CSO Session 10: Food Sovereignty and Rural Transformation through Agroecology and Land Justice

For the 60% of Africans who depend on agriculture, fishing and pastoralism for their livelihoods, land, water, and forests are not commodities or individual possessions; they are a gift from God and our ancestors. The social stability of the continent depends on flourishing rural economies and strong bonds between food producers and consumers. Yet public policies and investments do not adequately support the agroecological family farming and territorially-embedded markets that feed the continent, nor defend African communities from land and resource grabbing. Under this theme, small-scale producers and CSOs come together to defend food sovereignty: our right to healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and our right to define our own food and agriculture systems. The EU and AU have woken up to the need for complete transformation. Now the failed solutions must be let go. The two sessions will highlight the African-driven solutions that respond to the context, interests and rights of African peoples - small-scale food producers, rural and urban communities - which need the EU’s and AU’s urgent political and financial support.