AFSA Holding Its 4th AGM in Accra, Ghana

–
Press Release

African governments sell out their farmers in secret seeds protection deal

AFSA (Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa) – 9 August 2015

HIGHLIGHTS

TIMELINE (NEWEST – OLDEST)

Press Conference and Media Release by @Afsafrica & @AfricanBiodiv http://t.co/Ru1Agswg5I and http://t.co/qPvEDHeGfe pic.twitter.com/EK72MVjjYk

— AFSA (@Afsafrica) August 9, 2015

Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa has organized the 4th Annual General Meeting of members’ to discuss, agree and strategize on a number of issues. The meeting is due to start on August 05 in Accra, Ghana – Ange Hill Hotel. As a broad network of networks in Africa AFSA is always challenging itself, building new ideas and enhancing its capacity on existing agendas.

The AFSA working group members met in January this year to draw action plans for the year. A number of emerging issues were also brought out in this meeting including; the Climate Change processes; the international year of family farming and the International Year of Soil. Members identified the need to come up with clear strategy linking these key issues to the AFSA food sovereignty agenda. This meeting therefore presents an opportunity for capacity strengthening, planning and agreeing on strategies and road maps for participation. The meeting is organized around five issues:

Land

As part of its key strategic areas, AFSA has agreed to work on land issues in Africa and to inform this engagement, the organization is planning to undertake a scoping study on the land situation in Africa using case studies from different regions of the country. The members meeting will hence create an opportunity for the AFSA members to have an in depth discussion on the outcomes of the scoping study and ultimately strengthen AFSA advocacy agenda and strategy on land issues. This meeting will be much critical in defining AFSA’s context in the land discourse both at continental and global levels.

Family Farming

The year 2014 was declared the International Year of Family Farming by FAO. This theme has been extended for the next 10 years. Issues around family farming are pertinent to food sovereignty although these have not yet taken centre stage among the AFSA working groups. There are a number of inter-linkages that have not yet been fully explored such as Family Farms as contributors to management of a shared landscape; family farms and the link to biodiversity conservation; family farms and the involvement of youth in Agriculture. All these are issues that AFSA desires to explore and inform its advocacy agenda as the world recognizes contribution of family farmers to food security.

Climate Change

The question of climate change and food sovereignty is one that AFSA has discussed as an emerging issue in the discourse of food sovereignty. The solutions that are being advanced through international frameworks are impacting on food security and food sovereignty. Solutions such as Climate Smart Agriculture, the REDD+ projects have been widely promoted and adopted by governments. Alternatives such as agroecology which has been tried and tested over millennia are not being strongly promoted in the international climate change discourse. AFSA has applied to participate in the upcoming COP 21 in Paris, France. The COP presents an opportunity to create awareness, develop and strengthen networks and share the AFSA narrative on agroecology. The meeting therefore presents an opportunity for members to familiarize themselves with the climate change debate and strategize on participation in the upcoming COP 21 in Paris.

2016 AFSA Conference on Food Systems

AFSA has the idea of holding a big conference on African Food Systems. The conference is intended to have more than 200 participants from all over Africa. This idea is yet to be fully conceptualized among the members of AFSA. It is expected that the meeting enables to brainstorm and agree on concrete actions towards making this meeting a reality and a success.

Institutional Development

As a network of networks in Africa, AFSA always needs to recollect and review its growth and direction. The meeting will therefore also be used to review institutional performance for the first half of the year and advise on other areas of institutional development.

Webpage with more details: http://afsafrica.org/afsa-holding-its-4th-agm-in-accra-ghana/