JORDAN GAMA1
Organic agriculture in Africa is gaining momentum, and 2016 continued to see the growing recognition among policymakers that organic agriculture plays a significant role in addressing food insecurity, land degradation, poverty, and climate change in Africa.
This, in one way or the other, prompted the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to publish and distribute a policy brief on “Financing Organic Agriculture in Africa: Exploring the Issues,” (UNCTAD 2016) as a support to elevate financing of the sector in the continent. Organic Agriculture offers a valuable tool-kit of affordable and people-centred production practices, as well as high-yielding systems and both local- and export-focused marketing models. In the context of low carbon, resilient, and inclusive sustainable development, organic agriculture is an increasingly relevant and attractive proposition for many stakeholders.
The African Organic Network (AfrONet)
There has been significant achievement in 2016 in the institutionalization of the African Organic Network (AfrONet).2 AfrONet is the organic umbrella organization, which was established during the Second African Organic Conference in 2012, in Lusaka, Zambia. It unites and represents African ecological/organic stakeholders (Gama 2016). In terms of achievements, AfrONet stands out as an important body for the future of the African organic movement and sector.
AfrONet aims to strengthen and support regional networks and the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative for Africa.3 Importantly, in Southern Africa, the Southern African Network for Organic Development (SANOD) and IFOAM’s Southern African Network (ISAN) were formed to unite the stakeholders and further develop organic agriculture in the region. Other active regional networks are those of West, Central, and East Africa.
Organic conferences in Eastern, Western, Central and Southern Africa have become a success. For example, successful Western African organic conferences were held in Benin in August 2014 and in Lagos, Nigeria, in October 2015 (linked to the Third African Organic Conference, see Gama 2016). The most recent Eastern Africa conference was held in 2016, in Entebbe, Uganda. These conferences marked significant milestones for mainstreaming Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA)4 in the regions and member
1 Jordan Gama, AfrONet President, Tanzanian Organic Network (TOAM), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, africanorganicnetwork.org/ct-menu-item-3
2 Information about AfrONet is available at afronet.bio
3 The aim of EOAI, the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative for Africa promotes ecologically sound strategies and practices among diverse stakeholders in production, processing, marketing and policy making to safeguard the environment, improve livelihoods, alleviate poverty, and guarantee food security.
4 According to the EAO Initiative (2015): Ecological Organic Agriculture is a “holistic system that sustains the health of ecosystems and relies on functional cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of synthetic inputs which have adverse effects on total health (human, animal, plant and environmental). Africa continues to face the biggest challenge of feeding its citizens and populations in a contaminated and quickly
countries’ policies, strategies, and programmes. AfrONet led the multi-stakeholder organizing committee of the Third African Organic Conference in Lagos and was instrumental in the coordination and preparation of this event. Furthermore, at this conference, AfrONet organized a policy forum as a side event and supported NOARA, the Network of Organic Agriculture Research in Africa, to stage a side-event.
Furthermore, AfrONet actively participates in the events of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA, www.fara-africa.org), the Organic World Congresses of IFOAM – Organics International, as well as in projects such as the Productivity and Profitability of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems (ProEcoOrganicAfrica),1 Productivity and Growth in Organic Value-chains2, the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative (see above), and Organic Trade Development in East Africa (OTEA).3 AfrONet has a permanent seat on the Continental Steering Committee (headed by the African Union) and Regional/Cluster Steering Committees of the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative (EOAI). The AfrONet General Assembly was held on October 8, 2015, in Lagos, Nigeria (alongside the third African Organic Conference) and included the election of a new leadership for the next three years.
In collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), training on organic standards and certification is provided to stakeholders in the member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), (www.comesa.int), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), (www.ecowas.int), and the East African Community (EAC), (www.eac.int). Furthermore, the Kasisi training centre in Zambia was identified by the AUC as one of the satellite centres for organic training on the continent, and the African Union Commission has approved the continent-wide Organic Product Standard for Africa.
