A publication launched by the African Alliance for Food Sovereignty, showcasing the huge potential of Agroecology to feed Africa, fix broken food systems and repair damaged landscapes, providing abundant healthy and nutritious food sustainably while increasing incomes and improving climate resilience. The publication also illustrates 15 case studies.

What is successful access and benefit sharing’ for
smallholder family farmers? This contribution argues it is not about legal contracts or mechanisms that regulate the international transfer of plant genetic resources. It is about farmers’ access to seed diversity and the ability to share in the benefits of the continuing cycles of seed conservation and development. The Community Technology Development Trust in Zimbabwe supports mechanisms that, in practice, do result in substantial access to and benefit sharing of local and modern varieties.

Since the late 1960s, Zephaniah Phiri Maseko has pioneered a unique, innovative vision for community and agricultural development through judicious water management; his system has been widely adopted across the country, increasing agricultural productivity and resilience in this semi-arid region.

One way that family farmers improve their resilience to both climatic and economic shocks is to diversify what is produced. More and different crops and livestock, particularly local varieties and breeds are being promoted. Two other options stand out too – bees and trees. These have the added advantages of complementing the production of agricultural crops and enhancing the agroecosystem. In Zimbabwe, the Ruzivo Trust has been promoting beekeeping, and the results are showing the sweet taste of success. Bees can help farmers break out of poverty.

The paper contains 12 different case studies and chapters on agroecology; other sustainable farming methods;  agroecology and resilience to climatic changes; evidence of the food security potential of agroecological systems; the scaling up of agroecological innovations, with challenges and opportunities; the approaches that can be used for scaling up agroecology ; conclusions and way forward.

The writers wanted to encourage the Afghan community by showing that the development processes they are experiencing are not different to those seen elsewhere, even if the general context is particularly difficult.