Why agroecology could be the answer to Africa’s food sovereignty
BY AMY G THORP
The very people who produce our food are often the hungriest. It is a paradox but also a fact.
I first encountered this unsettling reality during a food security module in my postgraduate studies, framed as a stark reflection of the structural inequalities within our food system.
The idea that farmers are constantly battling hunger ignited a deep curiosity to understand why our food system as Africans is broken and what alternative solutions like agroecology can transform it.
Challenges of the food system
Hunger, malnutrition, obesity, biodiversity loss and declining soil fertility are all symptoms of a deeply unjust and unsustainable food system. One where power has shifted from farmers and consumers to agribusinesses and corporations.
It’s unfair that just four agrochemical giants dominate nearly 70% of the chemical and seed industries.
Driven by profit rather than people’s needs, industrial agriculture - with its emphasis on GMO seeds, monocropping and chemical inputs - and food security policies have failed to address hunger and provide long-term, sustainable and just solutions.
For instance, trapped by a failing food system that deepens their dependence on external inputs and volatile markets, small-scale farmers continue to go hungry, even though they produce a third of the world’s food.
In Africa, a continent that is warming faster than the global average, climate shocks are becoming more frequent and severe, acting as a threat multiplier. Farmers, particularly women and smallholders, bear the brunt of this crisis. They are confronted by unpredictable crop seasons, unequal access to resources, land insecurity, gender norms and unfair trade systems.
Could agroecology be the transformative alternative?
If climate change and structural inequalities are worsening the hunger crisis, the urgent question becomes: what approach would truly nourish both people and the planet?
Agroecology offers a pathway to strengthen food systems by promoting equity, building climate resilience, supporting mitigation efforts, and improving nutrition and food security.
These co-benefits are captured in the 13 ecological, cultural and political principles that underpin agroecology (see table and infographic below), identified by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food and Nutrition Security.
Principles underpinning agroecology (ecological, cultural and political)
Improve resource efficiency + support mitigation efforts
Recycling
Input reduction
Builds resilience:
Soil health
Animal health
Biodiversity
Synergy
Economic diversification
Social equity:
Co-creation of knowledge
Social values and diets
Fairness
Connectivity
Land and natural resource governance.
Participation
With multiple definitions around, agroecology and its principles are best understood as a science, a set of practices and a movement.
Agroecology as a science
Emerging in the 1930s in the biological sciences, agroecological science has evolved into a transdisciplinary field, integrating natural and social sciences while also encompassing ecological, social and economic factors.
In the process, its focus shifted from the farm-level to the whole agri-food system, covering issues such as consumer-producer relationships and local food markets.
Over the years, agroecological science has also become increasingly connected to farmer and Indigenous knowledge systems.
Agroecology as a set of practices
Agroecological practices are knowledge-intensive, blending science and Indigenous knowledge. Key practices include seed saving, water harvesting, crop rotation, intercropping, biodiversity conservation and natural pest management.
These methods enhance farm resilience by improving soil quality, water conservation and farm diversity while also supporting mitigating efforts by reducing farmer reliance on external chemical inputs.
Agroecology encompasses various sustainable agricultural approaches such as organic farming and biodynamic farming, with the level of sustainability varying based on the practices applied. Ultimately, it offers a flexible toolkit for farmers to adapt practices to their immediate circumstances.
A major criticism of agroecology is its perceived lower productivity than conventional farming, raising concerns about feeding Africa in the context of its growing population. However, it redefines productivity beyond yield per hectare, emphasizing soil health, biodiversity, and long-term sustainability.
While meta-analyses attempt to compare yields, they often oversimply factors such as external inputs, monocrops versus crop diversity and system differences.
Evidence suggests that agroecological systems can outperform yields of monocrop systems without chemical inputs and enhance food security by improving resilience, diversifying income streams and reducing reliance on external inputs.
Ultimately, though, the effectiveness of agroecology depends on ecological and socio-economic contexts.
Agroecology as a movement
Finally, agroecology is also deeply tied to and serves as the practical basis for food justice and food sovereignty movements, particularly in Africa.
Unlike food security which emphasizes adequate food availability and access, food sovereignty focuses on people’s right to shape their own food and seed systems rather than relying on external markets, GMO seeds and expensive chemical inputs.
At the heart of food sovereignty is autonomy, social justice, gender equity and local knowledge. It challenges power within the food system by placing control over food production, distribution and decision-making back in the hands of the farmers and local communities.
Sylvia Kuria, founder of Sylvia’s Basket, champions agroecology by growing organic, pesticide-free food and training women and small-scale farmers on how to cultivate their own food using agroecological principles.
In semi-arid regions like Ndeiya in Central Kenya, these methods improve food security, nutrition and income by reducing reliance on external inputs. Through advocacy and policy work, this model farmer is driving systemic change to make agroecology central to Kenya’s food sovereignty.
Sylvia’s is one of many inspiring stories of African farmers applying agroecology to grow food, as featured on the website of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa.
Agroecology’s integration of these three dimensions – science, practices and movement – is the basis for its framework for food system transformation. It offers a transformative alternative because it is context specific, embraces diverse knowledge systems, uses system thinking and systems change to challenge the structure of the current oppressive food system. This in turn helps to achieve both sustainability and climate goals.
Could agroecology be the answer to Africa’s push for food sovereignty and preservation of nature? The benefits strongly suggest so.
Amy G Thorp is the Programs Manager and Adaptation Lead at Power Shift Africa