Strategic Plan (2015-2025) for the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative (EOAI) for Africa
The Continental Steering Committee of the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative (EOAI-CSC) endorsed the EOA Continental Strategic Plan, which was approved unanimously by the African Union Ministerial Council at its special meeting held on October 5 and 6, 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Strategic Plan (2015-2025) provides a visionary direction for the development of Ecological Organic Agriculture on the African continent and serves as a tool for fundraising. This is a significant milestone deteriorating biodiversity. With a rapidly growing population, worsening effects of climate change, effects of globalisation, rising food prices and the diminishing health of Africa’s biodiversity, the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) brings in dimensions of Agricultural practices that embrace sustainability, biodiversity, ecosystems while producing food for the populations.
1 Information about the ProEcoOrganicAfrica is available at www.ProEcoAfrica.net
2 Productivity and Growth in Organic Value-chains (ProGrOV) is led by the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS), Denmark. It has the following partners: Makerere University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, Uganda; University of Nairobi, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Production, Kenya; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Department of Crop Science and Production, Tanzania; University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark. More information is available at
http://drp.dfcentre.com/project/productivity-and-growth-organic-value-chains-progrov.
3 OTEA is the Organic Trade and Value Chain Development project-run by IFOAM – Organics International http://www.ifoam.bio/en/organic-trade-and-value-chain-development-otea
towards implementing the decision of African heads of state and governments on organic farming.
The Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative, which started as a pilot programme in 2012, was launched as a full-fledged programme in 2014 and will end in 2018. It has experienced encouraging growth over the past few years. Organic land continues to increase as the statistics indicate in this volume, whilst the eating habits of our populations are changing and health consciousness is growing. The demand for healthy organic products on the national, regional and continental markets has grown and surpassed the supply. The voices of EOA stakeholders are being heard in Africa and beyond, and international support is steadily increasing. Approval of the EOA Strategic Plan by the African Union Ministerial Council has come at just the right moment, as there could not be a better time than now to plan and develop strategies for guiding this growth and reaping the maximum impact and benefits from organic farming in a sustainable way.
New UNCTAD study “Financing Organic Agriculture in Africa: Mapping the Issues”
UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, published the report “Financing Organic Agriculture in Africa: Mapping the Issues” in 2016 (UNCTAD 2016). According to this report, organic agriculture is a rapidly growing sector in Africa, with strong links to economic and sociocultural development in the continent, and it can also be seen as a relevant tool to advance the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)1: sustainable agriculture, sustainable consumption and production, climate change mitigation and prevention, and the sustainable use of ecosystems.
In view of the needs expressed by African organic agriculture stakeholders, UNCTAD sought to identify the needs, challenges, and opportunities related to the funding of organic agriculture on the continent. Due to the limitations of the available data, a structured survey was conducted with support from AfrONet among organic stakeholders, including National Organic Agriculture Movements (NOAMs), farmers, and exporters from 16 African countries. The results of the study show:
− There are a persistent funding gap and barriers faced by organic agriculture stakeholders to securing external capital to finance their activities.
− Despite a growing market and a positive evolution in price premiums of organic produce, recent literature and surveys results suggest that organic agriculture stakeholders have insufficient access to funding, particularly in strategic areas such as certification, producer organization, research, and equipment purchases.
− Limited credit guarantee mechanisms and the insufficient capacity of commercial banks to integrate the specificities of organic agriculture are major hindrances to the ability of organic agriculture stakeholders to finance their activities in Africa.
1 Information on the Sustainable Development Goals is available at www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org
− Therefore, a coordinated effort to improve data collection on both the domestic and export value of organic agriculture is needed to make a better business case for organic agriculture. In addition, the financing issue needs to be better integrated into existing and future efforts to promote the development of organic agriculture in the continent.
The commitment to support sustainable agriculture, expressed in the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and the unanimous approval of the Ecological Organic Agriculture Strategic Plan (2015-2025) by the African Union Ministerial Council are opportunities to bridge the funding gap, according to the UNCTAD study. In this regard, efforts to further embed organic agriculture in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)1,2 will play a key role in the allocation of funding and the systematic inclusion of organic agriculture considerations into national agricultural development plans and strategies.
