| |  | | December 2008 |
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- IFOAM is now recruiting an Executive Director who will lead the organization from the Head Office
- First West Africa Summit on Organic Agriculture
- Call for Papers for the 1st IFOAM Conference on Organic Animal and Plant Breeding to be held on August 25-28, 2009, in Santa Fe: New Mexico, USA
- The Zimbabwe Organic Producers’ and Promoters’ Association (ZOPPA) has set up a website
- Conference on Ecological Agriculture
- News from Zambia
- Upcoming Organic Agriculture Related Events
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| | 1. IFOAM is now recruiting an Executive Director who will lead the organization from the Head Office | | | For more information, please visit: www.ifoam.org/ED_announcement
| | | | | 2. First West Africa Summit on Organic Agriculture
| | | The First West Africa Summit on Organic Agriculture was held at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, from November 17-21, 2008. The theme of the conference was “Organic Agriculture and the Millennium Development Goals”. 119 participants from 16 countries including 5 West African countries attended the summit to:
- Spread current knowledge, competences and technology development in Organic Agriculture throughout Africa
- Share experiences among Organic Agriculture scientists and practitioners in West Africa
- Enhance collaborative opportunities in West Africa and beyond
The summit agreed that Organic Agriculture plays an important role in achieving each of the Millennium Development Goals; however its impact is far greater when considered holistically as it has social, economic and environmental dimensions.
The summit noted the development of a curriculum for Organic Agriculture in tertiary institutions in Nigeria which has potential for adoption in other African countries and the launch of the West Africa Network on Organic Agriculture.
IFOAM successfully organized a training on advocacy for 30 selected participants from 13 African countries in conjunction with the conference and a Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) workshop for all participants at the summit.
The advocacy training program was a good mix of theory, exercises and a role play. The training aimed to improve knowledge and skills about how the IFOAM African Organic Agriculture network can become more effective in its advocacy efforts at national and continental level. Specifically the training provided useful guidelines and tools that can be used to:
- Strengthen the network’s capacity to cooperate and make concerted action.
- Help the network to achieve changes through advocacy work.
- Influence governments, policy makers and international organizations.
The PGS workshop was an occasion to learn from existing African and international PGS experiences, and to identify opportunities and possible actions for the development of PGS in West-Africa. The workshop covered aspects such as:
- Background to the development of PGS around the world
- IFOAM stance on PGS
- Key characteristics of PGS
- Examples of how different PGS have evolved to fit with their local situations
- A PGS case study (how it works in practice)
- PGS and Internal Control Systems interrelationships
| | | | | 3. Call for Papers for the 1st IFOAM Conference on Organic Animal and Plant Breeding to be held on August 25-28, 2009, in Santa Fe: New Mexico, USA
| | | For more information, visit: www.ifoam.org/call_for_papers_breeding_conference.pdf
| | | | | 4. The Zimbabwe Organic Producers’ and Promoters’ Association (ZOPPA) has set up a website | | | On October 16, 2008, ZOPPA launched its official website. Essentially, ZOPPA has opened its doors to both the Zimbabwean public and the world at large to inform them about as well as promote the organic agricultural movement in this part of the world.
You are invited to visit the website at: www.zoppa.org.zw.
| | | | | 5. Conference on Ecological Agriculture | | | Ecological agriculture can provide food security and improve rural livelihoods for African farmers, as well as mitigate climate change and help farmers adapt to climate change. This was the main conclusion of the Conference on Ecological Agriculture: Mitigating Climate Change, Providing Food Security and Self-Reliance for Rural Livelihoods in Africa held from November 26-28, 2008, at the Africa Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Conference was organised by the African Union (AU), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), Ethiopia and the Third World Network (TWN).
About 80 participants from 18 African countries, including representatives from various governments, non-governmental organizations, farmers’ organizations, and international and regional bodies, attended the conference to discuss and map the way forward for ecological agriculture in Africa.
The African Union Commission (as the highest Policy making organ in the continent) pledged to accord priority to the recommendations of the Conference and provide the framework for policies that will not only act on them, but such that these policies address the needs of the most vulnerable.
IFOAM was represented at this meeting by Alastair Taylor, Agro Eco Eastern Africa, Addisu Alemayehu, Ethiopian Contac Point Coordinator and Dr. Olugbenga Adeoluwa, Nigerian Contact Point Coordinator, who spread information materials and reported on the First West Africa Summit on Organic Agriculture that just took place a week before this conference.
| | | | | 6. News from Zambia | | | OPPAZ Designs Gender Sensitive Bee Hive
OPPAZ, the Organic Producers and Processors Association of Zambia, has designed a bee hive that suits the Zambian environment. The bee hive called the Zambian Bar Hive builds on superior features of the traditional back hive which has been in use from the 16th Century to date and the existing modern commercial hives. The Zambian Bar Hive is smaller and lighter than the common commercial hives. This makes it easier to carry even by women without the shame of climbing trees which is a taboo in Zambia. Because of its portability, it has been well received by both male and female bee keepers. So far, a total of 3,000 hives have been produced and are in use in the country. It is planned to produce around 15,000 Zambian Bar Hives by 2013.
Zambia Enhances Capacity for Organic Production
The organic community in Zambia led by OPPAZ, the Organic Producers and Processors Association of Zambia, has embarked on capacity building efforts to enhance organic production in the country in the light of global food crisis and soaring food prices. Targeted groups are smallholder producers. The activities include training of trainers and smallholder producers for production of selected products such as organic groundnuts, cotton and honey.
For more information, please contact Munshimbwe Chitalu.
| | | | | 7. Upcoming Organic Agriculture Related Events
| | | African Pavilion at the BioFach 2009
February 19-22 2008
Nuremberg, Germany
African Organic Conference
May 19-22
Kampala, Uganda
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Email: h.bouagnimbeck@ifoam.org
Head Office Contact Information
Charles-de-Gaulle-Str. 5
53113 Bonn, Germany
Tel: +49-228-92650-10
Fax: +49-228-92650-99
Email: headoffice@ifoam.org
http://www.ifoam.org
© 2009 IFOAM - All rights reserved. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) e.V.
Trial Court Bonn, Association Register no. 8726
Executive Board: Gerald A. Herrmann, Alberto Lernoud, Mette Meldgaard |
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