A strong IFOAM delegation headed by IFOAM President Andre Leu was this month at United Nations in Rome at the 39th Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) – the most important meeting in the global agricultural calendar. This is particularly important for Africa where the great majority of farmers are vulnerable and poor small scale farmers in rural areas that rely on agriculture for their livelihoods and as solutions proposed for increasing food security are sometimes based on the industrialization of African agriculture and the intensification of costly external and ultimately unsustainable inputs.

The major outcome for IFOAM and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in general was the adoption by the CFS of the Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition (GSF). The GSF, as the overarching framework, will be the primary global reference for coordination and coherence in decision-making on food and agricultural issues. It is built upon the human rights approach, women’s rights and the recognition of the central role of smallholder farmers, agricultural and food workers, artisanal fisher folks, pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples, landless people, women and youth to food and nutrition security. The GSF is aimed at enhancing action by a wide range of stakeholders in support of global, regional and country-led actions to prevent future food crises, eliminate hunger and ensure food security and nutrition for all human beings.

IFOAM food security campaigner Cristina Grandi through IFOAM’s FAO liaison office in Rome campaigned for over one year to ensure that the approved GSF recognized the role of organic agriculture in increasing agricultural productivity and production in a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable manner. The GSF also recognizes that formal employment of rural workers and assurance of minimum living wages is key for food security and nutrition.

Given its principal users will be decision-makers and policymakers in countries responsible for the development and implementation of policies and programs for delivering food security and nutrition and the progressive realization of the right of adequate food, the GSF will be an important advocacy tool for all food security stakeholders at the local, national and international level.

IFOAM Advocacy Manager Robert Jordan participated in the CFS negotiations on climate change where a number of decisions of particular importance to addressing rural poverty and hunger in Africa were made. In particular the CFS called for governments to facilitate, as appropriate, participation of all stakeholders in food security policies and programs to address climate change recognizing the contribution of all farmers and food producers, especially small-scale producers, to food security, by:

• encouraging multi-stakeholder fora at local, national and regional levels to promote broad participation of local communities and the most vulnerable groups, as well as the private sector, in decision-making processes;
• supporting CSOs, notably those representing the most hunger-affected populations, small-scale producers’ organizations, and women farmers’ organizations, to participate in decision making and the implementation of food security policies and programs to address climate change.

The policy frameworks and recommendations of the CFS are important developments that can facilitate the uptake of organic agriculture in Africa, provide new opportunities for the organic movement to bring affordable, resilient and productive practices to farming communities. The report of the 39th CFS meeting can be found here:
www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/bodies/CFS_sessions/39th_Session

In order to inform the discussion during the meeting, IFOAM prepared the following three documents that can be downloaded at: www.ifoam.org.

• Organic Agriculture and Food Security
• How Organic Agriculture can feed the world
• Organic Agriculture and Climate Change

These documents can also be used to continue advocating for the Organic Alternative for Africa. For example, by sending them to a comprehensive range of stakeholders capable of unlocking the potential that ecological systems offer Africa.

• November 12: Sensitization workshop, field trip & gala dinner with influential government stakeholders (Ministries of trade, agriculture and environment);
• November 13: OSEA Management Committee Meeting;
• November 14: Join Mark Committee Meeting;
• November 15: Capacity building workshop on Organic Agriculture for traders, NGOs and donors;
• November 16: Technical workshop on Internal Control Systems (ICS) and  Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS). Trainers will be Hervé Bouagnimbeck from IFOAM and Omer Ntawe from Food for the Hungry.
• November 17: Field trip

• To be a network of exchange and collaboration between Organic Research Institutions and scientific partners throughout the world.
• To develop organic food and farming science, knowledge, and technology innovation within the global organic movement.
• To serve as a global technology platform for the application of knowledge derived from scientific research through farmer-driven innovation and information dissemination.
• To enable IFOAM policies to be based on good science.
• To establish research priorities with the various stakeholder organizations in IFOAM.
• To enhance the sustainability of all agriculture based on the principles of organic agriculture.
• To build capacity and mobilize partnerships for organic farming research that assists small-scale producers in developing countries alleviate poverty, establish food sovereignty, and meet food security and nutritional needs through healthy, ecologically sound and socially just farming systems.
• To represent IFOAM members that conduct and apply research, develop technologies, and disseminate information as a sector group.

• Simplice Davo VODOUHE, PABE, Benin
• Sidi El'moctar N'Guiro, MOBIOM, Mali
• Ibrahima Seck, FENAB, Senegal
• Olugbenga AdeOluwa, NOAN, Nigeria
• Kadidja Koné, Inades Formation, Côte d’Ivoire
• Ramatou Abdou, PFPN, Niger
• Samuel Adimado, GOAN, Ghana
• The representative of CNABIO (Burkina Faso) is still to be appointed.