IAASTD: A global call for paradigm shift

1. Fostering Agriculture sustainability in Africa: Eustace Kiarii GacanjaKenya Organic Agriculture Network (KOAN)National Coordinator

2. IAASTD: A global call for paradigm shift • Agriculture is multifunctional: • Chemical- and energy-intensive industrial and toxic agriculture is unsustainable. • Yields are not the only measure of agricultural success – Nutrition, diversity • Monocultures must be re-considered in favour of diverse agro-ecosystems. • Agriculture policies should recognize the complex links between health, nutrition, agriculture and Agriculture Knowledge Science and technology.

3. A global call for paradigm shift • Biotechnology: IPR frameworks are inhibiting seed savings, exchange and sale. • There is an urgent need for ecologically, economically and socially sustainable forms of farming • Small holder farmers are key actors for regional food security, small farms are more productive, resource conserving, they represent a sanctuary of agro-biodiversity and are more resilient to climate change (Small farms provide over 90% of Africa’s agricultural production)

4. IAASTD on impacts of intensive farming on degradation • Land - 1.5 billion people are directly affected by degraded land and soil erosion. over half of the world’s grasslands are degraded •  Water - 70% of global freshwater withdrawal is attributable to irrigated agriculture demand for water for agriculture has led to serious depletion of surface water resources • Biodiversity - 75% of the crop genetic diversity that farmers rely on to grow crops has been lost over the last 50 years. • “ Business as usual is not an Option”

5. Sustainable Agriculture • Aimed at ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food, it emphasizes: • the use of locally-adapted seeds and breeds • participatory agricultural research that involves smallholders in improving the crops they grow • training that spreads knowledge through ‘farmer-to-farmer’ methods • collective approaches to solving farming and natural resource problems, soil fertility, pest &dis control while reducing reliance on external ‘inputs’ • Sustainable agriculture often blends farmers’ traditional and local experience with scientific knowledge and innovation.

6. Benefits of sustainable agriculture identified by IAASTD • Economic stability – more diverse sources of income, •  * Improved health and nutrition– more diverse/nutritious diets, less pesticide poisoning •  * More social resilience–more social support networks and increased ecological skills •  * Increased ecological resilience – making it easier to adapt to changing environmental conditions •  * Conservation of natural resources– biodiversity, conservation of soils, improved water quality •  * Climate change mitigation –increased energy-efficiency, reduced use of fossil fuel-based inputs, more carbon sequestration and water capture in soil

7. Moving ahead: What Africa needs to feed her children? • Adopt policies that will direct more and better targeted AKST investments, in sustainable agriculture, explicitly taking into account small holder needs,(irrigation, training, prodn, marketing, infrastructure…) to alleviate poverty and improve food security • Increase investment and research in agroecology and scale up successful projects taking into account the multi-functionality of agriculture, incooporating Traditional and local knowledge systems, • Change the export-led, free-trade based, industrial agriculture model of large farms to developing sustainable local national and regional markets

8. Thank you