The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), wants biodiversity to be mainstreamed in the local agriculture sector policies, and practices, for enhanced organic farming, and strengthening traditional agri-food systems. This comes as a measure to halt the continued biodiversity degradation for agriculture purposes.
Biodiversity is for essential Agri-food systems processes such as pollination, habitat provision, natural pest control, as well as soil nutrition which feeds the crops. Meanwhile, these are threatened, as poor agricultural practices, jeopardize biodiversity, creating food insecurity, malnutrition, as well as decreased production and rampant disease in crop, livestock, forestry, and fisheries.
According to FAO, the solution lays in mainstreaming Biodiversity across Agricultural sector policies, and this being implemented in Laos, Madagascar and Uganda, as the first project beneficiaries, aligning them with implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) Target 10, which emphasizes biodiversity-friendly practices across all sectors of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries, and forestry.
As the three countries shared their experiences, Antonio Querido the FAO Country Representative, to Uganda through his deputy Charles Owach, said Uganda as an example, has rich biodiversity, exceptional genetic species, and ecosystem diversity, essential for food production, emphasizing that biodiversity is vital resources, as it supports food, fuel, and fiber production systems, enhances resilience of these systems, reduces environmental impacts, and ensures safe, healthy, and nutritious food for all.
He further noted that due to declining biodiversity, natural pollinators, such as bees, which are critical to food production, are threatened, adding that a 2014 PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency report, revealed that agriculture-related drivers will account for 70 percent of projected terrestrial biodiversity loss and 50 percent of freshwater biodiversity loss by 2050.
Specifically, Uganda loses about 1% of its biodiversity annually. Between 2000 and 2015 it lost approximately 1.8 million hectares of forest, representing 4 percent annual loss rate, and this is primarily driven by agricultural expansion into natural and semi-natural lands (such as forests and wetlands), overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, and unsustainable agricultural intensification practices.
To him, the right set of agrifood systems policies and approaches, solves this. Qurido adds that this where FAO’s “Mainstreaming Biodiversity across Agricultural Sectors” project, comes in to strengthen sectral policies that promote sustainable agriculture and food systems and scale up sustainable and biodiversity-friendly practices to safeguard the livelihoods of small-scale producers, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities. The initiative has since supported the update and aligned Uganda’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAP) with the KMGBF Target 10, to sustainably manage areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, and forestry.
He adds that through collaboration with MAAIF and PELUM Uganda, a National Agroecology Strategy, to guide national efforts to promote agroecology across all our subsectors, has also been developed. To him these interventions bring confidence that agrifood systems can play a pivotal role in restoring degraded lands, conserving agrobiodiversity, and ensuring the sustainable use of land and natural resources, ultimately enhancing food and agricultural production.
From the meeting, it was observed that Uganda is yet to endorse it roadmap to biodiversity integration into agriculture, and Alex Lwakuba the MAAIF commissioner for crop production, attributed the delay to limited stakeholder engagements which interactions need to be amplified. “There ha been limited stakeholder engagement, and this could be due to logistical issues, but more so non commitment to the causes. Lwakuba, adds that many Ugandan stakeholders in this agenda, have not yet appreciated the cause, an this calls for increased advocacy and sensitization about the agenda, and this will improve the situation.
He further note that in a mean time, strengthening of extension services would be a good starting point, as the nation awaits endorsement of the roadmap for broader interventions.
Julie Belanger a FAO natural resources officer in the climate change biodiversity and environment, mentioned that using biodiversity, helps to reduce dependency on external inputs in the agri-food process, raise productivity, and reduce the overall negative impact agriculture can have on the environment. “Practices at the field level that integrate biodiversity, like integrated pest management strategies diversification, use of local genetic resources, are often less reliant on pesticides, and non-organic fertilizer often have a lower impact on the overall biodiversity.” -URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
