I beg help
By Felicia Imohimi
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in collaboration with other stakeholders, has pledged to scale-up agroecology, organic agriculture and climate smart agriculture in the region.
The stakeholders are Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa (3AO), West African Organic Network (WAfrONet) and ActionAid
They made the commitment at the Regional Forum on Agroecology and Organic Agriculture in West Africa in Abuja.
The theme of the forum is “Financing the Transformation of Sustainable Food and Nutrition Systems for Food Sovereignty in West Africa through Organic Agriculture and Agroecology: What policies, Mechanisms and Instruments?’’
Dr Omar Touray, President, ECOWAS Commission, said the commission was collaborating with 3AO, WAfrONet and ActionAid to develop sustainable food systems for food sovereignty in West Africa.
According to him, the collaboration is through the implementation of public policies and interventions provided by resilient practices derived from agroecology, organic farming and climate-smart agriculture.
He said the synergy would transform West African agriculture positively as part of operationalisation of the regional agricultural policy tagged ECOWAP to mitigate challenges in the region’s food system.
Touray explained that the transformation was by supporting family farms towards more productive, sustainable production systems that mobilised resources in favour of agroecology, organic farming and climate-smart agriculture.
He said the decision was motivated by the ‘spectacular results’ achieved by those adopting the approaches on their farms.
“yields have increased five-fold, from around ten tonnes to 30 tonnes and 60 tonnes per hectare in root and tuber crops.
“Yields have increased from less than 01 tonne to four tonnes per hectare in cereal crops, while ensuring the sustainability of production and improving their income.
“This support is aimed at reaching a critical mass of family farms that adopt agro-ecological, climate-smart and organic approaches, enabling them to reconcile economic performance, food security, greater resilience, preservation of the environment and public health.’’
The president identified the forum as timely with the triple impact of climate change, food insecurity and security crises linked to terrorism witness on daily basis in the region.
Touray further said that countries in the region remained vulnerable to the vagaries of nature and to external shocks.
He decried that food systems in West Africa were currently facing several crises, including the effects of climate change adding that the region was at the heart of the climate change challenges facing the first half of the 21st century.
According to him, in most pessimistic scenarios, between now and 2060, West Africa will experience a temperature rise of +2.3°C, a warming of +0.6°C per decade.
He said that rainfall was expected to be more erratic; leading to an increase in the frequency and intensity of the extreme climatic hazards already experienced in our region.
“Flooding, increased rainfall variability, extremely long periods of drought, seasonal shifts, among other corollaries, have human and economic consequences for all economic sectors and the most vulnerable populations specifically women, young people and the elderly
“Worse, this situation will continue to undermine our already fragile ecosystems and food and nutrition systems, which are already unable to meet the challenges of regional food insecurity and the erosion of farm incomes.
“Unfortunately, the conventional models of agricultural production adopted to date have shown little resilience to the effects of climate change and sometimes contribute to soil impoverishment, thereby exacerbating food insecurity, income depletion and the vulnerability of populations.
“Given the seriousness of the impacts to come, acting together as part of regional solidarity is an absolute necessity if our region is to reduce its vulnerability and deal collectively with the risks involved,” he said.
The president said climate-smart agriculture, agro-ecology and ecologically intensive agriculture techniques would help to improve soil carbon levels and water retention.
Mr Musa Sowe, member of the 3AO Steering Committee and Vice President, Network of Producers and Processors West Africa (ROPPA), said for the region to achieve food sovereignty, it must promote agroecology, organic farming.
Sowe said 3AO and WAfrONet proposed to pool their actions, strategies and resources to promote and scale-up dynamic of agroecology, organic agriculture and climate-smart agriculture.
Mr Jude Obi, Chairman, Local Organising Committee of the forum, said the ultimate goal was to develop resilient food and nutrition systems in the region, anchored transformative financing strategies focusing on policies, mechanism and instruments.
Obi, who is also President, Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria (NOAN), said the forum provided opportunity to make recommendations to policy makers and development partners on the need to boost financing for agroecology and organic agriculture.
NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA