Sharing knowledge on Agroecology in Africa

The workshop theme was “Resource-use and Management : Agroecology on-farm and wider-than-farm”.

The participants learnt about agroecological processes, soil fertility management, vegetation resource measurements, traditional biological pesticides, organic fertilizers, climate change resilience and sustainable water management.

The main learning points from the workshop included:

1. Agroecology can be done at any scale –from 0.9 of a Hectare to 900 hectares! Just apply the same principles.
2. Farm and ecosystem design begins with the purpose, then follow the functions and the structures.
3. Most soil activity takes place in the pores – so avoid compaction which reduces porosity.
4. Land Equivalent Ratio is a handy tool to demonstrate that complex agroecological systems are actually more productive, than simple conventional farms.
5. The adoption of agroecology is a learning process and requires patience and long term funding.
6. Trócaire and its partners need to urge governments and donors to consider effective ways to support farmers, pastoralists and communities to transition to sustainable resource use and management systems.

Video report from the Workshop

Trócaire is delighted to share this ten minute video from the Kenya Agroecology workshop. You can watch the video below:

TED talk from Pablo Tittonell

To learn more about Pablo Tittonell who provided the key training at the workshop, watch his 2014 TED talk below on “Feeding the world with Agroecology”.