014 to 2016; from 2017-2019, this number grew to 59 million. Farmers and consumers alike have been impacted by agricultural trade liberalization and high food prices, and policies that do not support local production. 

For the past 35 years, KMP has advocated for the redistribution of land to landless peasants. The organization fights for peasant rights and an end to agrarian injustices such as land-grabbing and displacement.

“We want Filipino peasants to attain food sovereignty and food security. The land belongs to the farmers, not landowners who don’t know how to till the land,” said Rafael Mariano, chairman of KMP.

Peasants’ demands for access to land and the right to farm it are increasingly met with violence. Since the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, harassment and killings of farmer peasant leaders has increased: 262 farmers have lost their lives in connection to land disputes since Duterte’s election. In August this year, 62 human rights and civil society groups sent a letter to UN member and observer countries at the Human Rights Council to express their “continued grave concern over ongoing extrajudicial executions and other serious human rights violations” in the Philippines.

Yet, despite the disappearances and killings of several activists and leaders, KMP continues to  defend peasants’ rights to secure and dignified livelihoods.

“Farmers must be united to overcome issues”

The farmers of KMP strive to feed their families and communities by practicing agroecology on collectively cultivated areas known as Bungkalan. These shared tracts of land engender solidarity between rural families,  participatory decision-making, and farmer-to farmer-learning. “These values of solidarity and reciprocity used to define agrarian communities well before the Green Revolution, said Mariano. In the Philippines, this is known as “bayanihan”.

During the early stages of the Covid-19 lockdown, the produce from these collective farms helped feed and support thousands of vulnerable people. With public transport temporarily disabled and markets shuttered, farmers were not able to tend to their fields or sell their produce, and fisherpeople who could not go out to fish.

“For farmers, there is no such thing as work from home. If they can’t farm, they will have nothing to eat,” said Kathryn Manga.

The organization displayed remarkable agility in responding to the crisis. They launched a completely volunteer-driven online Bagsakan, or farmers’ market, so that consumers in urban centers could be supplied with fresh, healthy produce grown on their collective farms. In Bicol and the island of Mindoro, they worked with the local government so that local agricultural produce was distributed as relief rations, instead of imported canned goods, explained project officer Kathryn Manga.

The funds they were able to raise went towards relief operations for landless and displaced farmers. With support from the Agroecology Fund, KMP is also helping people set up backyard gardens and kitchen gardens, and helping farmers preserve their produce to build resilience and ensure food security in times of crisis. 

“We need to value people’s interests over corporate interests,” said Rafael Mariano. He and the millions of peasant activists in KMP will continue to fight for social justice and development that upholds the rights of those who grow food for their fellow Filipinos. As Kathryn Manga put it, their fight is for a future where farmers are happy and share a connection to the land, where they are recognized and respected for their hard work, and can lead a dignified life.

Watch the full recording on YouTube:

Learn more about AEF’s Emergency Fund grantees here.

Photographs courtesy KMP.

The Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC-Via Campesina) is a continent-wide network representing peasant, worker, indigenous and Afro-descendant social movements from all over Latin America. An ally of La Via Campesina International, at present they bring together 85 organizations in 21 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. 

In the regions where CLOC is active, the rise of the industrial food system has led to land grabbing, poverty, malnutrition, an increase of suicides in the countryside due to debt, the persecution or disappearance of social leaders and out-migration of rural populations to the city. The growth of agribusiness has fuelled an alarming loss of biodiversity, the destruction of agro-ecosystems, and climate change.

CLOC-Via Campesina was founded in Lima, Peru, in 1994, to fight against these adverse impacts and strengthen rural resilience.

The fight for agrarian reform

CLOC opposes Free Trade Agreements and regulations to control seeds and biodiversity. Through its campaigns, it resists the imposition of monoculture, agrochemicals, transgenics, automated mechanization that envisions agriculture without farmers, and financing plans that push peasant communities into debt. 

“Ours is a fight for the land and comprehensive agrarian reform. It incorporates food sovereignty, which proposes access to food as a right of humanity. Land and water should be in the hands of those who feed the people,” said Nury Martinez of the National Federation of Agricultural Unions (Fensuagro) of Colombia, which is part of the network. 

The network’s goal is agroecological production which respects Pacha Mama, or Mother Earth. CLOC has been developing strategies to ensure that Latin American peasants are legally recognized and protected, which is why it has endorsed the United Nations’ Declaration of Peasant Rights. 

A few years ago, Fensuagro proposed a curriculum to train young people in agroecology. In 2016, the Latin American Agroecological Institute IALA María Cano, based in Viotá-Cundinamarca, was launched. The next year, 30 young peasants, indigenous people and people of African descent began the Agroecology Technology Program in the Colombian countryside. 

Good food for everyone

This IALA, along with several other Latin American IALAs that are part of CLOC-Via Campesina, encourages the youth to value food sovereignty, defend territories and protect their native seeds and peasant culture. It provides formal education for peasants, so that young people are motivated to stay in their territories, live well, and adopt good practices in the production and marketing of chemical-free produce. In this way, agroecological practices are scaled up and out from the grassroots. 

“If we have a strong peasantry, we will have the possibility of producing good food for everyone, managing carbon, cooling the planet and generating employment and genuine economic development,” says Raúl Krauser, from the MPA (Small Farmers Movement of Brazil, Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores), which is also part of CLOC. 

Now, in the midst of a global pandemic, the failure of the system to guarantee food for the population in critical moments is evident. Even before Covid-19, peasants united to feed the people. For instance, in Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil, peasants that practice agroecology ensure 300,000 kilos of food per month goes to the poor neighbourhoods of the city. Now, through solidarity efforts across Latin America and the Caribbean, they show that agroecology is capable of addressing food crises. 

The peasantry’s fundamental role in food production and resilience in the face of adversity is already apparent. In order to face the crisis, governments should prioritize genuine agrarian reform to guarantee the conditions that will allow peasants to ensure the food sovereignty of their countries. 

A version of this article was first published in Biodiversidad (Issue No. 104, April 2020). Translated and reprinted with permission. Photographs courtesy Fensuagro.

In July, the Global Tapestry of Alternatives (GTA) hosted a webinar featuring the stewards of the Potato Park in Cusco, Peru. 

The International Network of Mountain Indigenous People (INMIP), Asociación ANDES, and the Potato Park maintain the largest potato biodiversity hotspot in the world. Six Indigenous Quechua communities established the Potato Park as a “Food Neighborhood” in Peru in 2000. They work together to conserve more than 1365 varieties of potatoes (both wild and cultivated), a wonderful example of territorial management by indigenous communities.

For the Quechua people, cultivating is a way of life. They use their tradition and knowledge to maintain agrobiodiversity, which in turn sustains their culture. Potatoes are food, medicine, and cultural symbols. Importantly, preserving the biodiversity of potatoes is crucial for communities in this region — and indeed, for all of us — to maintain resilience to climate change. The Agroecology Fund is honored to support their work. 

In case you missed it, here are some key takeaways from the exchange:

“Preserving biodiversity preserves culture, knowledge, and experience.” 

The webinar began with a ceremony to honor Apu (the mountains), and Inti (the sun) using coca leaves (a form of payment to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth), in gratitude for what the earth brings to the people). The participants conducted the ceremony in the mountains, and then observed a moment of silence to honor those who lost their lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mariano Sutta, traditional native crops and wild relatives expert, shared that in the Andean cosmovision, harmony between humans and their landscape is sacred. For people to survive, there must be a balance between what we take and what we give to the land. 

The rights of humans need to be respected, as well as the rights of wildlife and the rights of the sacred, he said. The Quechua people maintain the Potato Park based wholly on these values; the balance between these three communities (the gods, the living, and the ancestors) is what creates Sumak Kawsay (Good Living). 

Ricardina Pacco, a traditional seeds expert, added that they value the importance of intergenerational knowledge, and encourage their youth to learn from the elders in the community. Around the world, diverse, knowledge-rich agroecological practices exist in harmony with nature. Agroecology protects and defends these ways of living; in recent decades, industrial agriculture has done nothing but erode them. 

“Solidarity is the currency we need to use to be connected.” 

Because respect, solidarity and reciprocity are paramount in the Potato Park community, making sure the people in cities had food was their first priority during the pandemic. During the Covid-19 lockdown, peasants from the Potato Park shared their crops and their foods with those who were stuck in the streets of Cusco. They brought their potatoes and shared them with those who were suffering from hunger. Even though they are farmers with low incomes, they have food that can be shared to help each other. “If we practice solidarity and we respect the land, we will have plenty of food for everyone,” said Ricardina.

It’s important to note that for these communities, solidarity and reciprocity is not philanthropy or charity, it’s a way to engage justly with others and with nature. 

How is the youth integrated in the preservation of agrobiodiversity? 

It’s important to work with the youth but also with the elders (intergenerational work), because otherwise there is no future. The elders need to pass on the knowledge to the youth to maintain agrobiodiversity and culture. Mothers and grandmothers teach children about seeds, animals, and medicinal plants, and involve them in different activities in the park. They want to make sure that the young people can remain in the rural areas and not seek to migrate towards the cities. 

The Potato Park Seed Bank and the threat of transgenics

The Potato Park has a community seed bank, a seed multiplication center, and greenhouses, which allow for in situ preservation. They have repatriated potatoes from other communities to preserve them, but the intellectual property still belongs to the communities where they originated, not to the Potato Park. Once the potatoes have been cultivated, studied and the reproduction is assured, the seeds are distributed to other communities to be cultivated.

They have also shared their seeds with the Svalbard Seed Bank in Norway, as they want to ensure that their seeds will be preserved. The seeds are like their children, they shared. They do not want them to be lost.

Yet, the biodiversity they steward remains threatened. Peru declared a moratorium on the use of transgenics in 2011, which ends in December 2021. It is uncertain whether the moratorium will be extended. The peasants were able to convince the regional government to declare Cusco a GMO-free region. They also work with international organizations and local governments to fight against biopiracy and to have it recognized as a crime. Lino Mamani, the curator of the Potato Park Gene Bank, said that farmers continually need to defend themselves against these threats. 

