By Shadrack Nyakoe
The First ever Agroecology conference has today been launched in Kenya seeking to embrace sustainable food production mechanisms and readoption of local inputs like farmer managed seeds – traditional – in agriculture will boost the drive towards food security in Africa and the world.
Players in the sustainable farming systems under the umbrella of the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) have urged the public and private sectors to be cognizant of the negative effects of artificial farming inputs that have continued to increase the pace of climate change and hindered the regeneration of soils for agricultural purposes.
Speaking during the launch of the first Eastern Africa agroecology conference in Nairobi, Executive Director of the Biovision Africa Trust Dr. David Amudavi decried the dire cases of starvation facing millions of Kenyans against the backdrop of large untapped agricultural resources.
“It’s a crushing disappointment that we have people sleeping hungry in Kenya and only less than a quarter of our land being put under productive use,” said Dr Amudavi.
He noted that adoption of safe farming methods and use of farmer-owned seeds that were traditionally used in the country is the only way to ensure that we can have continuous supply of food for the population.
“We have witnessed even our rivers drying in areas like Baringo yet they would be flowing with fresh water!” said Dr Amudavi.
This conference aims to invoke consciousness and motivate regional and continental communities to dialogue how to invest in interventions which can ameliorate the negative impacts of the current unsustainable food systems by transitioning towards more environmentally friendly solutions with long-term vision and planning.
Grace Mugo representing the Ministry of Agriculture noted that there is an urgent need to scale up and ensure sustainability of farming systems based on environmentally friendly technologies and methodologies.
Ms Mugo noted that the ministry was very much involved in the drive towards ensuring food security in the country and urged all players in the private and public sector to consolidate efforts to ensure interventions towards food sustainability and adopted and put into practice.
Representatives from the African Union led Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative led by Alex Mutungi noted that the continental body was keen with working with regional and national organizations like the Ecological Organic Agriculture entities to ensure the return to sustainable agricultural methods.
