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The keynote speakers included renowned experts in the field, such as Dr. Emma Siliprandi (FAO<\/a>), Dr. Hans Harren (Biovision Foundation<\/a>), Dr. Million Belay (AFSA<\/a>), and Ms. Shamika Mone, ( INOFO<\/a>) who gave insightful talks on the importance of agroecology in achieving food security and promoting sustainable development.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The conference also featured several panel discussions that focused on specific issues, including Indigenous food systems, Women and Youth in Agroecology, Ecological Organic Trade, Markets and Economy, financing agroecological transformation, and Organic Lifestyle Influencer approach. Participants had the opportunity to engage in lively debates and exchange ideas with their peers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the conference highlights was a Youth leader, who spoke passionately about making agroecology attractive to youth. He urged the guests to clap harder and louder with the energy of African youth. Amidst laughter and ear-bursting applause, Richard Mugisha, the Regional coordinator of Youth Track, spoke on.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Youth is a valuable asset in Africa,” Mugisha said. “Having young people involved in agroecology is crucial, but they are not attracted to agroecology because of market attitudes, erosion of culture and unfavorable policy.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n To make agroecology attractive to youths, Mugisha, who oversees Youth track efforts in Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia, proposed innovative financing models for small and medium enterprises, promoting family farming, empowering youth to have acquire key resources, with access to information on agroecology, communication, and technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to organize agroecology learning exposures\/field visits, offer mentorship and coaching opportunities, integrate agroecology in research systems and change curricula of learning institutions and education systems, in order to best attract and motivate the Youths to Agriculture.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another Youth leader who took center stage was Milka Chepkorir, the coordinator of Community Land Action Now. Chepkorir highlighted the importance of Indigenous food systems and pastoral-based practices in the agroecology discourse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She emphasized the need to respect and understand the indigenous community, and to tap into their existing practices that are already working within their community. She also drew attention to the discriminatory policies against the indigenous community, which dismiss their way of living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe should focus on getting the indigenous knowledge from the communities, rather than taking foreign technologies to them,\u201d said Chepkorir, who comes from Sengwer Indigenous community found in Embobut Forest, which is their ancestral land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The potential of Africa’s youth population was a major highlight of the three day conference affair. Among the participants showcasing their work at the conference is Samuel Kiiru, working for Slow Food Kenya, an agroecological business enterprise, promoting traditional farming methods, to preserve culture and tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his interview, Kiiru said that \u2014 the young are shunning traditional food crops in favor of quick produce that has been grown using boosters and fertilizers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It’s all about money,” he says. “No one talks about how I’m going to eat first, then sell.” This shift in mindset has led to the slow death of traditional farming methods, but Slow Food Kenya is trying to revive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kiiru believes that the few farmers who still practice agroecology and organic farming are the ones who are preserving Kenya’s traditional values of farming. He adds that the older generation, ‘the grandparents’, have played a significant role in preserving traditional seeds, as they knew how to select, replant, and conserve them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Pink-Minimal-Typecentric-General-Electronic-Music-YouTube-Thumbnail-1024x576.png\")
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