Do we really need “gene research” to maintain agrobiodiversity? 

At the Potato Park, indigenous communities practice traditional techniques to maintain biodiversity. In their view, gene research cannot solve the current problems faced by society. To be in control of one’s food production, it’s more important to know how to use the plants and the crops than to know their genetic composition. At the Potato Park, they know how to cultivate their plants, they understand the optimal conditions and no hyper-scientific techniques are necessary. Communities need to have a strong food system based on local knowledge; they cannot rely on governments or corporations. Conventional research is interested in commercializing seeds, and profits rarely come back to the communities. Food sovereignty is a participatory process, and cannot be achieved by the concentration of knowledge in the hands of a few researchers. It is important for them to maintain their knowledge and any collaborations with external actors need to respect their vision (no extractive patents, no GMOs, etc.). The farmers themselves are constantly engaged in research, always experimenting and innovating. They are not against research, but how it is done matters. If it goes against their vision, they don’t want it. 

Beyond potatoes 

The six Indigenous communities who take care of the Potato Park do not only cultivate potatoes, they also have more than 52 corn varieties, as well as other traditional produce such as quinoa, and olluco, oca, and mashua (tuber varieties). They advocate against exploitative practices such as mining, and practice water conservation — both important issues in the Andean region. 

They also work with artisans who create handicrafts from the region, using sheep wool or alpaca fiber, as well as ceramics and wooden sculptures. Their micro-enterprise and agrotourism initiatives help maintain a communal fund which supports the schools, the elders, or any other necessities of the communities.

The stewards of the Potato Park shared the logic behind their work in preservation, and also their constant fight to maintain their cultural heritage through the management of the land and the seeds. Founded on values of reciprocity and respect, their system enables them to be resilient in the face of this current crisis, and encourages the youth to follow the path of their predecessors. Peru’s Potato Park is an inspiring example of what we can achieve through Indigenous leadership, collective knowledge, agroecology, and holistic management of the land.

Watch the full recording in Spanish or English.

Photographs courtesy Asociación ANDES.

A memo from Indira Raimberdieva, Director of the Peace Building Center, Kyrgyzstan.

COVID19 has undoubtedly become a powerful catalyst for an in-depth rethinking of humankind’s experience. We hope that this monumental and immensely difficult challenge will end soon and the only thing we as a society will need to do is to summarize our “impressions” of what has happened, make the right conclusions, contextualize them with existing social and natural systems, and take greater responsibility for both ourselves and the environment around us. 

While waiting for powerful and far-reaching practical analyses of the post-COVID19 pandemic situation from all concerned members of our society, we would like to share some preliminary thoughts and reflections on the current situation. 

In general, we think the pandemic has facilitated a quantum leap in peoples’ consciousness of disillusionment about both ourselves and the surrounding reality. In particular, as evidenced by our discussions with experts and local community leaders here in Kyrgyzstan and also in the Pamir, Tien-Shan and Sayan-Altai biocultural zone, all this has given us a deeper understanding of our own lives and the lives of our communities. 

We identified three major areas in which reflection in the context of COVID19 has begun: values (~humans), ecology (~nature) and globalization (~interconnection). 

Firstly, the pandemic has changed our worldview priorities. Society has turned to “natural” systems of values that appreciate family and kinship; recognize human vulnerability and dependence on nature; recognize the importance of practicality, thrift and self-sufficiency; consider moderation as a normal practice or even a prerequisite for survival; integrate the law of recompense and perceive compassion and love for neighbors and all other beings as a higher justice.

We now respect the efforts of livestock breeders, farmworkers, hunters, craftsmen and all others who create things with their own hands to the benefit of themselves and the others.

Society has moved away from “synthetic” values such as personal success at any cost and the enjoyment of “material comforts”, wealth, power and popularity that urges people to create their own laws instead of following the eternal rules of morality and inevitable laws of nature. 

Secondly, the pandemic has clearly and now peremptorily demonstrated that the environmental degradation has reached its limit, a point of no return, after which there will be nothing left but further degradation. The attempt to understand COVID-19’s root causes, which is now being made by all segments of society and covers a wide range of theories, from a worldwide political conspiracy to the simple weakening of our immune systems, is frightening because all these theories point to humankind as the key actor responsible for everything going on in the world now. In-depth investigation into more complex and important links between the current situation and many preceding years of anti-environmental and amoral human activities is yet to come, but its findings promise to be even more horrifying.

Thirdly, the pandemic has opened our eyes to hard-hitting implications of globalization. In particular, we can see now that globalization used to be grounded mainly in material interests and not in moral values or humanity; on the contrary, it has turned out to be a cause of major vulnerability for all of us. For instance, many countries with great agricultural resources and potential but low-performing, highly corrupt, short-sighted and irresponsible governments have faced a sudden and absolute absence of food sovereignty and internal food security in this crisis situation. Other countries that chose to rely on finance and other less material sectors and services in their economies are also going through difficult times now.

Many communities have realized that there is no escape from the never-ending need to survive at the level of local landscapes, local social networks and “natural” systems of values and priorities. 

All these are preliminary, but highly obvious conclusions. We are yet to understand who we are, why and how we live, and where we are heading. 

Many authentic spiritual traditions share a common idea which can be defined as follows: “Remember about death as it is the greatest destroyer of illusions”. Death has never been closer to the humankind than now and it does destroy our illusions. 

Take care of yourself and your loved ones! 

As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the globe, dozens of countries have imposed strict lockdown measures with significant impacts across global food systems. Millions, if not billions, of people suddenly find themselves food insecure. Marginalized communities are more vulnerable than ever.

COVID-19 and Food Security

The FAO has raised concerns about the high number of vulnerable countries that were already “grappling with hunger/hit by other crises.” These “pre-existing conditions” have turned critical: many farmers do not have access to markets, food prices are inflated, consumers have lost income, and school feeding programs have been temporarily shut down. At the same time, frontline communities have shown enormous creativity in rapidly implementing mutual aid programs and advocating for public emergency programs and stimulus packages to truly resolve vulnerable populations’ food needs.

Role of Philanthropy

The scale of the crisis and the number of under-funded creative community responses are staggering — far beyond the capability of philanthropy to respond. To avoid being a proverbial drop in the bucket, we must do a lot with a little. Just as we fund critical emergency responses, we must support grassroots advocacy ensuring that public emergency and stimulus funds are deployed equitably, in a way that protects basic human rights.

The Agroecology Fund Response

Across five continents, Agroecology Fund partners and their allies are on the leading edge of humanitarian response to this crisis, just as they look for opportunities to reshape food systems for the longer term. Agroecology is central to building the healthy and resilient food systems we urgently need in the face of increasing global uncertainty. Remember, prior to this crisis, climate change was already pointing us towards relocalized food systems that work with, rather than against nature .

The Agroecology Fund will:

(i) offer emergency grants for humanitarian efforts that strengthen community-based, agroecological food systems and advocacy which holds governments accountable;

(ii) implement a communications campaign to support dissemination of stories of solidarity and resilience that elevate agroecology as a key solution to food security;

iii) convene a global learning process with key actors in the agroecology movement about how to adapt to the current and evolving situation over the longer term.

Our emergency grants will focus:

• On places where there are established and emerging solidarity networks, to ease the humanitarian crisis by facilitating delivery of food from rural producers (who may have lost markets) to urban consumers (who may have lost employment), especially to the most vulnerable populations.
• On reviving markets by strengthening community-based food systems that connect agroecological producers and urban consumers. In some cases, this can be done simply, by resolving logistical barriers such as food transport.
• On strengthening agroecological farmers’ food production by, for example, supporting expansion of seed production in response to greater demand.
• On supporting urban agriculture to localize food security.
• On advocacy to protect basic human rights in the face of government lockdowns.
• On advocacy to ensure government accountability to the needs of small farmers and vulnerable consumers in public aid and stimulus packages.

NOTE: Nominations will be sought from donors, advisors, long-term partners and Agroecology Fund staff. This is not an open call for proposals. Later in the spring, longer-term grants to meet ongoing, pressing needs and to take advantage of new opportunities to relocalize food systems along agroecological principles will complement these emergency grants.

The Agroecology Fund has launched this fund with $400,000 of seed funding. Would you consider joining this funding pool to extend support to urgent community-led efforts?

For more information about how to contribute, please contact daniel@agroecologyfund.org.

A photo essay on the Agroecology Fund Global Learning Exchange, 2020

By Rucha Chitnis

“From tackling hunger, poverty and inequality to responding to climate change to safeguarding biodiversity and expanding nutritional choice, agroecology echoes the goals of the 2030 Agenda,” states a recent FAO report. In fact, it is widely acknowledged that agroecological practices are key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. 

In February this year, more than 100 participants from nearly 30 countries gathered together for a week-long global learning exchange on agroecology.  These practitioners work at the intersection of policy, scientific research, grassroots movement building and natural farming practices. They were joined by 18 donors, a half-dozen advisors, and other agroecology allies.  The exchange was hosted by the Agroecology Fund (AEF) in collaboration with Amrita Bhoomi, a farmer-centered agroecology training center in rural Karnataka which is part of the South Asia chapter of the Via Campesina.

AEF is a diverse group of US, European, and Asian funders that jointly makes grants to advance science, practices, and policies for agroecology. The Fund has awarded $6.8 million to 38 collaboratives across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the USA.  “There’s never been a more important moment to invest in agroecology than right now. Agroecology is an innovative solution for the multiple crises we are facing right now, from climate change to food insecurity to the loss of biodiversity,” said Daniel Moss, the executive director of the Agroecology Fund. 

The learning exchange began with a site visit to Amrita Bhoomi in Karnataka, one of La Via Campesina’s agroecology schools in South Asia. Here, participants learned about agroecology as practiced in the Indian context — known popularly as Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) or Community Managed Natural Farming. The Amrita Bhoomi school trains smallholder dryland farmers in the region who are part of a vibrant state-wide peasant movement in Karnataka, and encourages their in-situ experimentation with agroecology in field plots.

