AGROECOLOGY FOR FOOD SECURITY AND SOVEREIGNTY

1. AGROECOLOGY FOR FOOD SECURITY AND SOVEREIGNTY PRESENTED AT THE 5th FANRPAN High-level Food Security PARTNERS’ MEETING Vuningoma Faustin SG PELUM ASSOCIATION REGIONAL SECRETARIAT Pretoria/SA, 30th May, 2013

2. Brief information on PELUM • PELUM Association is a civil society member driven regional network of 220 civil society organisations, operating since 1995. • We are in 10 countries of Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. • Very soon we will also be in Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Swaziland • Our mission is: To improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and the sustainability of farming communities by fostering ecological land use management.

3. PELUM’s take on agro-ecology • As PELUM Association we see agro ecology as a form of agriculture that integrate natural, regenerative processes; minimize non renewable inputs; relay on indigenous knowledge of farmers; involves locally adapted practices and encourages biodiversity. • Our ELUM is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. • It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of external inputs. • ELUM combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and good quality of life for all involved in the ecosystem.

4. Approaches to promoting agro-ecology • Farmer field schools through lead farmers The community farmer field school is a result of ToT that has a capacity building multiplier approach, where each lead farmer targets 10-30 farmers.

5. MOBILISATION AND TRAINING Approaches to promoting agro-ecology cont. • Training, Mobilisation and awareness raising This approach takes on a bigger number of farmers at a time and most theories are captured in these sessions Mobilsation and training of the farmers on cassava production

6. Approaches to promoting agro-ecology cont. • Holding training with exhibitions Combining trainings with exhibitions proved to be a very effective strategy of popularising and changing the attidude of the community groups towards the cassava and xassav based. In the last picture, the chief of west Ugenya Mr. John Osore was the first to taste cassava cake prepared by the farmers during the training.

7. Approaches to promoting agro-ecology cont. • Community seed production for seed sovereignty hence food security through use of regenerative OPV seeds • Value addition and Market access; Once value is added market linkages are created by bringing together different players in the value chain. • Networking of like minded organisations for best practices sharing and strengthening common voice for advocacy. • Communication and information sharing through publications, resource centers and e-sharing

8. Farmer to farmer experiences • On-farm soil management, water conservation & harvesting Farmers plant fodder on the boundary of the contour to make the soil firm while at the same time providing feed for the animals, adding nitrogen to the soil and also providing mulching material

9. Farmer to farmer experiences cont. • As a result of adopting mulching, farmers have Testified to increased yield and ability to maintain Productivity amidst harsh climate conditions.

10. Farmers dig a ditch (left & below left), fit in a tapoline and then introduce water weed to purify as well as minimise water loss through evaporation. A farmer from Masaka district (below right) demonstrates the use of a simple water pump to draw water from the well to the animals and for irrigation Farmer to farmer experiences

11. Challenges of scaling up agro ecology • Lack of support from Governments: Most African governments have deliberately promoted conventional agriculture at the expense of agro-ecology. • Interference and pressure from multinationals; whosefocus is maximizing profits through creation of monopoly supply of high cost external agriculture inputs. • Research agenda geared towards conventional agriculture: There has been deliberate negligence of undertaking farmer participatory research to avoid shading scientific proof that support agro-ecology.

12. Challenges of scaling up agro ecology cont. • Unfair trade policies: Trade policies that favour multinationals at the expense of the small scale farmers who still stand to be the bigger producers of food eaten world over. • This is done through protection of IPRs and harmonization of trade laws of goods and services that have undergone formal approval and registration that undermines the exchange of small scale farmers produce (seeds) which would be classified as illegal.

13. Conclusion • There is enough practical evidence that agro-ecology is the way to go not only to sustainably feed the world population, but also to raise the rural poor household incomes. • African governments and donor community have for long supported conventional agriculture that has only benefited the small number of commercial farmers and multinationals dealing in agriculture inputs. This trend needs to change. • We call upon FANRPAN to critically analyze the ongoing seed trade harmonization regulations for the benefit of the SSFs and advise policy makers appropriately. Agro-ecology can feed the world

14. THANKS FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION