interest in ecological organic agriculture is increasing across Africa due to the need for more sustainable options to agricultural production, food and nutrition security, and concerns about the negative effects of synthetic agrochemicals on human and environmental health. Organic farming requires not only renouncing synthetic agrochemicals, but a shift in approach and focus – moving to a holistic system view. Some key points must be considered in order to successfully transition to a truly ecological organic approach.

This factsheet introduces the ecological approach to organic farming, changes that are necessary to implement the approach, expected benefits, and provides a few examples of recommended systems for the tropics. The information is based on long-term experiments and on-farm research conducted in the scope of three projects across different countries in Africa, as well as Bolivia and India. Further products in the series, e.g., posters, videos and more, are linked in the ‘Further information’ section on the last page of this factsheet.