“Agroecology is not just about natural farming techniques for farmers in Karnataka, but also about reclaiming rights over our seeds and our food systems. It’s the very transformation of our society,” said Chukki Nanjundaswamy, coordinator of Amrita Bhoomi. It is estimated that more than 100,000 farmers across the state now follow agroecological principles. In 2019, Chukki presented Amrita Bhoomi’s training model to the United Nations Development Program.

Farmers at Amrita Bhoomi demonstrated multiple practices of natural farming, including the preparation of jivamrita, a fermented microbial culture made from cow dung, cow urine and other organic materials, such as jaggery and flour made with pulses. At the learning exchange, participants learned that jivamrita, when applied to the soil, creates conditions for earthworms to thrive, building up the microbial activity in the soil and enhancing soil aeration and water retention.

Through field visits and hands-on activities, agroecology trainers explained the principles of ZBNF. Participants learned about the five-layer model, in which the field is designed to mimic a forest. Trees, like coconut or mango, are planted alongside citrus fruits, bananas and nitrogen-fixing plants, like beans and pulses. This diversity of food crops ensures an abundant nutrition basket for farmer’s families and the market, as well as a steady income.

Ricardo Pacco Chipa is one of the stewards of the Potato Park in Cusco, Peru. He is a member of the International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples (INMIP). Together with other indigenous farmers, Ricardo conserves a staggering 1367 varieties of potatoes that are managed by six communities. INMIP is working across mountain ecosystems, especially in centers of crop origin, to protect biodiversity and indigenous peoples’ biocultural rights.

One of the key impact areas of agroecology is restoring dignity to smallholders, and reducing the inequity wrought by the industrial-agricultural complex. #StopKillingFarmers: Landless peasant advocates, Kathryn Manga of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and Sansen Ramos Maglinte of Sibol Ng Agham At Teknolohiya, shared their efforts to promote the rights of landless peasants in the Philippines, in the face of land grabs and brutal attacks. Nearly 250 farmers in the Philippines have been killed in a span of three years. Groups like these continue to persevere for genuine agrarian reform.

A delegation of farmers and activists from Mexico shared how free market policies have undermined smallholder farmers. Grassroots organizations have turned to alternative models, like agroecology to foster vibrant local economies. AEF partners in Latin America affiliated with La Via Campesina operate regional agroecology schools where in addition to studying agroecological practices, students learn the importance of advocating against seed laws that favor patented varieties, and thwart farmers’ free exchange of seeds.

Grantees from across five continents shared ideas about how to increase small producers’ direct access to markets and consumers. “How do we create a new market structure for food sovereignty as opposed to having markets imposed upon us?” said Rupert Dunn, a Welsh bread baker and wheat farmer, who is a member of the Landworkers Alliance and collaborator with the Center for Agroecology, Water and Resilience at Coventry University.

Participants spoke about the value of ancestral and traditional knowledge, as well as the power of co-creating new knowledge and innovation, by bringing together indigenous peoples, scientists and researchers. They asked donors to align their values and principles with indigenous peoples’ vision, values and principles.

Vijay Kumar, Advisor to the Department of Agriculture at the Government of Andhra Pradesh, leads the project to amplify agroecology in drought-prone districts in the state. His vision is to scale Zero Budget Natural Farming (now called Community Managed Natural Farming) up and out, reaching six million farmers across Andhra Pradesh by the end of this decade. The program has garnered support from the state government, donor organizations and international banks such as the German overseas development bank, KfW.

Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI), an Indian donor organization, has granted  $14 million (100 crores) to the Zero Budget Natural Farming initiative in Andhra Pradesh — specifically towards technical support and natural farming fellowships for youth. It is currently the largest private grant to support agroecology worldwide.  “We saw an agrarian crisis and recognized that small and marginal farmers were vulnerable. We partnered with the government of Andhra Pradesh, which has shown a deep commitment to ensuring farmers are self-reliant,” said Tasqeen Macchiwalla, General Manager at APPI.

Still, agroecology receives a fraction of the financing that goes towards industrial agriculture. “It’s shocking that despite what we know about the benefits of agroecological farming solutions, globally less than 5% of public research dollars go to explore how we can promote these practices. In the absence of that public funding, there is a need for philanthropy to come in and support innovative research around the world,” said author and educator Anna Lappé, an advisor to the Panta Rhea Foundation.

A paradigm shift in the funding world is urgent, and might well be underway. Emile Frison, a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), observes a rise in investments in agroecology from governments and bilateral and multilateral donor agencies. “The German parliament has instructed their Ministry of ForeignAaffairs to invest in agroecology and be an advocate for investments in agroecology.  France has had agroecology on their agenda for a long time, and they have invested in West Africa,” he shared.

Both donors and grassroots networks working across the value chain are increasingly interested in blended financing, through which grants are paired with low-interest loans to support emerging agroecological enterprises. Several partner organizations that have income-generating businesses, such as CEDAC and Bionatur from Brazil, are ready to put this capital to work right away.

Professor Michel Pimbert, Executive Director of the Center for Agroecology, Water and Resilience at Coventry University, believes that agroecology is a counter-narrative to conventional industrial farming. Agroecology, he emphasized, focuses on equity and sustainability, where “circular farming systems mimic natural ecosystems” and reduces the dependence of small farmers on fossil fuels and other external inputs.

AEF shared its strategic plan with partners and asked for suggestions to inform the Fund’s next five-year plan. Partners reiterated how important it is for AEF and others in the donor community to listen and respond to the expressed needs of the agroecology movement.

Participants emphasized just how important it is to communicate evidence and successes to wider audiences. Million Belay, Coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, shared how AFSA has documented local impacts in partnership with the Oakland Institute (also an AEF grantee). They published 33 case studies of agroecological practices across the continent and produced ‘Know Agroecology’, a media guide for journalists and communicators in the continent.

During group sessions and panel discussions, grantees spoke to the importance of sharing evidence-based agroecology solutions that grow out of the experiences of local communities. The evidence can be used to train youth and engage decision makers.

“Agroecology is a collective resistance against climate change and is the people’s alternative to agribusiness,” said Kavitha Kuruganti of ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture), a pan-Indian network of nearly 400 diverse groups that advocates for the wellbeing of small and landless farmers, and access to healthy, locally-produced food. The Indian experience illustrates that with favorable public policies, government support and strong grassroots organizing, agroecology can be adopted rapidly across rural communities.

As Kavitha Kuruganti and Vijay Kumar pointed out, scaling agroecology up and out will need more than state support and enhanced financial flows. Social and community mobilization is also key. One of the building blocks of the ZBNF model was the participation of women’s self-help groups in Andhra Pradesh, which has helped it spread to more than half a million farmers across the state.

“Women play key roles in agroecology. They are the knowledge holders who work everyday [on farms]. [To be successful], we must also engage young people in a model that is focused on healthy food, community relationships and local consumption,” said Mariama Sonko, a Senagalese rice farmer. Mariama runs a business to create bouillon broth from local foods, and is the national coordinator of ‘We are the Solution,’ a pan-African campaign led by rural women to preserve traditional farming practices and promote food sovereignty. As part of this campaign, women farmers are also researching local rice varieties for reintroduction into markets.

Maribel López, a farmer and organizer with Centro de Desarrollo Integral (Center for Integral Development of Mixteco Farmers), spoke about how the climate crisis impacts farming communities: “Climate change is urgent. We don’t get enough rain. We are working on preserving native seeds and conserving our soil.  We are also trying to diversify our crops to have more food for our families. Agroecology helps make the land productive without hurting her,” she said.

“I dream of a world of agroecology. A world without toxic chemicals and death…I fight for agroecology for my daughter and future generations. I believe we can take agroecology to formal education so that it can be studied and transformed into concrete science,” said Lidiane Gregorio, a farmer from Brazil and a member of Bionatur Seed Network. The Bionatur cooperative supports seed-producing families to gain access to new markets.

According to ETC Group, three companies control more than half of the global commercial market for seed, with Monsanto controlling more than a quarter of this share. “It is important for us to remember that at the heart of agroecology is diversity. And diversity is our best defence in the future. It’s about remembering our right relationship with the land that made us part of the incredible biodiversity on our planet,” said Gopal Dayaneni, Program Officer at ETC Group.

“Rutendo Zendah, a research and advocacy officer at the African Center for Biodiversity, (ACB) works to strengthen biosafety laws and policies to stop the influx of genetically modified organisms in South Africa and beyond. “Our organization is resisting and opposing the corporate expansion of Africa’s agriculture systems. Agroecology has revived the connection of farmers to the land and water. As a young African woman, I am glad to be a part of the change that is coming,” she said.

Access to healthy and nutritious food remains a luxury for many.  According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, nearly 820 million people don’t have enough to eat.  Patricia Flores, a member of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, spoke about the power of agroecology to mitigate hunger and improve nutrition in low-income communities. Flores is part of a collaborative working in mountain ecosystems in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In her region, Peru, agroecological interventions have improved the diets of 30-40% of low-income communities in high-altitude regions.

Indira Raimberdieva, Director of the Peace Building Center in Kyrgyzstan, stressed the importance of preserving the unique culture of nomadic communities and their pastoralist practices in Central Asia. “We partnered with the Baikal Buryat Center for Indigenous Cultures and started a project to revive the indigenous Buryat cow, a breed that was central to the steppe pastoralism in Buryatia. Now, they are focused on restoring populations of the Kyrgyz horse, another indigenous livestock breed that has been pushed to the brink of extinction by decades of neglect. Their work is based on a “spiritually-oriented worldview and traditional knowledge.” 

Participants left the Learning Exchange inspired and energized; eager to continue strengthening the connections they made. “I learnt a lot and I was really impressed by the amazing energy and knowledge of the participants. I believe we have a lot to learn from each other,” said Cristina Agrillo, policy officer at Slow Food Italy.

“Agroecology offers a tremendous and urgent opportunity right now for funders. There’s so much vibrancy and creativity in the movements on the ground – women, farmers, indigenous peoples, researchers and scientists – all working to deepen the impact of agroecology around the world,” said Daniel Moss, Executive Director of AEF.

