Hudson Shiraku – Biovision Africa Trust

GIZ Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa Newsletter, Issue no. 6, February 2023

Hudson Shiraku — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 12:23:19 +0000

GIZ Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa Newsletter, Issue no. 5, November 2022

Hudson Shiraku — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 09:15:25 +0000

BvAT team visits Senegalese EOA partners.

Hudson Shiraku — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 13:12:43 +0000

Meet Ajigode Farmers Organic Group From Nigeria And Supported By The Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative In Africa.

Hudson Shiraku — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 08:13:52 +0000

Venancia Wambua, the EOAI Project Manager (3rd from left in the foreground) and Geoffrey Langa’t, Project Accountant (2nd from left in the background) with the Nigerian team During the BvAT team’s Visit in Nigeria.

From 19^th to 23^rd September 2022, a BvAT team by Ms. Venancia Wambua, EOA-I Project Manager and Geoffrey Lang‘at, BvAT Accountant had a monitoring visit to the EOA-I partners in Nigeria. Among the partners visited were Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria (NOAN) who are the Country Lead Organization (CLO), Kwara State University responsible for the project’s Research and Applied Knowledge pillar, Farmers Development Union (FADU) in charge of the Information, Communication and Extension pillar, Ibadan Go Organic responsible for the Value Chain and Market Development pillar.

The main objective of the visit was to check on the progress updates of the EOA-I Project by NOAN and its associate implementing partners in Nigeria.

On 23^rd September, the BvAT team met with the Ajigode Farmers Organic Group in the University of Ibadan where two (2) groups of farmers were represented. The BvAT team was accompanied by the EOA-I National Coordinator, Dr. AdeOluwa Olugbenga and the M&E officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ogunlola. The Organic and Agroecological Agriculture Desk Officer of Oyo State was in attendance as well and appreciated the support by EOA-I to the Oyo State. He reported that the Ministry of Agriculture of Oyo State teaches farmers on innovation in organic agriculture practices. He noted that the vegetable products that are organic have become more popular and a market of organic products is organized at the University on a weekly basis.

The farmers are currently utilizing the University’s facilities for their farming organic produce. The benefits to farmers include well managed parcels of land with security from the University and access to the University Community markets and benefit from training and exposure to visitors.

Benefits to the University include giving back to the community through outreach activities, production of safe food for the University community and students’ access to farming land for their research studies.

The farmers mentioned some of the challenges they face and these included climate change challenges especially flooding which has been a great challenge and the farmers can only farm during the dry season. Production is also not enough due to limited availability of land while demand is very high. Accessibility to road network is a challenge to accessing products and the consumers can only access the products with ease during the dry season.

The farmers requested the EOA-I project to support in the establishment of an Organic demonstration farm, establishment of more sales outlets and access and purchase of organic inputs especially fertilizers. They also requested the University to avail land lying idle available to the farmers.

The BvAT team pledged to continue supporting the small-scale farmers in Nigeria through the ongoing EOA-I Initiatives and other initiatives that will come on board through other donors. The BvAT requested the NOAN team to team up with other partner to address the farmers’ challenges with market access and logistics and identify a bulk buyer who can buy off and sell the produce on normal market hours. The farmers’ challenge was the time for selling the produce because they were busy in their farms..

GIZ Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa Newsletter, Issue no. 4, September 2022

Hudson Shiraku — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 09:15:16 +0000

KCOA-KHEA Phase One Stories Booklet (August 2019 – June 2022)

Hudson Shiraku — Sat, 03 Sep 2022 10:23:02 +0000

This booklet, the KCOA-KHEA Phase One Stories Booklet shares the exciting journey of the KCOA initiative in the region. Besides and account of the achievements attained during the phase, the booklet contains testimonies from the key persons steering the project in the region. Wishing you a nice read. KHEA Phase One Stories Booklet

GIZ Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa Newsletter, Issue no. 3, July 2022

Hudson Shiraku — Sat, 03 Sep 2022 09:03:40 +0000

BvAT Gets The AUC’s Nod To Host The Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative’s Secretariat.

Hudson Shiraku — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 11:21:44 +0000

BvAT delegation of the Executive Director Dr. David Amudavi, Mr. Alex Mutungi of EOA Continental Secretariat and Ms. Venancia Wambua, EOA-I Project Manager was in Addis Ababa Ethiopia to sign a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) and the Africa Union Commission (AUC).

