Organic agriculture: promoting knowledge exchange and networks

Project description

Title: Global project Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)​​​​​​​
Country: Senegal, Egypt, Uganda, Zambia, Cameroon, West, North, Eastern, Southern and Central Africa​​​​​​​
Overall term: 2019 to 2026

Context

More than half of all people living in Africa base their livelihood on agriculture; yet, many farmers are impoverished and one-fifth of the population suffers from malnourishment. At the same time, ecosystems and resources must be used carefully.

Organic agriculture promotes food systems that increase food security and improve living conditions, while also respecting the Earth’s ecological limits. Currently, only 0.2 per cent of agricultural land in Africa is dedicated to organic farming. In the past, this has been due to limited knowledge of how organic products are produced, processed and marketed. The Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture (KCOA) is working to fill these knowledge gaps by establishing five knowledge hubs.

Objective

Throughout all five African regions, these knowledge hubs intensively promote organic agriculture and agroecology.

Approach

The project is coordinated from Germany. Its measures are being implemented in the regions in cooperation with the following non-governmental organisations:

• Eastern Africa: Biovision Africa Trust
• Southern Africa: Sustainability Institute
• West Africa: Enda Pronat
• North Africa: SEKEM
• Central Africa: CIPRE, CPF, GADD, Inades Formation, SAILD

These organisations manage the five knowledge hubs and operate in three fields of action:

1. They expand access to knowledge on organic agriculture and agroecology by collecting, validating and converting it into suitable formats and languages, as well as making it available on a centralised database.
2. They boost the technical and professional skills of multipliers in the areas of organic agriculture and agroecology. To this end, they train master trainers and  multipliers on how to disseminate the knowledge in a manner adapted to target groups.
3. For the purposes of networking across the continent, they strengthen the working relationships between representatives from the value chains, civil society, private sector and state organisations. Furthermore, they promote cost-effective and participatory certification alternatives.

Last update: February 2022