Rucha Chitnis is a photojournalist, writer and an emerging filmmaker.  Her work elevates a narrative of hope and resilience in the face of an ethnocentric lens that often erases and dehumanizes communities of color. She is a fellow at the International Women’s Media Foundation. You can read her stories here.

An edited excerpt from the author’s original post on the Seed and Knowledge Initiative Google group. 

I was very fortunate to attend the second meeting of the Agroecology Fund (AEF) partners, having also attended the first such meeting at St. Jude’s Agroecology Centre near Masaka in Uganda in May 2016.

The AEF began in 2011 when four people with vision from donor organizations sat down for a cup of coffee in San Francisco and wondered how more support could be given to the nascent agroecology movement around the world. Since then more than 20 donors have joined, and the fund has been able to support 49 proposals from 38 collaboratives with a total of $6.8 million US dollars in 60 countries. 

I take my hat off to those pioneers in that San Francisco café. It always amazes me how many effective initiatives begin in a similar way. In fact, I would even hazard to guess that the most effective, rooted initiatives begin in such a manner rather than in the more systematic programme planning that governments and others love. But as I will show below, it’s possible to bring well-planned systematic government programmes in at some stage! 

I’m going to share this experience in note form:

Focus on depth and breadth together

At the gathering were representatives (one or more) from nearly 30 collaboratives that the Agroecology Fund has supported. Most mornings started with a mística session, conducted by those coming from Asia, Africa and the Americas respectively. This linked to a theme that came strongly out of the gathering for me, that of continuing to keep going deeper into our understanding of what agroecology means. (There are some great initiatives to help deepen our understanding of our relationship to Nature. One example is the Earth Jurisprudence training that is being carried out by the Gaia Foundation and the African Biodiversity Network. It is very comprehensive and is producing leaders in the field of agroecology.) While we need to keep deepening wherever we can, to focus only on this would be an indulgence and would continue to hold our influence back. So, the theme really was about depth and breadth together. The Zero Budget Natural Farming initiative, described a little more below, is an example of efforts to spread agroecology. 

Initiate dialogues beyond our networks

Another theme that came through strongly for me out of the week is that, as agroecology activists and practitioners we need to start being more confident in what we have, including the huge potential of agroecology. With this confidence we can start going into spaces that we might not have gone into before because that would have been (seen as) a compromise. Of course, there are red lines we can’t cross, and we all have to decide that for ourselves. But, while remaining radical in the sense that we are talking about transformation of food and farming systems and nothing less, I feel we can also start dialoguing much more with people who we may have previously seen as opponents – with confidence. Such as, for example, some proponents of Climate Smart Agriculture, many of whom are still stuck in a certain mindset and/or are just doing what they’ve been told by their governments, which perhaps have a policy to promote CSA in response to climate change. Such people need to be given the opportunity to understand agroecology and how some CSA practices can be a first step towards agroecology. But also, to understand that agroecology is far more than CSA. CSA can be a start; agroecology is about real transformation. 

Document and evaluate evidence from the field, but with a holistic mindset     

Perhaps slightly in contradiction to the point above, something else that came out of the gathering was that we should not waste time trying to convince those who cannot be convinced. This includes trying to put evidence together to convince scientists who are still very stuck in a reductionist mindset, and people who just don’t get the radical shift represented by agroecology. We talked about the evidence trap, while not underplaying the critical importance of documenting and gathering data wherever we can. Just as agroecology, with its very different mindset to that of the western mechanistic mindset, is about learning to do things in a very different way, referring to past wisdom too, so should the documentation of agroecology be done in a different way. We need to be creative and context-specific, and apply a holistic mindset to the way we plan, document, and evaluate – a mindset that is more in tune with working in complex situations than is generally apparent today.  

Explore new directions in funding

There was quite a bit of discussion during the week about money. How can we motivate more money for agroecology? So far, a pittance has been forthcoming. This is a key issue, as we need many more resources, particularly as we try to amplify and spread the practice of agroecology. There is, for instance, some debate surrounding ZBNF and where money is now coming from to help its spread. What money can we take? Or not? Where do we draw the line? We do have to make judgement calls on all this. There was also discussion about tapping investment money for agroecology enterprises, which I feel is an exciting development and badly needed. And there is also the concept of blended funding which includes a mixture of grants – to help the establishment and to strengthen capacities to run enterprises successfully – and investment financing.

Zero Budget Natural Farming (now officially Community Managed Natural Farming)

And so, to Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), which was a major part of the gathering. We visited two farmers near Bangalore who follow ZBNF practices. The next day there was an excellent panel discussion, which delved into different perspectives on ZBNF. Finally, many of the participants joined a field trip to Andhra Pradesh after the conference, where we visited three communities of farmers and heard from Vijay Kumar, who leads the government programme within the Andhra Pradesh government. 

ZBNF originally gathered momentum in Karnataka state, which neighbors Andhra Pradesh (AP). Here, the largest farmers’ movement in Karnataka, called Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), initially led this process. KRRS, a member of La Via Campesina (LVC), invited Subhash Palekar, the ZBNF founder and guru, to hold a training on his approach in 2002. By the 5th day of the first training most people had dropped out, but one farmer, Krishnappa, stayed and ‘got it’ and started using the ZBNF/Subhash Palekar approach. He was very successful and became a powerful example to others. Ever since, KRRS and many other allies have held several training workshops every year, often for as many as 6,000 people in each training. Extraordinary! Progressive and secular religious institutions contributed by lending their facilities for no charge. 

Vijay Kumar, a senior retired public servant who had worked in the field of rural livelihood development for many years, became one of the key allies for ZBNF/agroecology in the state of AP. Prior to this, he’d worked on a sustainable agriculture program called Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA), which helped to reduce pesticide usage in about 1.8 million acres and benefitted 738,000 farmers. The unique feature of that program was that it worked with women organized into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and initiated a collective learning process via a Farmer Field School extension model. The same model has now been replicated in the AP-ZBNF programme and has gone beyond a focus on merely pesticide reduction, to more holistic agroecological adoption. 

 An Indian corporate foundation, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI), got wind of this work and became enthusiastic about its potential. Both the AP government and APPI have now put substantial money into the programme, which is now working with around 500,000 farming families and plans to work with all 6 million farmers in the state by the end of the decade.

There has, however, been quite a bit of controversy surrounding ZBNF in India amongst agroecology activists. This seems to hinge on the approach being too doctrinaire, on the intolerance of its founder Subhash Palekar towards other organic/agroecological approaches, and on the source of the large amounts of money now being loaned to the Andhra Pradesh government for its upscaling. For example, a German bank, KFW, has recently pledged funds to support the programme.

I was interested to learn the details of the actual ZBNF agroecological practices. They seem to have four main areas of focus (my take is slightly different from the ‘4 wheels’ that they talk about.

Via the Seed and Knowledge Initiative and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, we have been promoting fermented biofertilizers, both aerobic and anaerobic. This is in recognition of the need to move more into this world of bio-stimulants, bio-inoculants and bio-fertilizers.

“We can encourage microbes much more in our farming practices than perhaps we have been doing. ”

As indicated above, ZBNF has been accused of being too doctrinaire and this is a valid observation. For the most part, farmers follow exactly what Subhash Palekar teaches on his courses. However, you could argue that perhaps this is the best way for farmers to enter into the world of agroecology. Many farmers in India, as in other parts of the world, have been seduced into the simplicity of the Green Revolution ethos: ploughing, monocropping and chemicals. Agroecology is a whole different world; a world of great diversity, soil care, and microbes, and where the basic underlying principle is that everything is connected to everything else. Where does one begin in such complexity?

While there is a danger of over-simplifying entry into agroecology, for example, by simply introducing some intercropping and not going further than this, there is also a danger of making it too complex. ZBNF seems to have found a good balance between these two. It goes far enough to genuinely be called agroecology while keeping things relatively simple for farmers who are starting out on this journey. 

John Wilson is an agroecology stalwart from Zimbabwe working with community-based organizations, national NGOs, and regional and continental networks across Africa. He helps to facilitate strategic and collaborative activities that contribute significantly to the transition to transformed food and farming systems.

Photographs: Soumya Sankar Bose, Rucha Chitnis, Amrita Gupta.

This article originally appeared on the La Via Campesina South Asia website.

Bengaluru: Early February this year Amritha Bhoomi – one of La Via Campesina’s agroecology schools in South Asia – and Agroecology Fund, a leading advocate of sustainable agricultural practices around the world co-hosted a training and learning exchange for social movements and NGO representatives coming from over 30 countries around the world, at the Fireflies Intercultural Centre, on the outskirts of the city. 

The exchange programme comprised joint workshops, panel discussions, working group sessions and visits to the fields of Natural Farming practitioners in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. 

“Agroecology is not just about natural farming techniques for farmers in Karnataka; it’s also about reclaiming rights over our seeds, our food systems. It’s the transformation of our societies.”

— Chukki Nanjundaswamy, coordinator of Amritha Bhoomi Peasant School

During the course of the exchange program, participants visited agroecological farms near Amritha Bhoomi in Chamrajanagar, as well as those on the outskirts of Bengaluru city to understand Zero Budget Natural Farming and how it is helping farmers in Karnataka. Participants also visited Ananthpur district in Andhra Pradesh, where with help from the State government, Natural Farming techniques have been adopted by a large number of farming families. 

To read the full blog post, click here.

Source: https://www.greenamerica.org/personal-story/kofi-boa

Q: How did you become interested in farming??
Kofi Boa (KB): My parents were farmers, and as a young child they had to take me to the farm on weekends and school holidays. Just like all the children in the village, I only knew the school and the farm. I liked the farm because there was always so much to eat and a lot of space to play. This got me interested in farming, and I wished everyday was a weekend or holiday. Today, I am a farmer and educator. I grow a wide variety of food and cash crops, including trees, vegetables, grains, and cover crops. I grow a number of different crops on my (size) farm.”

