“These varieties, which suffer from a lack of official recognition, are by far the best in many respects. Peasant agroecology is the best way to achieve food sovereignty. The conceptual clarification exercise also shed light on two related notions, which are certainly not to be confused: the right to food and food sovereignty.

The scope of food sovereignty is broader, more operational, more practical and more appropriate for our countries, than is the more restrictive right to food, which focuses on food security, obscuring other important dimensions of the problem, such as the origin of nature.The scope of food sovereignty goes beyond the simple framework of food self-sufficiency”, he explained.

At the end of the 72 hours of discussions, the various networks and platforms renewed their interest and expressed their willingness to work more closely together to successfully promote and effectively scale up agroecology in West Africa.

To improve coordination, all participants drew up a roadmap. These include capacity-building in critical policy analysis, and the piloting of collective advocacy campaigns for the recognition and valorization of peasant research.

As a reminder, the Coalition for the Protection of African Genetic Heritage (COPAGEN) is a social and civic movement that has been promoting agroecology and fighting against GMOs for some twenty years.