THIRD WORLD NETWORK INFORMATION SERVICE ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Dear friends and colleagues,

Re: Ecological agriculture in Africa

Ecological agriculture can provide food security and improve rural livelihoods for African farmers, as well as mitigate and help farmers adapt to climate change. This was the main conclusion of a Conference on Ecological Agriculture: Mitigating Climate Change, Providing Food Security and Self-Reliance for Rural Livelihoods in Africa.

The Conference was organised by the African Union (AU), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), Ethiopia and the Third World Network (TWN). It was held at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 26-28 November 2008.

“Support and greater investment in smallholder farmers should be the path to end poverty in Africa”, said H.E. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the opening of the Conference. She highlighted that many diverse and creative ecological agriculture practices based on rich traditional knowledge and agro biodiversity are found in Africa, and that these can improve soil fertility and agricultural productivity.

About 80 participants from 18 African countries attended the conference to discuss, debate and map the way forward for ecological agriculture in Africa. The African Union Commission (as the highest Policy making organ in the continent) pledged to accord priority to the recommendations of the Conference and provide the framework for policies that will not only act on them, but such that these policies address the needs of the most vulnerable.

Please find below a press release issued on the first day of the meeting and the closing remarks of the AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture.

With best wishes,

Lim Li Ching

Third World Network

131 Jalan Macalister

10400 Penang

Malaysia

Email: twnet@po.jaring.my

Websites: www.twnside.org.sg, www.biosafety-info.net

Item 1

African Union Press Release No 153/2008

Workshop on Ecological Agriculture held in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 26 November 2008 – A workshop on Ecological Agriculture: Mitigating Climate Change, Providing Food Security and Self-Reliance for Rural Livelihoods in Africa opened at the headquarters of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today Wednesday, 26 November 2008 in the presence of the State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ethiopia, Dr Aberra Deressa and the AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime.

The Workshop is organised by the African Union (AU), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), Ethiopia and the Third World Network (TWN). The main objectives of the Conference are to discuss the potential of ecological agriculture to address the food security, climate change and rural development challenges in Africa.

“Support and greater investment in smallholder farmers should be the path to end poverty in Africa”, said Commissioner Tumusiime, African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the opening of the workshop.

“Many diverse and creative ecological agriculture practices based on rich traditional knowledge and agro biodiversity are found in Africa, which have been effective in tackling poverty,” she continued, highlighting that “the steep rise in petroleum prices and the consequent increase in the cost of chemical fertilizer is making it essential to improve soil fertility and agricultural productivity in Africa through an effective management of the local resources that are found in the agricultural and surrounding ecosystems”.

“Agriculture can be at the centre of the solution to climate change and this is especially true if we link sustainable natural resource management with agriculture. This then can be the basis for development and food security, such as has been demonstrated in ecological agriculture projects in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia”, said Mr. Alexander Mueller, Assistant Director-General of the FAO.

Dr Aberra Deressa, Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ethiopia elaborated, “Improvement of natural fertility through organic agriculture is the greatest necessity or alternative option for the future. This can only be achieved by effective management of the ecosystem”.

More than eighty participants from primarily Eastern and Southern African countries are attending the workshop. They include representatives from various governments, non-governmental organizations, farmers’ organizations, and international and regional bodies.

The Conference was preceded by a field trip to the Tigray Region in northern Ethiopia on 23-25 November 2008, to visit some of the communities of smallholder farmers that have been implementing ecological agriculture since 1996.

The conference will continue until 28 November 2008, and will present recommendations derived from discussions during the deliberations, including on how to mainstream ecological agriculture in Africa.