Q: When did you learn about the importance off soil health and begin putting it into practice??
KB: My father died when I was 10 years old. At age 12, my mother’s cocoa farm–which was our main source of family income–was burned by a neighbouring farmer who had set fire to his field to prepare for planting corn. From that day on, I pledged to fight slash and burn, a method used by farmers to prepare their fields for planting, which gives crops an initial nutrient boost but kills the soil life necessary for sustained, healthy farmlands. I spoke to elders in the village and learned that, rather than use fire, they used to cut vegetation, leave it on the ground for a year, and then come back to plant crops–especially cocoa–when it had decomposed. This technique was called “proka” in the local Akan language. I started practicing “proka” at that age and have adapted it by planting in the mulch immediately after slashing, without the one year waiting period.

Q: What growing practices do you follow??
KB: Everything I do on my farm is guided by a goal to regenerate the soil:

1. Minimal soil disturbance through no-till and/or reduced tillage practices such as planting directly on the mulch covered field
2. Permanent soil cover by retaining crop residue on fields after slashing or using cover crops if there are no residue
3. Crop diversification through crop rotations

Q: What inspires you to use these practices??
KB: Human population has dramatically increased in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past two decades, resulting in increasing demand for food. While the number of people that need to be fed is rising, the arable land area suitable for producing food is declining. This is due to enhanced desertification, flooding, accelerated urbanization, and unfavourable farming practices–especially land preparation methods.

I am inspired by the regenerative power of agriculture to build healthy soils, increase organic matter and nutrient levels, enhance soil life, and improve soil structure to meet rising demands for food. The practices I use and advocate for allow for continuous and intensive farming in an environmentally friendly and profitable manner, whilst satisfying human needs for food and/or income. This is all possible because of soil health. I believe these practices help balance production, costs, environmental considerations, and economic sustainability.

Q. Tell us about the Centre for No-Till Agriculture (CNTA) and the outcomes you witness when regenerative agriculture is adopted by the communities you work with.
KB: I founded the CNTA to show the benefits that come from conserving and regenerating the soil. I had been using these farming practices on my farms as an example, where farmers could see results. I began to teach others, and farmers were getting interested, so I started the Centre.

At CNTA, I teach farmers about forest productivity, fallow land, and how to replicate healthy soil conditions on arable lands using the principles I mentioned earlier. I build farmers’ confidence with interactive and visual evidence on demonstration plots and other farmers’ fields. Once farmers become confident that the approach work, they complete hands-on practical training so they feel comfortable implementing on their own lands.

With healthy, productive soils, farming can be a real business and an assured means of livelihood. Outcomes are visible in the community, with the elimination of bushfires, year-round food security, and the creation of wealth among vibrant youth in rural areas.

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges in getting farmers on-board??
KB: The benefits of building soil health are slow to realize, and no-till practices are not wide spread. There is a lack of support and promotion around regenerative agriculture. Financing is needed for creating additional learning and demonstration plots for farmer training. Farmer-to-farmer extension services are very important, but the lack of incentives for getting outstanding smallholder farmers involved continues to hinder the spread of regenerative agriculture. Inadequate inputs and market access is also limiting and slows more widespread adoption of these practices.

Q: How can consumers support the work that you are doing??
KB: Rising consumer demand could trigger more interest in products grown regeneratively, which in turn would drive the recognition and adoption of soil conserving practices at the farm-level. This would greatly support our initiatives at CNTA. Rising consumer demand for these products will have positive impacts on the changing climate, as more environmentally-friendly production practices are employed.

To learn more about Kofi’s work, visit https://centrefornotill.org

Jonathon Landeck of the New Field Foundation tells us about his visit to the Rasht Valley of Tajikistan. This article originally appeared in the Seeds, Soil & Culture Newsletter.

Seeds, Soil & Culture is interested in “centers of origin” for food crops such as potatoes in Peru and neighboring countries, yams in West Africa, and apples in Central Asia. Most sources suggest that present-day Kazakhstan ─ several hundred kilometers north of the Rasht Valley in Tajikistan ─ is the true center of origin of apples, or at least of Malus sieversii, the red apple. There are at least three other origin species of apples: Malus sylvestris, from Europe; Malus orientalis (the yellow apple) from Turkey; and Malus baccata from far eastern Russia.*

Though the Rasht Valley of Tajikistan may not be the absolute center of origin for apples, it has for a very long time been called the Valley of Applesas it is home to numerous heritage fruit varieties cultivated over

many centuries. With this historical culture as its context, a Tajik NGO called Public Organization Rushnoi is establishing Kuhsori Ajam, an Apple Park and Botanical Garden located in Jasfr Village, that also houses a cultural museum and meeting center for local fruit growers, village residents, and visitors.

Public Organization Rushnoi’s strategy for learning at Kuhsori Ajam is to use traditional rituals, folk knowledge, cultural heritage and values, and the collection and cultivation of local horticultural seeds and plants as educational tools. All of Rushnoi‘s work is aimed in the long term to fully restore the agrobiocultural diversity of the Rasht Valley. Kuhsori Ajam is home base for this work. This year, Rushnoi is working with 13 local, master fruit farmers to research and collect fruit tree seeds and seedlings. They will plant and graft the heritage varieties they collect using traditional methods and make these varieties healthier and more accessible to farmers to grow, process, and market. The 13 master fruit tree farmers are sharing their traditional knowledge and skills with 2,100 other people in the Valley of Apples including members of 25 rural women’s groups. 

Behind the realization of Kuhsori Ajam is the founder of Rushnoi, Mirzosho Akobirov. In 2010, after visiting the Potato Park in Peru, Mirzosho concluded that Tajikistan should create and maintain an Apple Park in his home community of Jafr, Rasht Valley.** Mirzosho had been collecting heritage fruit tree seeds and seedlings for himself over the past 28 years and now wished to share his knowledge more widely for the good of the community. Today Kuhsori Ajam has more than 110 heritage varieties of apples, apricots, and pears thriving on the hillsides of its landscape. Mirzosho cites “love for the native countryside” and “conservation of local biodiversity” and gathering heritage species to “leave them as a legacy of the past to a new generation” as the inspiration for Kuhsori Ajam.***

The cultural environment of the Rasht Valley is conducive to a place like Kuhsori Ajam. Here people take the words, phrases, and sayings of their ancestors as sacred, and they observe traditional wisdom every day. Expressions like “respect the Earth as you do your mother” and “kiss a seed, it fills the granary” are common in Rasht Valley. So is the idea that eating an apple each morning – or simply saying the word “apple” – will bring health to individuals, families, and communities. These are communities who appreciate the dignity of traditional methods, knowledge, cultural heritage, and honest labor, and whose ancestors taught that “only the jeweler knows the dignity of gold”, just as an apple grower knows the dignity of their fruit trees and the land where they grow.

* New Insight into the History of Domesticated Apple: Secondary Contribution of the European Wild Apple to the Genome of Cultivated Varieties. Amandine Cornille, Pierre Galdieux, Marinus J.M. Smulders, Isabel Roldán-Ruiz, Francois Laurens, Bruno Le Cam, Anush Nersesyan, Joanne Clavel, Marina Olonova, Laurence Feugey, Ivan Gabrielyan, Xiu-Guo Zhang, Maude I. Tenaillon, Tatiana Giraud. Published May 10, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.100270
** http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/14670IIED.pdf
*** https://www.christensenfund.org/2014/08/18/restoring-roots/

In the climate change arena, there are two main streams of work – mitigation, which are measures we need to take to stop emissions and halt climate change, and adaptation – the varied practices we are taking and can take to adapt to living with the new conditions that climate change brings.

Adaptation Futures is concerned with the latter and is the biennial conference of the Global Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (PROVIA). The 5th international Climate Change Adaptation conference was held in Cape Town in June 2018. As the name implies, it focused on adaptation.

The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) participated in the conference together with the Surplus People Project (SPP) and Bread for the World. We shared our hour-long session with Griffith University (Australia) to explore the topic “Harnessing indigenous and traditional knowledge for adaptation in low-input conditions”.

First, let me get off my chest that the prohibitive cost of participating in this event and the opening/welcoming plenary consisting of 5 men and only 2 women disturbed me from the outset. There was no hiding the fact that a particular exclusive class of humans would be discussing the fate of the world on their terms and speaking and thinking on behalf of marginalised and vulnerable communities. I feared that the well-worn narratives about technology as a (so-called politically neutral) saviour and the commercialisation of “green” incentives would underpin the agenda and the dialogues, while providing a platform for the green industry to sell their ideas.

In all honesty I can’t tell you if that was a fair intuition, given that just on the day that I attended, there were 55 presentations to choose from, covering an extensive range of issues from all over the world by a wide variety of stakeholders. Adaptation is a mind-bogglingly vast topic. I attended a session on “an urban equity and justice orientation for climate adaptation and resilient transformations” hosted by Birmingham University (in a nutshell equity and justice are ranked low as outcomes of adaptation interventions).

I also attended a session on Community-Based Organisations’ (CBOs’) engagement regarding adaptation in their grass root work. There is plenty of innovative and inspiring work happening at grass roots, although it became clear that the high-level politics regarding this work is fraught and the negligible budget to finance such projects shows that they are low priority.

I did not attend CGIAR’s session on “transforming agri-food systems – moving from science to action” and I noticed that the corporate-driven, purposefully ambiguous and greenwashed concept of climate smart agriculture remains the dominant and undisputed approach toward agriculture and climate change.

So – a very mixed bag, and there can be no doubt that the Cape Town International Conference Centre was full of passionate and interesting individuals and institutions working on adaptation and an incredible amount of new and interesting knowledge and research was being presented and debated over the week. However, information is just one side of the climate change equation; without discussions on values, worldviews, the imperative for economic growth, and who holds power, the discussion is incomplete.

Our session

Leswin Koopman, who is a smallholder farmer from the Northern Cape of South Africa and a member of the Food Sovereignty for Agrarian Reform movement, shared a ‘slice of life story’ of his farming practice. What struck me, sitting in this high-level meeting crammed full of donors, development agencies, NGOs, scientists and corporates, is that no saviour is going to come to these communities and protect them from climate change and increasing desertification in that already harsh environment.