The MOU officially formalizes the collaboration between the two organizations in managing and hosting of the EOA Initiative Continental Secretariat.

The signing ceremony took place at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, 20th July 2022 and was officiated by Amb. Josefa Sacko, the Commissioner for DREA .

The move comes after 10 years of BvAT coordinating the implementation of the EOA Initiative in the continent. The initiative has been implemented in Africa since 2012 from initial six countries to the current nine that includes Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania in eastern Africa and Nigeria, Mali, Benin, and Senegal in the west Africa. The initiative strives to mainstream Ecological Organic Agriculture into national agricultural production systems, plans and policies which is in line with the African Union Heads of State and Government decision on organic farming EX.CL/631(XVIII).

The MoU is a formal mechanism of fostering strategic partnerships and alliances with BvAT as well as a gesture of commitment to mutual accountability to shared goals and interests towards the realization of aspirations of AU Agenda 2063 on inclusive growth and sustainable development. Hence, the MOU is a recognition of the catalytic, complementary, and empowering role that BvAT will continue to play in the implementation of 2014 Malabo Declaration through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) framework for action on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods and other related programmes.

In her remarks during the signing ceremony, H.E Amb. Josefa Sacko, Commissioner for DARBE applauded Biovision Africa Trust for sspearheading the implementation of the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) initiative, which she said has a special niche in the production of healthy foods for the people and for protecting the environment. She further called for more advocacy on the promotion of bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides that should result to industrial-scale production to enable the shift away from conventional fertilizers and pesticides.

Dr. David Amudavi, representing Biovision Africa Trust, expressed his gratitude and commitment that BvAT shall implement its functions in the MoU that include hosting of the EOA Initiative Continental Secretariat and ensuring its functioning. BvAT is currently the host to the Continental Secretariat of the AU led EOA Initiative which provides guidance and oversight on the implementation and reporting of EOA in Africa as guided by the AU Decision on organic farming (Doc. EX.CL/631 (XVIII) through its AU chaired Continental Steering Committee (CSC). BvAT was endorsed by the AU to strengthen existing cooperation and collaboration of the parties in the implementation of decisions of the STC on ARDWE in Ecological Organic Agriculture in Africa and to spear head awareness of the EOA initiative in Africa among African Union Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other AU organs.

Mr Alex Mutungi, the EOA Initiative Continental Secretariat Coordinator briefed the Commissioner on the recent developments within the EOA sub sector noting that the Secretariat is undertaking a pilot study of EOA indicators in the five political regions of Africa for possible inclusion in the CAADP BR reporting framework. He further noted that a Farmer Managed Seed Systems (FMSS) cluster had been established within the AU led African Seed and Biotechnology Partnership Platform (ASBPP) to champion for farmer seeds.

While concluding the ceremony, H.E Amb. Josefa Sacko retaliated the commitment of DARBE to working closely with Biovision Africa Trust to ensure resilience in Africa’s agriculture sector to respond adequately to various shocks on African Food Systems. “We need to align our work to the African Common Position that was presented at the UN Food System Summit in 2021 and to the existing African Union Agriculture transformation frameworks such as the CAADP, for us to be able to achieve agriculture transformation and growth for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods for our people.” she stated.

The Swiss Embassy Hosts Biovision Africa Trust and its Partners for a Luncheon.

Hudson Shiraku — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 08:55:50 +0000

On 20^th June 2022, the Biovision Africa Trust BvAT Board, the Management and some of its strategic partners were hosted by the Swiss Ambassador to Kenya, Mr. Valentin Zellweger, for a luncheon in honour of Biovision Africa Trust’s Leadership.

It is over 14 years since the Kenyan non-governmental organization has been supported by its Swiss strategic partner, Biovision Foundation for ecological development. The main purpose of the luncheon was therefore to celebrate the milestones achieved by BvAT under the governance leadership of Mr. Andreas Schriber as the Chair of the Board of Trustees since 2009. Mr. Schriber is a co-founding member of the two strategic partner organizations (Biovision Foundation and Biovision Africa Trust). Mr. Schriber has been succeeded by Ms Anne Onyango a development practitioner with a vast experience, having also worked as the Agriculture Secretary for the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Irrigation in the State Department of Crop Development.

