{"id":2667,"date":"2024-09-08T19:16:58","date_gmt":"2024-09-08T19:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wasafrica.org\/?p=2667"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:42:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T11:42:54","slug":"agroecologie-paysanne-ouagadougou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wasafrica.org\/en\/agroecologie-paysanne-ouagadougou\/","title":{"rendered":"Promoting peasant agroecology in West Africa: Players sharpen their weapons in Ouagadougou"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Representatives of West African platforms and networks working to promote and scale-up peasant agroecology in the sub-region met in Ouagadougou from July 30 to August 1, 2024. The aim was to draw up a common action plan to reinforce their synergies.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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From July 30 to July 1er<\/sup>\u00a0August 2024 in Ouagadougou, representatives of several West African platforms and networks, as well as civil society organizations from Burkina Faso working to promote and scale up peasant agroecology in the sub-region, met to draw up a common action plan to strengthen their synergies.<\/p>

The meeting was organized under the auspices of the Coalition pour la Protection du Patrimoine G\u00e9n\u00e9tique Africain (COPAGEN). Jean Paul Sikeli, Executive Secretary of COPAGEN, explained that agroecology is facing multiple crises.<\/p>

These include environmental, climatic, health, safety and food crises, as well as the virtual monopoly of a handful of agri-businesses that dominate the food industry.<\/p>

He pointed out that social movements remain key players in the success of agro-ecological transition in West Africa. However, Jean Paul Sikeli pointed out that peasant seeds, i.e. those selected by farmers, are more conducive to peasant agroecology.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cThese 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.<\/p>

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\u201d, he explained.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

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

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