The Regional Forum for Agroecology and Organic Agriculture in West Africa has called for the scale up of mobilization of funds to support the practice of organic farming in the region.
The organisations comprising of countries across West African made the call at the end of a 4-day regional forum on agroecology, organic farming and climate-smart agriculture, held in Abuja.
It was organized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), ActionAid, West African Organic Network (WAfroNET) and Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa (3AO) among others.
The call is coming amidst reduced yield as a result of the application of chemical fertiliser and pesticides or farms.
The Head of Rapporteur at the conference, Prof. Olatunji Makos reading the communique said the forum 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 mobilization of green funds for Agroecology as well as improve farmers access to the funds.
They urged 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.
They also 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 urged 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.
The Country Director of ActionAid Andrew Mamedu stressed the need to harness their collective strengths to ensure that the voices of the most marginalized farmers are heard and amplified.
He also called for the establishments of a cross-border collaboration, implement pilot projects, and create a regional framework for sharing best practices.
Mamedu said, “Together, we can pull the powerful movement that champions agroecology, organic agriculture, and transform our agricultural system for the better.”
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