On 27-29 January, farmers and peasant organizations from across West Africa joined forces with international development agencies and research centres in a meeting lead by the Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa (3AO) to give impetus to a growing agroecological movement in the region.

The growth of the 3AO Alliance has caught the attention of the international community and donor organizations. Only created in April 2018, the Alliance has started to give visibility to agricultural communities and collectives that now need ways to feed families, increase productivity and protect ecosystems. The Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa (3AO) has more than 60 member organizations from West African countries, many of which represent small-holders and rural farming communities.

They met in Dakar to take stock of 3AO’s multiple initiatives in West Africa and finalize a comprehensive action plan that will enable a real progress for agroecology in the region.
A host of high-level institutions attended the Dakar meeting. DG DEVCO of the European Commission joined Rome-based institutions such as the FAO and IFAD. German Development Agency (GIZ) joined the French embassy in Burkina Faso, French Development Agency (AFD) and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Representatives from ECOWAS and the Ministry of Agriculture of Senegal also participated actively.

During the meeting, 3AO also discussed a number of potential partnership opportunities at the regional level: the ECOWAS Agroecology Programme, the FAO’s ‘Scaling up Agroecology Initiative’, and the Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa developed by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) caught the eye of conference-goers. The 3AO Alliance will also be closely monitoring the African Union’s ‘Initiative for Ecological and Organic Agriculture’.

“Specifically, a lot has to happen at the national level in terms of advocacy,” noted ROPPA’s Ibrahima Coulibaly. “In fact, the goal of 3AO is to ensure a portion of each national agriculture budget in West Africa goes towards the agroecological transition.” Coulibaly added that results on the ground would nonetheless be the key to the agroecological transition in West African countries.

The Dakar meeting was only the second such meeting of a growing Alliance. Already a comprehensive action plan is planned to set out the next steps for 3AO and for agroecology in West Africa – with both top-down and bottom-up approaches.

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Photo credit: 3AO