The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for increased investment in agroecology as part of efforts to strengthen food security, climate resilience and sustainable agricultural development across Africa.
Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), made the call on Monday at the final conference of the Agricultural Fund for Sustainable Agriculture (AGRECOFARM) project held at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB).
Gadain, who was represented by Nifesimi Ogunkua, FAO Nigeria Climate Change Specialist, said agroecology provides practical approaches to addressing Africa’s interconnected food, environmental and socioeconomic challenges.
He noted that Africa’s agrifood systems are facing significant pressure, with about 307 million people experiencing hunger in 2024, representing approximately one in five Africans.
According to him, agroecology should be viewed not as a fixed package of technologies but as a systems-based approach that can be adapted to local ecological, economic and cultural conditions.
He identified FAO’s 10 elements of agroecology as diversity, synergies, efficiency, recycling, resilience, knowledge sharing, social values, culture, responsible governance and circular economy.
Gadain also stressed the importance of education in transforming agriculture, saying universities must equip graduates with the skills required to address interconnected challenges involving soil, climate, finance, markets, biodiversity and nutrition.
He urged universities to make agroecology education more practical by training students to design interventions, develop enterprises, analyse landscapes and translate scientific knowledge into policy.
The FAO representative said Nigeria was increasingly shifting from isolated agricultural interventions towards broader agrifood systems transformation through policies focused on research, value chains, climate-smart agriculture and financing.
He disclosed that FAO interventions in Ondo and Cross River states had trained more than 30,000 smallholder farmers while supporting restoration, agroforestry and biodiversity conservation.
However, Gadain identified weak land tenure systems, limited access to finance, inadequate extension services and shortages of quality planting materials as major barriers to the adoption of agroecological practices.
He also highlighted the role of digital technology in supporting agroecology through improved access to climate information, early warning systems, farm data, finance, research and markets.
He listed stronger collaboration among farmers, policymakers and scientists, improved extension services, landscape planning, increased investment, better market access, inclusion of women and youth, and improved measurement of outcomes among the priorities for advancing agroecology in Africa.
Gadain called for financial mechanisms that would make agroecological investments more attractive, including transition finance, concessional credit, guarantees, blended finance, insurance and incentives for sustainable farming practices.
He also advocated stronger agricultural value chains through aggregation, processing, certification, traceability, storage, logistics and reliable market access to improve farmers’ incomes.
Pietro Picuno, Coordinator of the AGRECOFARM project, called for stronger collaboration between African and European universities to promote sustainable agriculture.
Picuno, of the University of Basilicata, Italy, said the project brought together six African universities and European partners to develop academic programmes combining theoretical knowledge with practical agroecological farming skills.
He disclosed that the project had produced 35 scientific papers presented at the conference, adding that Africa needed stronger academic capacity to adapt agroecological approaches to local farming systems.
The Vice Chancellor of FUNAAB, Olusola Kehinde, also called for increased investment in agroecology education and research.
Kehinde said traditional agricultural systems across sub-Saharan Africa were facing increasing pressure from population growth, industrialisation, mechanisation and climate change, posing risks to food security and biodiversity.
He said AGRECOFARM was established to develop the knowledge and human capacity needed to address Africa’s agricultural and environmental challenges through agroecology.
The vice chancellor urged researchers and students to take advantage of the conference’s mentoring, paper presentation, poster and networking sessions, expressing optimism that the deliberations would generate new partnerships and practical solutions for sustainable agriculture.
(NAN)