Civil society groups and farmers from 22 countries in Africa
and Europe have converged in Murang’a county to discuss agroecology and how it
can be propagated to boost food security.
The five-day
conference is organised by Bread for the World, a faithbased organisation based
in the US that advocates for policy changes to end hunger.
It will end on Friday. On Wednesday, the stakeholders visited
Wakas farm, an agroecological farm in Sabasaba that is credited for its
biodiversity and which is used as a demonstration farm by the county government
and civil society organisations.
Murang’a is leading in agroecology in the country and became
the first county to adopt an agroecological policy and Act in 2022.
Elijah Kamau, the programmes officer at Institute for
Culture and Ecology, said the county is undertaking a mapping drive for
agroecological actors to help coordinate their activities.
“We realised we
needed to strengthen our multi-stakeholders platform and have established a
tool that will help us distinguish which activities will be carried out by
individual partners,” he said.
“We have also established thematic working groups that include
agroecological farmers, processors and marketers and have been meeting
consistently. Soon, we will have a multi-stakeholders platform meeting.”
In Kiambu, Kamau said, civil society organisations have
helped formulate an agroecological policy that is set to be tabled in the
county assembly.
Imke Tiemann, Bread for the World’s programme officer in
charge of continental networks and partners in Africa, said Kenya was chosen to
host the conference due to its strategic position.
“It’s easier to
invite people and to travel to Kenya. We decided to organise the conference to
discuss what agroecology can help us achieve. We then invited seven different
organisations to form a steering committee to organise the conference,” Tiemann
said.
She said the field visit to an agroecological farm is vital
for stakeholders to see the activities being undertaken and the successes.
“Some partners have
been working with this farm. It has provided us with an opportunity to have
further exchanges on the topic”.
Chifundo Khokwa, a member of Seeds and Knowledge Initiative
(SKI), an organisation that brings together various entities that promote food
security in the Southern African region, said agroecology is the solution to
the many challenges facing Africa.
She said Africans have been grappling with food and
nutrition insecurity, and climate change, and agroecological practices help
mitigate against them by encouraging conservation agriculture and boosting food
production.