In his opening remarks, the Ambassador appreciated all the guests for accepting the invitation to attend the BvAT luncheon. He congratulated BvAT for the milestones made so far in the agroecology sector. He also appreciated BvAT’s strategic donors and particularly BMZ/GIZ for the Knowledge Center for Organic Agriculture in Africa in which BvAT is taking a leading role in coordinating the Knowledge Hub for Eastern Africa, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative (EOA-I) in Africa implemented under BvAT’s coordination and hosting of the Continental Secretariat on behalf of the African Union, Sida through the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) for supporting EOA-I and Biovision Foundation for BvAT’s Farmer Communication Programme (FCP) in Eastern Africa and urged them to continue supporting BvAT.

Prof. Hans Herren in his opening remarks gave the chronology of the establishment of BvAT. He mentioned that BvAT was formed to scale up dissemination of research work in Kenya and the rest of Africa. The research work is based on the 4Hs (Human health, Animal health, Plant health, and Environmental health) driven by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) and other global and regional centres adding that BvAT took up dissemination of agroecology research work through the 4Hs.

Mr. Schriber as well gave the history of BvAT’s growth since its inception. He noted the tremendous growth of the organization to what it is today having the current 3 key programmes of Farmer Communication Programme (FCP), Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative (EOA-I) and the Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture (KCOA) in eastern Africa. He appreciated the key strategic donors, GIZ, SDC, SSNC and BF for supporting BvAT and contributing to the agroecology development agenda.

Madam Anne Onyango the incoming chair in her remarks promised to keep supporting BvAT to achieve its strategic vision and goals. She mentioned her first time encounter with BvAT was through the Organic Farmer Magazine which she used to read while in the Ministry of Agriculture and later consecutively interacting with Dr. Amudavi the BvAT Executive Director.

Dr. Amudavi in his remarks gave an overview of the history and scope of BvAT’s 3 key programmes and remarked how far BvAT had grown since he joined to steer the organization in 2011 when Mr. Schriber and Prof. Herren approached him while at Egerton University to take up the position. He appreciated the donors and development partners including the African Union Commission and icipe (the hosting institution) for making BvAT attain status of regional and global recognition in agroecology based initiatives. He also appreciated the outgoing Chair and the rest of the Board members for their support and commitment to the growth of BvAT. He also appreciated the teamwork in BvAT.

Among key strategic partners who attended the luncheon included Dr. Kelemu Segenet the Director General of icipe, Dr. Evelin Jansen Regional Program Manager – FoodFlow of Enviu, Dr. Benson Okita, Director, Hub East Africa of Wyss Academy, Mr. Armin Kloeckner, Programme Director, GIZ, Mr. David Bagunda, Country Head Kenya, Master Card Foundation, Mr. Frank Bertelsbeck, Deputy Regional Head of International Cooperation, Horn of Africa, Embassy of Switzerland, Corinne Corradi, Regional Health Advisor, Horn of Africa, Embassy of Switzerland to Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Somalia, Mr. Helge Flärd, Deputy Head of Mission Embassy of Sweden among others. The BvAT Board members of Prof. Onesmo K. ole-MoiYoi, Ms. Anne Onyango, and Prof. Christian Borgemeister were also present. BvAT management was represented by the Executive Director Dr. Amudavi, Mr. Fredrick Ochieng (FCP), Monique Hunziker, Infonet Coordinator and Project Manager at Biovision Foundation, Mr. Alex Mutungi (EOA-I Continental Secretariat), Ms. Erica Rugabandana (FCP- Arusha), Mr. Francis Nsanga (KCOA) and Ms. Venancia Wambua (EOA-I). Mr. Charles Mawia, organic farmer champion represented farmers.

The EOA Initiative’s 17th Continental Steering Committee (CSC).

Hudson Shiraku — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 07:54:57 +0000

The 17^th CSC meeting of the EOA-I was successfully held at the Capital on the Park Hotel in Sandton City, South Africa from the 6 – 9^th June 2022. The Sub Committee meeting was held on 6^th and 7^th June and the Main Committee held on the 8^th June 2022. A field visit was organized to the African Marmalade Farm (Siphiwe’s Farm) in Gauteng, Johannesburg where CSC members experienced a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) farm assessment process, seed saving and other EOA practices.

The meetings were Chaired by Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate at the African Union Commission in the absence of its substantive Chair, Dr Simplice Nouala, Head of the Division of Agriculture and Food Security at the African Union Commission who was on another official mission.

In his opening remarks, Dr Bahiigwa conveyed warm greetings of Her Excellency Ambassador Josefa Sacko, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment, whom he reported is aware of the EOA-I’s unwavering commitment to advancing the Ecological Organic Agriculture agenda across Africa.