Outlook
Organic growth projections show a substantial increase in organic production in Africa, with the potential for millions of smallholder farmers and their families to move out of poverty and hunger and enjoy a better quality of life. The fact that traditional African agriculture is based on low external inputs provides an excellent foundation upon which organic agriculture can enhance productivity, resilience, and the profitability of smallholder farming in Africa. It is, therefore, an ideal development option for Africa.
Organic farming practices integrate traditional farming methods and the use of affordable, locally available resources. As such, they are highly relevant to a majority of African farmers. Therefore, the necessary intensification of agricultural production in Africa can and should be ecological, maintain ecosystem services, and be based on restoring, building, and maintaining the natural resource base, particularly soil, water, and biodiversity. Therefore, local communities, farmers, and their sustainable practices need to be supported so that the potential benefits of improved agricultural systems, based on the principles of organic agriculture, are unleashed and disseminated throughout the continent.
References
African Union, Executive Council (2011): Decision on organic farming. Doc. EX.CL/631 (XVIII). Eighteenth Ordinary Session.
24 - 28 January 2011, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Available at http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/decisions/9646 council_en_24_28_january_2011_executive_council_eighteenth_ordinary_session.pdf
1 Information about the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme is available at nepad-caadp.net.
2 IFOAM – Organics International, in collaboration with the African Union (AU) and other agencies, has played a significant role in the framework of its Organic Alternative for Africa Initiative to facilitate the integration of organic agriculture into the core of African policies and the agricultural development agenda including the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The Organic Alternative for Africa Initiative identifies, promotes, and nurtures the uptake of organic agriculture practices, markets, and policies in the context of sustainable development and poverty reduction. IFOAM – Organics International works with many stakeholders, both within and outside the organic movement to create opportunities and facilitate the growth of organic agriculture-based development in the continent. Information on CAADP, the
Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme, is available at www.nepad-caadp.net. The report
“The Potential Contribution of Organic Agriculture to the Realization of the Objectives of the CAADP – A Guide for Stakeholders” is available at www.ifoam.org/en/osea-ii-project.
Auerbach, R., Rundgren, G., and El-Hage Scialabba N. (Eds.) (2013): Organic Agriculture: African Experiences in Resilience and Sustainability. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome. Available online from the website: http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3294e/i3294e.pdf
Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) initiative, Continental Steering Committee (2015): The Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative in Africa. Action Plan 2015-2020. EOA Continental Steering Committee
Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative, Continental Steering Committee (2015): The Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA)-Initiative. 2015-2025 Strategic Plan. EOA Continental Steering Committee, African Union Commission Gama, Jordan (2016): Latest Developments in Organic Agriculture in Africa. In: FiBL & IFOAM - Organics International (2016): The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2016. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Frick, and IFOAM - Organics International, Bonn. Available at http://www.organic-world.net/yearbook.html
Gama, Jordan (2015): Latest Developments in Organic Agriculture in Africa. In: FiBL & IFOAM - Organics International (2015): The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2015. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Frick, and IFOAM - Organics International, Bonn. Available at http://www.organic-world.net/yearbook.html
IFOAM (2013): Impacts associated with the uptake of organic agriculture in East Africa. IFOAM - Organics International, Bonn. Available online from the website:
http://www.ifoam.org/sites/default/files/the_impact_of_organic_agriculture_in_east_africa.pdf
Nicolay, Gian (2015) The 3rd African Organic Conference held in Lagos consolidates the progress made on transforming the continental food and agriculture systems. The website of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland. Available at bit.ly/1J2x1pg
Rahmann G, Olabiyi TI, Olowe VI (Eds.) (2015): Scientific Track Proceedings of the 3rd African Organic Conference, 5 - 9 October, 2015, in Lagos, Nigeria, "Achieving Social and Economic Development through Ecological and Organic Agricultural Alternatives". Ibadan, University of Ibadan
UNCTAD (2016): Financing Organic Agriculture in Africa: Mapping the Issues. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva. Available at http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/webditcted2016d6_en.pdf