Attaining Food Security Key Focus of First Multi-Agency Conference on Agroecology in Kenya

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), agroecology is “an integrated approach that simultaneously applies ecological and social concepts and principles to the design and management of food and agricultural systems.”

“Agroecology is the alternative because it looks at the world we live in, especially in Kenya (where) we did a baseline (survey) and found that our farmers in the counties we work in, about 77% could not feed themselves from one harvest to the other,” Ms. Muelar explained.

Agroecology helps to achieve food security through its four dimensions – environmental, socio-cultural, economic, and political – Ms. Muelar, an agroecology expert, said.

While the environmental dimension focuses on agriculture that “interacts with ecology by mimicking nature to benefit from it,” the socio-cultural dimension encourages solidarity groups where farmers work together to get “more food and healthier sustainable diets,” she explained.

The political dimension allows inhabitants of village settings to form a network that increases their bargaining power, enabling them to influence policies for their benefit.

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The economic angle focuses on the markets and whether farmers can produce what is demanded by the local markets and if so, whether they can “negotiate collectively for better prices.”

During the inauguration on the UN Decade of  Family Farming on May 29, 2019, Pope Francis addressed himself to the then Director General of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Professor José Graziano da Silva, highlighting the challenge of food in underdeveloped countries.

The Holy Father said that food crisis coupled with economic crisis “have prompted renewed efforts in various parts of the world to make farming not only a means of employment, but also of development for individuals and communities.”

With about 80 participants, those taking part in the Nyahururu conference are drawn from representatives of Kenya’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission and Caritas in various dioceses, Fastenopfer, Trocaire, Misereor, Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), Caritas Germany, Caritas Italiana, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Caritas Africa represented by Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Malawi.