After the event, CONCORD did a short video interview with Mr. Belay, asking him questions on agroecology, both on the side of small-scale farmers and policy makers. He also provided some examples of successful agroecology practices.
Interview with Million Belay
Mr. Belay is founder of the MELCA-Ethiopia and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), and an expert and advocate for forestry conservation, indigenous livelihoods and food and seed sovereignty. AFSA is a broad alliance of different civil society actors that are part of the struggle for food sovereignty and agroecology in Africa. Its members represent smallholder farmers, pastoralists, hunter/gatherers, indigenous peoples; faith-based institutions, and environmentalists from across Africa.
CONCORD’s position
CONCORD is convinced that we need a fundamental shift in food production towards a highly adaptive, low carbon, resource-preserving type of agriculture and in-country value addition that benefits also the poorest farmers across the globe, to meet the food and nutritional needs of a growing population within our planetary boundaries and achieve the SDGs.
In its policy brief “Agro-ecology to strengthen resilience” CONCORD Europe highlights the enormous potential of agro-ecology to respond to climate change, malnutrition and rural poverty. Recent research shows that agro-ecological agriculture increases land productivity and climate resilience, improves nutrition security, mitigates climate change, empowers small-scale producers and reduces rural poverty.
In the next months, CONCORD and its members are committed to continue promoting agro-ecology vis-à-vis EU institutions.