Instead, Leswin has learnt about how to cultivate and use the indigenous and hardy rooibos (redbush) plant from a local elder. He incorporated this knowledge into his own mixed agricultural production system comprising of a variety of crops and livestock and shares that knowledge and exchanges seed with other local community groups. His agricultural resource and knowledge base is enriched by interaction with local communities, as well as through interaction with SPP and the wider political and solidarity platform provided by Food Sovereignty for Agrarian Reform, which is linked to the global peasant movement, La Via Campesina. Thus he is adapting to changes in his local conditions with his own ingenuity and the help of local knowledge on indigenous resources. He is supported by a variety of networks and movements that value sovereignty, local knowledge, environmental integrity and care for one another.

He is hampered by the fact that rooibos has become a lucrative commodity and he must therefore compete with large-scale commercial farmers and distributors. In this ecology he must supply the middleman instead of having a direct market, and the prices he can fetch are unfair. This is not a technological issue, but a political one and should be a crucial discussion in the adaptation discourse at the global level. However, rooibos is not his sole livelihood and sustenance activity; his story proves that the key to adaptation and resilience is diversity – diffusing risk by engaging in a variety of activities and social networks gives him the ability to be nimble and adaptable.

After Leswin’s presentation I presented on new legal regimes regarding seed on the African continent that actively destroy resilience and diversity, creating instead intense vulnerability in the face of climate change. The narrative used to sell these new seed policies posits traditional knowledge and indigenous resources as “backward” and inefficient and even goes so far as to blame hunger on the continent on farmer-managed seed. Even though some 80% of the food produced in Africa comes from smallholders, and even though this food is produced primarily from farm-saved seed, the global seed industry proposes to replace farmer-managed seed – wholesale – with their anaemic portfolio of crops and varieties.

While farmer-managed seed comprises a diverse abundance of crops and varieties that provide nutrition, medicine, fodder, fibre and livelihoods, the formal seed industry focuses on a handful of commercially viable crops, such as maize and legumes. What’s worse is that this seed must be genetically uniform to gain certification for marketing, which further narrows diversity and the adaptability of this seed. The formal industry has a preference for promoting and selling hybrid seed, which performs reliably for only one season, after which its viability and yield dramatically decreases. This necessitates the annual purchase of seed. The Plant Variety Protection (PVP) regimes that are being aggressively pushed at national and regional levels also make this seed the intellectual property of the breeders, thus prohibiting recycling and sharing of protected seed. The upshot of seed trade laws, coupled with PVP laws, is that formal, privatised seed is the only seed that is allowed on the market, while in some cases farmers’ varieties and vital traditional agricultural practices such as sharing seed are stamped out or criminalised.

The seed industry knows full well that they are unable to provide the wide diversity of seed that African farmers, households and communities need for their survival and wellbeing, but they’re willing to sacrifice farmer-managed seed systems in order to corner the market and assure their profits. Our governments are going along with this nefarious plan, enacting these draconian laws, even buying “improved” seed with the public purse and distributing this seed to farmers on behalf of seed companies, thereby wiping out farmer varieties and agricultural know-how. This is the antithesis of adaptation for climate change, destroying diversity and resilience and creating farmer dependency on corporations and uncertain markets.

Conclusion

I left the conference feeling frustrated by all the noise around the issue and with the distinct feeling that we are not asking the right questions in order to deal with this situation that threatens the very life-support system of all life on earth. We need to be deeply critical of modern technological methods to adapt to climate change if they emerge from elite research agendas to suit commercial needs.

Technology always comes with owners and intellectual property rights define who has access and under what conditions the technology may be used. Elite research agendas and intellectual property regimes shape development paths and our ideas about modernity, all the while deepening the global class and power divide. Further, global economic and intellectual property regimes are built on the notion of individual actualisation and individual rights, which are not universal values. Other worldviews are actively oppressed or radically changed to fit into the individualistic worldview, if they are acknowledged at all. This perverts functional worldviews and cultural practices.

Struggles around indigenous knowledge are not only about the actual knowledge itself and who can benefit commercially from it, but also about the definition of modernity and the acknowledgement of varied knowledges and worldviews as credible and equal to the worldview of the globe’s elite and powerful. Misguided and frankly racist terms such as “under-developed” and “backward” are surprisingly common and accepted in mainstream discourse. I hope for a time when naked profiteering and commercialisation and associated extraction and exploitation are recognised as backward and uncivilised.

While I deeply value research and information about how we can adapt to the climate crisis that has already hit us, I would love to see a greater critique of the value system that brought us to this brink playing a central role in high-level dialogues such as these. Unfortunately the elite talking to themselves are unlikely to unseat themselves from their comfortable positions by addressing the heart of the issue.

This article originally appeared on: https://acbio.org.za/en

The bounty and diversity of Papua New Guinea can easily make one’s jaw drop.  Home to a staggering array of endemic species and over 800 indigenous tribes, Papua New Guinea is also the world’s most linguistically diverse nation. This diversity has also birthed an incredible food culture that has been stewarded by local communities in their organic food gardens and surrounding rich environment over millennia.

Like many other Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea is also vulnerable to modernization and climate change, which is threatening the food culture and biodiversity. Jennifer Baing-Waiko recognizes the power of media to revitalize pride among Papua New Guineans in their local culture and foodways. She is the host of Cafe New Guinea, a lifestyle show that films the unique cuisines of Papua New Guinea, from the majestic highlands to Kar Kar Islands to coastal reefs.

Jennifer is also the co-founder of Savé Papua New Guinea, a nonprofit that encourages Melanesians to preserve their unique traditional foodways, biodiversity and culture. Savé means “wisdom” or “to know” in Tok Pisin, a creole national language. Last year, the Agroecology Fund provided Savé Papua New Guinea with a grant to collaborate with five other innovative Melanesian groups to promote agroecology and improve community health and climate resiliency. The Food is Life project will also produce an educational tool kit with audio-visuals, films and a facilitator’s guide to train indigenous food advocates in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu.       

Q: What sparked your interest in using media to highlight the food culture in Papua New Guinea?

Jennifer: Papua New Guinea gets negative press globally, and we wanted to show a positive face. Food is a window where you can go to communities, speak with locals and get a sense of being in the real Papua New Guinea. We wanted to showcase the beauty of our people, the scenic beauty as well, and show our diverse foods. Today, we are completely removing our children from the gardens. They spend the whole day in school and are not learning from their mothers and fathers about their gardens, how to plant banana or how to harvest. Also now a highly refined diet is causing health problems.

Q: What made you take your film project to other Melanesian countries?

Jennifer: I originally became involved in agroecology through the Christensen Fund; one of our first projects was Cafe New Guinea. We were also introduced to the Slow Food movement and learned about the importance of agrobiodiversity through various networks and people, like Phrang Roy. We realized that this is perfect for Papua New Guinea and Melanesia, where communities are still living subsistence lifestyles. We also met people at Vanuatu Cultural Center and discussed what we need to do in each of our areas in Melanesia to encourage agrobiodiversity.

Q: What are the threats to traditional foodways in Melanesia?

Jennifer: There are definite threats to the traditional food system; people want to make money planting coffee, cocoa, cabbages and broccoli. Traditional crops, like banana, taro and wild foods, mushrooms, wild greens are an important part of the diet, but now imported foods, like Irish potatoes have come to the market. This influence from outside has brought watermelons, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant. People are not diversifying their gardens as they used to. The fruits and greens eaten by elders are not consumed by the younger generations.  

Savé Papua New Guinea was founded in 2007, and we realized that it was important to promote our cultural identity, environment, everything Melanesian. We want to promote positive things about our people and culture. It’s important to document some of these things, make them popular through media so that we remember where we came from as Melanesians and we can exchanges with other indigenous peoples around the world.

Q: What is the role of women in preserving agrobiodiversity?

Jennifer:  In Papua New Guinea, indigenous women play a central role in food production. They don’t just produce for the family, they are also contributing to the nutritional value of meals. They are producing food crops, the more diverse a garden is producing, the more diverse the diet of a family. So women play a central role in the health of family and the nutritional balance lies in the garden. This central role needs to be highlighted and promoted so that women also know it’s a powerful job they are doing.

Q: Can you share more about the Food is Life media project?

Jennifer: Last year we did the filming. We went to the central province in Papua New Guinea, met the community, and they took us to their garden and showed us their food and how they prepare the delicacies. We also documented their traditional fishing methods. We filmed in five countries in Melanesia. We went to Solomon Islands, where we filmed in the markets and shot different local foods that they identify with their culture. In Fiji, we interviewed farmers, what they produce culturally, what are the traditional cooking methods, whether it is with hot stones and burying food wrapped in banana leaves. There are medicinal properties of leaves cooked on hot stones. In New Caledonia we met many communities along the coast and up in the mountains. We saw cooking in the mangroves and in an Earth oven.

Cafe Melanesia (film series) will promote Melanesian culture and food culture to audiences in these islands. We are now working on creating the educational kits and dissemination of information. The kit will also have DVD sets that the trainer or community leader can play in communities, go through resource kit on what’s agroecology, agro-biodiversity and food sovereignty to educate communities. The goal is to protect and preserve their agrobiodiversity, which is also linked to dietary diversity throughout Melanesian countries.

Q: What has been the impact of the films of Cafe New Guinea?

Jennifer: The first production of Cafe New Guinea was showed on national television in Papua New Guinea, as well as in Australia, Maori TV in New Zealand. Our National airline, Air New Guinea, also showed our films in flight entertainment. The people love it. They love watching different food cultures and learning more about Papua New Guinea. Children love the programs, as well as adults. They love seeing their own food and culture on TV. They see a lot  of programs on TV from other cultures and countries. It’s important for them to see their own food and their own culture as well.

Q: How is climate change impacting Melanesian islands?

