Forum calls for increased mobilisation of funds for organic farming in W’Africa 

The Regional Forum for Agroecology and Organic Agriculture in West Africa has harped on the need to scale up mobilisation of funds to support the practice of organic farming in the region.

The call is coming amidst reduced yield as a result of the application of chemical fertiliser and pesticides on farms.

The organisation, comprising countries across West African, made the call at the end of a 4-day regional forum on agroecology, organic farming and climate-smart agriculture, organised by the Economic Community Of West African States, ActionAid, West African Organic Network (WAfroNET), and Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa (3AO) among others.

The Head of Rapporteur at the conference, Prof. Olatunji Makos, who read the communiqué called on ECOWAS, Economic and Monetary Union of West African States (UNMOA) Interstate Committee for Drought Control (CLISS), West and Central Africa Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) among others, to scale up mobilisation of green funds for agroecology, as well as improve farmers access to the funds.

The forum called on the organisations to improve strategic orientations, measures and instruments of sectoral development policies for better consideration of Agroecology, Organic agriculture and Climate Smart Agriculture.

They also harped on the need to build a regional vision and concept of organic agriculture to serve as a regional benchmark for stakeholders’ interventions and also stressed the need for inclusive approach, as well as consultation mechanisms with peasant organisations and civil societies.

The forum called for the establishment of a policy and instruments to control imports and the sale of synthetic pesticides and support the production of organic inputs (pesticides, inputs) in quantity and of good quality capable of supporting the needs of producers in organic agriculture and climate smart agriculture.

They appealed to ECOWAS and UEMOA to integrate Agroecology, Organic agriculture and climate smart agriculture into the KAMPALA process in accordance with the orientations of their strategies or instruments in progress or in preparation to support these practices.

Makos called on the regional bodies to support the establishment of a harmonised policy and appropriate certification systems for agro-ecological and organic agriculture products with a view to improving their access to markets, and also support the development of inclusive value chains for agro-ecological and organic products.

He stressed the need for knowledge management and capacity building to support the scaling up of organic farming and support the development of critical number of agroecology and organic agriculture dissemination actors by supporting universities, public and private training centres and systems to develop training sessions and curricula.

The Country Director of ActionAid, Andrew Mamedu called for the need to harness their collective strengths to ensure that the voices of the most marginalised farmers are heard and amplified.

He also called for the establishment of cross-border collaboration, implement pilot projects, and create a regional framework for sharing best practices.

“Together, we can pull the powerful movement that champions agroecology, organic agriculture, and transform our agricultural system for the better.”