He noted that the CSC meeting was taking place at a very strategic year when African Union adopted a theme on building resilience for nutrition and food security in the African continent focusing on Agro-food systems, health, and social protection systems on the acceleration of human, social and economic capital development. The Director went on to say that, although there has been great progress made in EOA, a lot still needs to be done. In his statement, he cited the need to ensure that pending key objectives such as mainstreaming Ecological Organic Agriculture into National and Regional Frameworks is achieved.

He applauded the Technical Working Group (TWG) charged with the development of EOA Indicators for measuring progress in the ecological organic agriculture sector in Africa as part of the CAADP bi-annual review reporting mechanism for doing so successfully. He added that the EOA indicators will be reported for the first time in the next CAADP-Malabo Biennial Review cycle whose report will be presented to AU Heads of States and Governments in 2024. He however, applauded the achievement of having the AU Decision on Organic Agriculture annexed to the 3^rd BR report as a key building block towards fully integrating EOA into the CAADP BR Process.

He informed the meeting that the MOU between AUC and BvAT has been cleared for signature for formalizing the relationship between the two entities.

The Secretariat reported to the CSC that the Farmer Managed Seed Systems (FMSS) Technical Working Group (TWG) of the CSC had formally presented the FMSS roadmap, work plan and budget to the 3rd Steering Group meeting of the African Seed and Biotechnology Partnership Platform (ASBPP) held in Kampala, Uganda from 23-25 May 2022. The proposal for the development of the FMSS cluster was endorsed by the ASBPP but provided various comments to ensure the cluster compliments the development of the seed sector.

The 17^th CSC recommended that EOA partners should leverage on AU activities advancing the theme of the year (Strengthening Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent: Strengthening Agro-Food Systems, Health, and Social Protection Systems for the Acceleration of Human, Social and Economic Capital Development) by either participating in mainstream events or side events to raise the integrity and profile of the EOA-I.

The CSC noted that the review of the EOA-I Strategic Plan (SP) is approaching at the same time when targets of Malabo Declaration are coming to an end. It noted that, proper planning and preparation for the next decade is needed to undertake the review across all dimensions of governance, operations, and institutional support; from national to regional and continental levels considering lessons learnt, failures, gaps and opportunities. It was recommended that the findings of the ongoing SDC-led Phase II Project External Evaluation by FiBL would be valuable in providing insights for the SP Review and subsequent development the new EOAI strategic plan.

It was resolved that the EOA-I should position itself within the space of agroecology and the Africa Common Position on the UN Food Systems Summit (ACP UNFSS) outcomes and other global contests and or declarations like biodiversity and climate change. To do this, the CSC noted that the proposed EOA-I Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) concept note should be finalized and tabled for adoption by the next CSC in December 2022. The concept notes to clearly define purpose and objectives of the MSP, components and structure, coordination, and management of the platform to effectively coordinate the implementation of EOA on the continent.

On Thursday 9^th June, the CSC travelled to the field and was hosted by Siphiwe, an organic farmer who owns the African Marmalade Farm approximately 40 minutes out of Sandton City where the visitors experienced a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) farm assessment process and seed saving. The team also witnessed some Integrated Pest Management (IPM), soil fertility and irrigation practices on the farm.

Side meeting with IFOAM Southern Africa Network and the South African Organic Sector Organization (SAOSO)

After the CSC meetings, the Secretariat held a meeting with IFOAM Southern Africa Network and the South African Organic Sector Organization (SAOSO). SAOSO is a public, non-profit organization that was established to represent the Organic Sector as an intermediary between government and the Sector, which is represented by the Organic Sector Strategy Implementation Committee (OSSIC) on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in South Africa.

The objective of the meeting was to discuss among other things, the existing EOA/ Agroecology networks, and the status of EOA implementation and the re-launch of the EOA-I Southern Africa Platform planned by the AUC and its EOA-I Continental Secretariat. The Secretariat also briefed the partners on the status of EOA implementation in other regions of Africa.

EOA-I Secretariat meeting with ISAN and SAOSO

The 18^th CSC meeting of the EOA-I will be held in Kigali, Rwanda in December back-to-back with the AfrONet led 5^th Africa Organic Conference (5^th AOC)

Compiled by:

Alex Mutungi (EOA-I Continental Secretariat Coordinator), David Amudavi (Executive Director-BvAT) and Venancia Wambua (EOA Project Manager)