Organic agriculture – a realistic pathway? Evidence from long-term systems research

The results of 12 years of comparative farming systems research in Kenya, Bolivia, and India provide scientific evidence on economic and ecological sustainability of organic and conventional systems. They illustrate how organic systems and other agroecological approaches can contribute to the SDGs by 2030.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to end poverty and other deprivations. There is substantial evidence illustrating that the dominant agricultural management practices are not sustainable for the future. Organic agricul­ture is proposed as an alternative, but its performance under tropical conditions is questioned as long-term studies are scarce.

The conference addresses whether organic agriculture is a realistic pathway for smallholders in the Global South and if it can support the transformation of food systems. Furthermore, it addresses some key issues of the SDG's such as responsible consumption and production as well as eliminating poverty and hunger. The report What is the contribution of organic agriculture to sustainable development? A synthesis of twelve years (2007-2019) of the long-term farming systems comparisons in the tropics (SysCom) will be launched and the results presented at the conference. Finally, the results will be reflected in the view of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) with regards to its work on agroecology.

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Speakers

Head of Sector, INTPA F3 Sustainable Agri-Food systems and Fisheries

Christophe Larose

Director of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, FiBL

Knut Schmidtke

Programme Manager of the Global Programme Food Security, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

Christina Blank

President, FiBL Europe

Beate Huber

Vice-Chairperson of the HLPE Steering Committee

Bernard Lehmann

Country Leader SYSCOM Bolivia

Monika Schneider

Country Leader SYSCOM Kenya

Noah Adamtey

Country Leader SYSCOM India, Lead author of the SYSCOM synthesis report

Gurbir Bhullar

Venue

Infopoint Virtual Conference via Webex Meetings

Webex Meetings