Jennifer: We see unpredictable weather patterns; it’s supposed to be dry season right now but it’s raining. We had rain for three weeks straight with brief moments of sunlight. We have also had periods of drought.  It’s very important for culturally valuable foods like taro to have rain or they get dried up. We need to find a wet region to save Taro seeds. Our staple Marasri banana, which we don’t have to plant again and again is threatened by a pest coming through. We have a special dish that we make with ripe banana and coconut called ganamjub, a sweet porridge. These pests that we don’t know about are destroying our staple foods. These foods are key to our culture. This is happening throughout the Pacific–foods that have a big cultural value are being destroyed.  Agrobiodiversity is really important for our survival. If taro is not productive because of dry season, you have sweet potato that is drought resistant or tapioca planted in your garden. You have to make sure your garden is diverse. Agrobiodiversity and climate change are linked together. People have to diversify not just what they are planting but where they are planting as well; they need more than one garden place, one close to the riverside during drought and away from the river during rains.

I am thankful for funds available for these projects and people out there who see the importance of it. What the Agroecology Fund is focusing on is really important to indigenous farmers worldwide. Often communities that we are working with in Papua New Guinea are overlooked by larger funders.

John Wilson is a Zimbabwean freerange facilitator and activist playing a small part in promoting agroecology and food sovereignty at different levels in eastern and southern Africa

The visit

Earth, air, water and fire, the four interconnected elements of life on Earth: We began the day with a mística in which Method and Gertrude led us through a reflection on these four elements. We each had our own insights. As so often with místicas, we took our sense of belonging to life and our empathy to Nature a little deeper. It was a fitting preparation for the day ahead. 

“We” are all part of the Seed and Knowledge Initiative’s (SKI’s) Community of Practice and had come to northern Malawi to learn from and share with the Soil, Food and Healthy Communities (SFHC) organization. 

After the mística we crowded into a bus, eager to get out into rural Malawi after the previous day indoors, keen to see in practice what we had been hearing. All forecasts predicted we would be rained upon but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm.

We headed north. The last time I visited this part of Malawi was about 10 years ago. My impression this time was that there was even more maize than before. I suspect that the Government input subsidy programme is responsible for this. Though one knows it, it’s good to be reminded of the huge implications that stem from seeing maize as being equal to food. There’s the same equation here in Zimbabwe. We passed maize field after maize field, with patches of tobacco every so often. Tobacco is farmers’ cash crop in the north of Malawi. Here and there one could spot other crops such as groundnuts, pigeon pea, beans and Bambara nuts.  

Fairly soon after going through Ekwendeni, we pulled up on the edge of the road. We were to walk the last kilometer or so.  After a long mid-season dry spell, a lot of rain had fallen in the previous two weeks. We slipped, slid and waded our way to the Moyo family home in Wengani Moyo Village, which is in the Edundu area. 

The homestead was alive with activity. There were four fireplaces in action. Many people were cutting, mixing, stirring and testing. We visitors split into two, with half the group going to the fields and the other half staying to hear what was being cooked and how. 

One immediately striking observation in the cooking scene was that both men and women were actively involved. We had heard the story behind this the day before and how it had been a difficult road to reach this stage. 

We saw all the different recipes being prepared with a strong emphasis on a diverse diet. The men and women, of different ages too, were cooking a variety of dishes with legumes, such as ‘bean sausages’ and soya milk. They made sweet potato doughnuts and finger millet ncima. And much more. 

We then toured the fields to see what they are growing and how they are transitioning to agroecological practices, still using bought fertilizers but reducing these as they learn more about feeding the soil with compost, bokashi and manure rather than just feeding the plant, as highly soluble chemical fertilizers do.  

Later we gathered in the shade of some large trees for lunch. The rain fortunately continued to hold off, though as a southern African I can never complain about rain, even if it had come! The lunch table was full of a huge variety of dishes, mostly cooked dishes, but also samples of dried food to try. There was also Ishwa (flying ants), one of my favorites. Before the meal some of us sampled a little finger millet 7-day brew, just enough to whet our appetites. It was a pleasant appetizer – nothing more than finger millet soaked in water and fueled by wild yeasts, pure and only mildly alcoholic. 

The community members went through all the dishes one by one, explaining what each was. Then we dived in and what a feast it was. It was impossible to try everything and so we had to choose, which is the age-old human dilemma that revolves around selecting foods. We used to be good at selecting for nutritional reasons, now we’re not so good. Fortunately, in this case nutrition was the emphasis. 

After lunch, we sang and danced. Included in this was a performance of traditional dancing from some elder stalwarts, who were dressed traditionally. The day was a celebration of food, smallholder farming, dynamic culture, local knowledge development, rural communities, working together, and solving problems. We went home tired, nourished in a number of ways, asking questions, and thinking about what all this meant for our work. 

What I learnt from this trip and find particularly striking about SFHC’s work

Documentation and Evidence

The Soil, Food and Healthy Communities (SFHC) organization began as a programme of Ekwendeni Hospital around 20 years ago. The initial focus was to work with communities to intercrop legumes so as to improve nutrition. There were far too many children ending up in the malnutrition ward of the hospital. They hoped to stem these numbers. Being an action research programme, they documented very well from the beginning. This is the first thing that struck me about the work of SFHC. Documenting and gathering evidence is something that many civil society organisations struggle with. 

Over the years SFHC have built up a vast amount of evidence related to their work. They have had some very supportive people in the academic world to back this up. It also struck me during discussions on this visit how much work this documentation involves. While I believe we need to pay much more effort to linking academics to CSOs, not all CSOs will ever find the kind of support that SFHC has had. We in the agroecology world are bombarded, and have bombard ourselves, with the need for evidence. It’s something that we discuss often from different angles. 

What I concluded from this trip to northern Malawi is that we must try and strengthen the link between the academic world and CSO work related to Agroecology and Food Sovereignty. But we must also be strategic about this in some way. It’s not going to be possible to have the level of SFHC’s documentation everywhere. I don’t think that’s realistic. How can we ensure that at least some of our work is documented to the kind of level that SFHC has achieved?

Relationships between men and women

In the above paragraph I have stressed the aspect of evidence as one strategy to be able to sell Agroecology as a practice more effectively. But SFHC’s main concern was not this so much, especially as they were starting out. Their concern was to find out what was working and, even more important, what wasn’t working. 

About three years after beginning their first ‘Soil, Food and Healthy Communities’ programme they discovered, through their action research, a major flaw in what they were doing. They were increasing the burden of women’s work through their promotion of legume intercropping practices. In their own words, they were making the situation worse not better! They were shocked but not dispirited by this revelation. They already had a strong self-critical streak, knowing that they had to be very careful about their assumptions as they progressed with their work. 

In the next phase of their work, SFHC introduced a strong emphasis on digging deep into the relationships between men and women. They gathered the groups they were working with into safe spaces where they could talk about these issues. They carried out exercises to look at how men and women spent their days. They used drama to highlight aspects that came out of the discussions. I got the impression that they were relentless in pursuing this theme, knowing that if they didn’t tackle it they were not going to get anywhere. 

It’s not my intention to go into a lot of detail here. That detail is captured elsewhere. What has happened with the work of SFHC, and this is all well documented, is that in the groups they have worked with they have radically changed the nature of the relationship between men and women. 

Many men came to realize through the SFHC facilitated processes that their wives were overloaded with work and as a result they have taken on tasks that have been traditionally reserved for women. They now help with the cooking and looking after their children. They undertake ‘women’s’ work in the fields too. Even more important perhaps than the specific role-sharing, they are much more aware and this has led to an improvement in relationships between married men and women. 

To me this is remarkable and beautiful. Rural Malawi is conservative, like many rural areas of Africa. Change doesn’t come easily and that’s certainly not all bad. Too much change has been and is devastating. I’m a strong advocate for cultural revival across Africa, recognizing that this is an intricate part of people’s identity. Like many who are or have been part of the African Biodiversity Network, I see cultural and biological diversity as being intricately linked. 

Unfortunately many people see culture and improving gender relations as being incompatible. This is I believe based on wrong assumptions and distorted views of ‘culture’. I think what SFHC have shown is that these two are not incompatible. Culture is dynamic, one often hears, and so it must be. Where SFHC is working with communities this seems to be the case. 

Transitioning to Agroecology

Another theme that came through in this visit was that of seeing and understanding a transition to Agroecology. I think some of the SKI visitors were a little disappointed that the farmers with whom SFHC are working still use the very soluble and acidic commercial fertilizers. For example, one farmer applies manure to his field before he plants his maize and then uses a soluble chemical top-dressing half way through the season. Another farmer uses bokashi in one of her fields but the soluble chemical fertilizers in her other, bigger field. 

All those working with SFHC trained farmers are doing some form of intercropping. It’s a process of transition. They are trying, seeing and learning. This makes sense to me. Soils depleted by years of using the soluble chemical fertilizers will take time to be restored to health. I’m hoping that the fermented biofertilizers currently being promoted in some AFSA-linked trainings, and hopefully this year through SKI too, will help farmers take this transition further and more quickly. 

We perhaps need to do more to link up the many options of agroecological practices that have been developing across our continent and across the globe. There are many such alternatives to the chemical farming that destroys the biology of life and creates a self-perpetuating dependency by farmers on these products purchased from corporates. There is a tendency for these agroecological practices to remain in their own pockets. I believe that together they are starting to present a very powerful alternative. 

Agroecology is for poorer farmers?

“The problem is that Agroecology is seen as a practice for poorer farmers,” suggested a Zimbabwean SKI partner in the meeting. “That’s not a problem for us at all”, an SFHC representative responded, “that’s who we work with and who are often left out.”

“But the problem is, if it’s seen as something for poorer farmers then young people won’t be interested,” came the reply. 

Both these points are good I think. Agroecology is an excellent practice for those who don’t want to spend money on inputs. But at the same time it remains our challenge to show how Agroecology is in fact the modern 21st century approach to farming, based on complexity science and the most recent research into soils. The simplified approach of the green revolution was a 20th century solution that has backfired. To bring young people in we may need at times to bring in a more business-oriented approach to farming to ensure the income generation that they are keen on, as well as the other benefits of an agroecological approach. 

Conclusion

SKI’s Community of Practice is about learning and I think we learnt a great deal from this exchange visit. It’s impressive what SFHC have done and achieved in relation to gender and agroecological practices. It’s also striking how well they have documented their work. These are both issues that many civil society organisations struggle with.  

