AOFF’S Approach & Goals
Integrating farming and natural resource management improve human welfare, preserve the ecosystem, and protect wildlife. A dynamic, organic agriculture system will generate generate economic and social sustainability, income and jobs, boost local food security for rural and urban people, and sustain natural resources and habitat.
Constituency
-- South Africa hosts AOFF, as it is regionally representative of Southern
Africa’s agro-ecological zones. Programs will also be undertaken
in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. AOFF will target rural communities
located in agricultural areas along the periphery of wildlife reserves.
Working throughout Southern Africa, AOFF’s goals are to:
- Address human problems with sustainable rural development
solutions that foster economic self-sufficiency, contribute to regional
food security, increase market-driven employment, and mitigate the effects
of HIV/AIDS on rural households.
- Economically empower Southern African rural farmers by
forging better links between producers and the local and international
firms that buy and market their products.
- Halt and reverse the decline in natural resources, and
protect threatened wildlife in Africa by fostering a conservation ethic
in the agricultural sector.
- Create a Center of Learning and Research for Organic Farming for and based in Southern Africa.
To meet these goals, AOFF will:
1. Develop and promote a community-based organic agricultural program including education, training and extension to encourage the adoption of organic farming technologies.
a. Introduce to rural black farmers an agro-ecological model that emphasizes biodiversity, nutrient recycling, synergy among crops, animals, soils, and other biological components, as well as regeneration and conservation of resources.
b. Transfer integrated low-input and non-chemical agro-ecological approaches to improve soil fertility, pest control, and water conservation, based on the specific agro-ecosystem of each farming community.
c. Target production of crops that can be produced organically with high yields in the rain-fed agricultural eco-systems and that:
(1) Boost the immune systems of PWAs and improve nutrition
of other vulnerable populations;
(2) Provide marketable surpluses to raise income; and
(3) Serve as viable protein substitutes for bushmeat.
d. Target rural communities located on the agricultural periphery of wildlife reserves. Working with these rural communities – some of whom tend to view wild animals as food source or revenue opportunity (bushmeat trade) – to enable self-provisioning and reduce wildlife poaching, promote ecological stewardship, and introduce more balance to the Man-Agriculture-Wildlife relationship that manages and enhances wildlife habitats while keeping the farming economically viable.
2. Increase equity for rural Black farming communities in Southern Africa.
a. Combat plunging agricultural commodity prices and increase and sustain farmer income by using the Shared Equity Model of business formation that gives equity ownership of the companies that sell their agricultural products.
b. Structure programs to focus on women’s roles in agriculture and actively involves women in project identification, decision-making, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
c. Identify populations with enterprise development skills and facilitate the development of grower cooperatives and ensure their ownership of the implementation process
d. Establish agribusiness entrepreneur networks and enhance agribusiness and market skills and develop financial literacy.
3. Mobilize business and investment partnerships with South African firms to increase employment and promote the growth of commercially-oriented, small- to medium-minority enterprises (SMMEs) that can be sustained without continuous external support.
a. Improve SMME capacity to operate efficiently.
b. Strengthen business management skills.
c. Facilitate the information and technological inputs necessary to produce
value-added products.
d. help producers and market intermediaries to come together.
4.Implement the MAED Program, a market-led, trade capacity building initiative that uses local and foreign market assessments to enable historically-disadvantaged farmers, SMMEs, and agribusiness to achieve and maintain economic self-sufficiency.
a. Ensure that production standards and recordkeeping requirements are met so that farms and processing facilities can be certified and achieve credibility in the marketplace.
b. Identify market-driven options for economic growth by promoting small- and medium-scale agribusiness development in Southern African by focusing on trade in South Africa, the region, and internationally, and especially trade opportunities through the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA)
5. Build partnerships that support and extend AOFF’s program work.
a. Link African growers and community-based producer groups with environmentalists, researchers, government agencies like regional Departments of Agriculture, processors, distributors and exporters, to build grower capacity, introduce technologies in science, health, and agriculture, and provide technical and financial resources, including credit.
b. Create viable producer associations and supply chains that can ensure full traceability from farm to point of sale as well as helping enhance the sustainability of the productive base and solving problems related to organic techniques.
c. Work with the U.S. Organic Trade Association and other mentor organizations to help develop regional certification programs that formalize organic standards in order to maintain the credibility of organic produce in domestic markets and enable participation in export markets.
6. Create a new African Center of Learning for Organic Farming to:
a. Design and implement planning and evaluation processes that involve program participants and partners and that can test the model for organic production and shared-equity marketing.
b. Communicate needs and results, disseminate information, and conduct training.
c. Introduce new niche market crops such as high value horticultural, indigenous plants, or medicinal herbs on continuous basis.
d. Foster the creation of infrastructure that allows organic producers to better store, market, and add value to their produce.
African Organic Farming Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization