e-discussion on “The co-creation, sharing and dissemination of local innovations for healthy soils in Africa

20 April - 20 May 2022. e-discussion on “The co-creation, sharing and dissemination of local innovations for healthy soils in Africa”

Summary by Ferdinand Wafula, online- moderator, CEO/Coordinating officer, Bio Gardening Innovations [BIOGI] 

Four sub-topics were discussed during the four weeks, namely;

1. Sustainable soil health practices;
2. Co-creation, sharing and dissemination of local innovation for soil health;
3. Capacities for soil heath improvement and farmers’ autonomy;
4. Policy support.

More contributions were received on the first three topics and very little on the fourth one.

The assumption that healthy communities derive their status from healthy soils, holds a lot of meaning amidst existing and emerging livelihoods challenges. The climate crisis and Covid19 pandemic have exuberated already existing food and nutritional demands for the majority of farming families in Sub Saharan Africa. Agroecology has immense potential in terms of resilience building to cushion millions of people on the continent and to support family farmers in the shift towards more sustainable, productive and ecological based solutions, such as recycling of inputs to manage soil health.

Discussion points were well supported by sharing of web links, videos and documents. 

The first week of the discussion

was more technical and focused on soil health practices. This topic gained a lot of attention and the discussion focused on practical aspects of soil health such as nutrient management cycles, new types of inputs being promoted such as bio fertilizers, biochar, bio protectors, intercropped green manure/cover crops, and participatory research and soil health assessment tools and processes.

Nutrient availability through biological cycles require a holistic view of the farm, including both edible and non-edible elements that are interacting and contribute to biomass accumulation and recycling. The role of trees and agroforestry systems as well as other available vegetation around farms contributing to recycling of nutrients was discussed as well. The transformation processes such as through pit latrines was well illustrated.

Furthermore, experiences from Sri Lanka and São Tomé and Príncipe on the process of banning the importation of agrochemicals and transitioning to organic agricultural production were shared.

Contributions on emerging soil health practices using bio fertilizers/biochar and bio protectors were shared with examples from Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. Promotional strategies for wider adoption were also explored. Shared experiences by practitioners and networks from East, South and West Africa as well as Madagascar showed great potential for scaled operations on the practices. Interest from academicians and research community was high. However, demand was made on more participatory research and validation processes on these practices, including on social issues before recommending going to scale.

While using recycled inputs for soil health improvement is appreciated, it should not be seen as the only form of natural soil management. The potential of intercropped green manure/cover crops for improving soil health and increasing yields also was intensely discussed The advantages of such practices are the relatively low labour need, the building up of organic matter in the soil in relatively short time and the provision of high protein food. The challenge remains to choose the right species for each context and farming system. 

Research work on green manure and tree integration was discussed widely. The issue of socioeconomic and livelihoods considerations such as labor and energy needs (in terms of calories) to recycle nutrients and produce inputs on farm raised another aspect, especially when thinking about scaling-up strategies. Trials on small plots with controlled surroundings may be limited in scale. Operational feasibility aspects have often received little attention. Labor and mechanization are termed ‘operational resources’ and play a big role in scaling up soil input operations.

The second week of the e-discussion

focused on the co-creation, sharing and dissemination of local innovation for soil health. The transformation to sustainable food systems based on healthy soils requires a paradigm shift towards participatory and inclusive co-creation models for local innovation, bridging modern science and practice with traditional and local knowledge, and promoting both vertical and horizontal exchanges that empower producers. Knowledge platforms are important pillars in this process to meet farmers' hunger for co-creation and sharing of reliable information. The following were among knowledge platforms presented by participants in the discussion:

• Access Agriculture: Access Agriculture is a non-profit organization that supports organic farming and agroecology trough south-south cooperation, enabling global and local access to quality training videos in local languages
• Agroecology Knowledge Hub contributes to strengthening the co-creation and sharing of agroecological knowledge by providing open access to legal and regulatory frameworks, scientific documents, advocacy materials, learning tools and educational resources to producer organizations, civil society, private sector, researchers, policy makers, Farmer Researcher Networks (FRN) and Farmer Field Schools (FFS). ·
• Biovision Africa Trust / Infonet-Biovision: Infonet Biovision targets users from the East Africa region with focus on sharing knowledge from researchers and bridging with local knowledge from farmers
• Family Farming Knowledge Platform gathers digitized quality information on family farming from all over the world; including national laws and regulations, public policies, best practices, relevant data and statistics, researches, articles and publications. It provides a single access point for international, regional and national information related to family farming issues; integrating and systematizing existing information to better inform and provide knowledge-based assistance to policy-makers, family farmers’ organizations, development experts, as well as to stakeholders in the field and at the grassroots level. ·
• Food Plants Solutions: provides downloadable publications from a data base of well researched nutritional information of common crops grown in Africa. ·
• TAPipedia is developed within the context of Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP), is an information sharing system designed to enhance knowledge exchange in support of Capacity Development (CD) for Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS). TAPipedia aims to be a global information system for good CD practices, innovation outputs, success stories and lessons learned. ·
• TECA Platform: an online platform that gathers successful agricultural technologies and practices to facilitate knowledge exchange and help family farmers in the field. The TECA Platform fills the gap in the knowledge sharing process and provides practical information on proven agricultural innovations to a global audience, promoting a sustainable and inclusive rural transformation and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Other websites shared include the website of the World Rural Forum dedicated to the United Nations Decade on Family Farming. Digital platforms have become useful spaces to share content with as many users as possible in different forms. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed challenges often faced by marginalized family farmers and other groups such as pastoralists living in remote country side regions of Africa. They have challenges on accessing grid electricity and gadgets such as smart phones to access most needed information on soil health. Such groups stand to benefit a lot more when deliberate efforts are being put in place by advisory service providers and funding agencies to bridge the gap. They occupy large areas with their animals and innovative grazing management can immensely improve soil health.

The need to support participatory multi-stakeholder co-creation approaches and their role in agroecology and soil health was highlighted by the FAO’s Research and Extension Unit. Multi-stakeholder innovation approaches are important for achieving transformative changes faster and at scale. They bring together groups of people with different backgrounds, expertise and interests – farmers, extension agents, traders, food processors, researchers, [local] government officials – and provide them with a space for co-learning, co-creation, co-innovation, joint action and change. 

Examples are Farmer Field Schools, innovation platforms, operational groups, commodity-based platforms, innovation hubs and labs, science and technology backyards, on-farm and forestry lighthouses etc.

Conclusions

• The e-discussion brought up new areas of concern as well as enlightenment to family farmers on soil health matters. Provided links and shared information will enable further exploration, linkages that will transform into new practices on soil health.
• The desire and demand to consume naturally grown food by family farmers is growing every day. The agricultural development community has responsibility to help alleviate this situation and also bridge the knowledge gaps between researchers, practitioners and advisory service providers. Cultivating healthy soils using agroecology interventions and embracing the principle of co-creation, sharing and dissemination of local innovations offers one such bold step towards this end.
• This e-discussion moderated by Ferdinand Wafula contributed to catalyzing change and promote knowledge exchange among practitioners, consumers and key stakeholders including governments in the region. The discussion attracted more than 400 members to the Community of Practice who subscribed to participate and receive updates from the discussion. More than 100 contributions were made within 31 discussion topics in the 4 weeks of discussion. The interest and engagement show the need to enhance further the synergies between the stakeholders working on family farming and agroecology in the Africa region and collectively propose further discussion opportunities for family farmers and agroecology practitioners.