One of their results is that they have contributed significantly to the closure of the children’s malnutrition ward at Ekwendeni hospital! 

One less encouraging point is that at a workshop last year when they presented their results, the Government representatives hardly listened. They said, “we’re doing all this already”. We still have a long struggle ahead!!

The Constitutional Ban

Back in 2008, farmers and activists around the world applauded Ecuador and its recently elected President Rafael Correa for banning genetically modified (GM) seeds and crops through its new Constitution. This constitutional ban was the first of its kind, and part of an equally unique and explicit national commitment to food sovereignty. Civil society played a big role in drafting the subsequent legislation.

Few however know that as soon as 2012, Correa publicly stated the GM prohibition was a ‘grave mistake’ pushed through by ‘leftist activists’. Ever since, he has been advocating for Ecuador to develop a national GM research center, arguing that Ecuador having its ‘own’ GMOs would entail an exemplary form of food sovereignty. Until recently, this seemed unlikely. But a newly adopted seeds law opened the door for Correa’s plan, however unconstitutional, four days before he left office.

Who Controls Our Seeds?

After 5 years of debate, in May 2017 the Ecuadorian parliament approved a new law for agrobiodiversity and seeds which was received by civil society with mixed feelings. On the positive side, the law protects traditional, native and farmer’s seeds and declares that these can be exchanged and sold without the need for certification, but at the same time several other articles clearly contradict this right, leaving the door open to future conflict between the State and farmers. The law maintained, and even reinforced, the constitutional ban on genetically modified seeds and crops.

A few days after the parliamentary approval of the new law, and awaiting the presidential OK which seemed only a formality, the shocking rumor circulated that Correa would veto it because he wanted to lift the GM ban. All of this happened while the parliament was in transition after February’s elections.

The rumor turned out to be true.

As soon as this was confirmed, Ecuador’s alert and well- organized farmer groups and food activists moved into action. There were only two weeks left before the parliamentary vote on June 1- very little time to mobilize the public and convince parliamentarians, in a very unfavorable political context.

As a priority, we addressed parliamentarians directly through phone calls, letters, whatsapp messages, personal visits and briefing meetings, and informed them of a) the dangers of GM seeds and crops, b) the unconstitutionality of the veto and c) the existing public opposition. Hastily put together petitions were circulated among our networks and generated a stream of letters to parliamentarians from inside and outside Ecuador which, in the words of one of them, was ‘impressive’ considering the short time frame. We also reached out to the press and mobilized a social media campaign, which gave visibility to the widespread protest against the entry of GMOs.

On June 1, just days before Correa’s successor Lenin Moreno was to be inaugurated as President, the new parliament approved Correa’s amendment to the law – although notably, all opposition party parliamentarians rejected it or abstained. This step effectively allows genetically modified seeds into the country ‘for research purposes’. Farmer leaders and activists however argue that nobody will invest in research if there are no possibilities to sell the results.

The Fight Continues

The citizens of Ecuador are not giving up, however. A range of strategies are being developed, including appeals to the Constitutional Court, considering that the new law is clearly anti- constitutional – both the process (the way it was imposed) and its concepts. We are also working with provinces and municipalities to declare ‘GMO free zones’. New alliances are being built, with other people and organizations affected by the new law, including agro exporters who risk losing markets such as in the case of organic banana producers.

Across the country, manifestations took place in front of federal and provincial institutions on June 21 in which a great variety of movements and collectives participated. Not coincidentally this was also the day of solstice or Inti Raymi, which in Andean culture marks the start of a new growing cycle. In a first victory, an alliance of cooks and agroecological farmers convinced the mayor of the northern city of Cayambe to announce the district ‘free of GMOs’.

Ecuador has a long tradition of strong, peaceful and effective civil resistance. Opposition to genetically modified crops and seeds is widespread. There is growing concern about the quality of food, livelihood and damage to the environment. We will therefore continue to defend our rights to produce and eat healthy and local GM- free food produced by the country’s many small-scale men and women farmers.

What can you do?

• Click here and send a message to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno: https://www.change.org/p/a-la-corte-constitucional-queremos-un-ecuador-libre-de-semillas-y-cultivos-de-transg%C3%A9nicos-en-ecuador
• Read: Los Transgénicos en Debate: http://www.allpachaski.com/2015/10/los-transgenicos-en-debate/
• Share this poster about agroecology versus food production based on GMOs
• Follow the campaign Qué Rico Es! on Facebook for regular updates (in Spanish): http://www.facebook.com/quericoescomersano

By Janneke Bruil, Colectivo Agroecológico, and Javier Carrera-Andrade, Red de Guardianes de Semillas (Ecuador)

The participants represented over 300 million people in Africa – farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, Indigenous peoples, consumers, youth networks, women’s networks, food processors, scientists, activists, funders and researchers – all concerned about the future of food and social justice on the Continent and globally.

So where was I?

Luam Kidane, IDEX’s Regional Director for Africa, and I attended Changing Food Systems in Africa: The Role of Agroecology & Food Sovereignty in Health and Nutrition Conference hosted by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) in Addis Ababa between November 24 to 26 2016. Colleagues from Bénin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somaliland, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe came together to dialogue about agroecology, land, nutrition, policy, seed, and health and to collectively analyse the threats and the opportunities ahead for food sovereignty on the Continent.

IDEX considers it a great privilege to be invited into such dialogue. As a US-based public foundation, we have a solidarity role to play in supporting the courageous people struggling for social transformation on the frontlines of food sovereignty and climate and economic justice movements the world over. This conference and the subsequent AFSA Annual General Meeting inspired some new year’s resolutions for funders:

1. Resource narrative change strategies.

The dominant narrative of industrial agriculture being the solution to feeding the world and ending hunger through increasing productivity through chemical-based agriculture and knowledge coming from the Global North must change. This narrative is reductionist, exclusionary, inaccurate and ignores the negative impacts on communities and culture. Instead, it is essential to resource efforts underway such as those led by AFSA that seek to resurface and continue building alternative African narratives based on sustainable and people-centered food sovereignty models  and rooted in generations of African farmers and their experiences. As pointed out at the meeting:

“Many of the farmers are women who evolved the African food system and nourished our populations before the industrial food system was imposed on us. Our focus ought to be on rural people who form the majority of Africa – people who have fed Africa through family farming systems – and their experiences. We have to also include consumers on the Continent as the industrial food system is affecting their nutrition and health.”

– Million Belay, coordinator of Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA)

If in the struggle for social transformation we are to be led by the analysis, nuance, and experience of partners ,like AFSA, we as funders also must heed  the challenges they have identified. For example, AFSA has pointed out the desire to cast greater influence on policy makers. While AFSA produces excellent case studies on agroecology, they are struggling to find resources to translate these materials into languages other than English, which are spoken in Africa. This is a simple ask easily mediated by a small grant.

AFSA will continue engaging with Africans and conduct research to understand the African food system and the impacts of industrial food systems on Africa. AFSA’s agenda requires resources for inclusive collaboration, strategy and documentation and dissemination.

2. Fund at the place where siloed programs meet.

Agroecology and food sovereignty processes regard food not only as economic value but as cultural knowledge; as medicine; and as glue for social relations. As Bernard Guri of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development in Ghana reminded us at the conference, food production in Africa integrates elements of rights of nature, spirituality, democratic participation, peace, self-determination, sensuality, justice, and human dignity. To fund at these intersections is critical to ensuring that our actions do not unconsciously disrupt the ecological balance and social harmony of communities. Compartmentalized and short-term thinking has caused the many problems that face our food systems currently. It is going to be imperative that the solutions we resource are intersectional, integrated, and lead to long-term and sustainable change in food systems.

3. Invest in collaborations and interdependence.

There is no silver bullet solution to the global food crisis. We know that corporate interests and disregard of local knowledge has led to monocropping, monoculture and an extractive global agricultural system. It is going to be important in this next phase therefore to invest in collaborative initiatives that nurture and promote the idea and practices of interdependence, not only amongst movements and organizations but in fact, throughout the ecosystem. Seeds, soil, land, food production, and market access are all interconnected aspects of the agroecological movement. The conference reminded us to add health, nutrition and cultural wellbeing to this mix. As was shared in Addis Ababa:

“There is so much opportunity for south to south solidarity building. More reflection and alliance building is needed regularly and often. We must see to it that our struggles must resonate with the struggles of others around the world.”

— Mariam Mayet, Director of the African Centre for Biodiversity, South Africa

Pluralistic practices nudge us to remember that we are not in this alone and cannot possibly solve the world’s food problems through competitive and short-term goals. Solidarity, interdependence, collaboration and learning are going to be central to the solutions we most direly need. As funders we would do well to resource continual learning exchanges and alliance building opportunities, which follow the lead of organizers in the Global South who have been gleaning important lessons from facilitating such exchanges.

4. Model what we ask for.

There is a need to build funders’ internal capacity within philanthropic organizations to understand the nuances of the dominant narrative and the counter arguments for food sovereignty, so we can influence mainstream philanthropy in the Global North. For instance, though organic agriculture is often put together with agroecology, we have to make sure we have a solid grasp of the details, because there is a strong corporate influence in the organic sector. Furthermore, there is a formidable current in the organic sector, which still pushes for the growth of food as export, hurting African communities.

As philanthropists, we often have the honor of having a cross-sectoral perspective. It is critical that we are sharing information amongst ourselves and inviting funders interested in gender justice, environmental justice, economic development and labor rights to begin to see food sovereignty as “their” issue as well. I am delighted to be a part of two such magnificent funder collaborations that seek to model what we ask from our grantee partners– the Agroecology Fund and the Grassroots Climate Solutions Fund. Both collaborative funds aim to leverage the singular power of foundations into a collective effort to amplify, resource, advocate and build the power of people on the frontline fighting for food sovereignty and climate justice.

As IDEX, we are committed to learning from our grantee partners and being flexible and responsive. We are also committed to sharing our individual strategies across funding organizations so we can learn and build together in 2017.

Rajasvini Bhansali is the Executive Director of IDEX.