Organic agriculture in the global south and Africa

Implementation rates of sustainable and organic agriculture

Sustainable agriculture has evolved into one of the key approaches for facilitating environmental conservation by ensuring mutual coexistence between human beings and the ecosystem. Regardless, the global south is lagging in terms of implementing agricultural methodologies that are aligned with the principles of sustainability. Particularly, the concept of organic agriculture is underutilized despite the fact that it fits with the second Sustainable Development Goal of the UN (SDG – 2): no hunger by 2030. Research has determined that the uptake of organic agriculture is still low in the global south due to reasons such as the rudimentary technology and affordability.

Upon focusing on the African continent, which is part of the global south, it becomes evident that the implementation rates of organic agriculture are much lower. This is because less than 20% of the actors in the Africa agriculture sector are applying organic agriculture practices such as integrated nutrient management. Scientists believe Africa cannot implement the practices of organic agriculture optimally because small scale rural farmers account for a significant proportion of the agricultural sector in the continent and they lack advanced technology as well as sustainable agriculture information.

Definition of organic agriculture

In order to understand what the concept of organic agriculture entails, this article will provide its definition. Thus, according to the Codex Alimentations Commission in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), organic agriculture is a multidimensional system for managing agricultural production that ensures optimal health of agro-ecosystems from aspects such as biological action on the soil, biodiversity, and bio-cycle.

Elements of organic agriculture

Organic agriculture encompasses several key aspects designed to promote long-term agricultural productivity while minimizing environmental impact. These include factors such as soil fertility, hydrological conservation, biotic and abiotic heterogeneity, the application of technological advancement, and many others that positively affect plant yield and manage environmental consequences.

Considering the factors mentioned above, one of the most basic components of organic agriculture can be correctly understood as soil health. Healthy soils, which are the basis of sustainable agro ecosystems, tend to be built and sustained by the use of methods like rotation of crops, use of cover crops, minimum tillage among others. These approaches aid in retention of soil structure, recycling nutrients, and decreasing of soil erosion rates. For example, crop rotation, in addition interfering with pests and diseases’ life cycle, ensures nutrient recycling while cover crops prevent soil erosion and enhance the organic content of the soil.

Conservation of water is another crucial input of organic agriculture. Hydrological conservation leads to optimized water usage through the use of efficient practices like drip irrigation and precision agriculture. Drip systems directly water the roots of plants before some of the water evaporates or runs off, thus conserving water. Precision agriculture applies technology to control moisture in the soil and measure how the irrigation time-frames should be scheduled depending on the crop to be irrigated so that it gets the right measure of water volume.

Besides, organic agriculture is tightly linked with biodiversity because the latter represents a technique for the implementation of the former. Biodiversity facilitates an approach to crop management that involves polyculture - growing more than one crop at a time - as well as intensive land use cropping patterns. Thus, biodiversity promotes agroforestry, improves resistance to pests and diseases, increases the yield of the farms, and enhances the overall farm productivity.

The application of technology in organic farming is equally considered crucial. For instance, precision agriculture, which has been discussed above, minimizes the use of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides and on the same note it increases yields by using GPS together with sensors and data analytics for field management. Also, vertical farming ensures maximum food production for the growing population in the cities that has limited land space through the application of hydroponics.

Call to action

Considering the several benefits of organic agriculture that have been identified in this article, it is essential for the global south, especially the African continent to enhance implementation of this practice. In order to achieve this target, advocates and activists of environmental conservation should lobby African governments to develop policies that support organic agriculture. Also, charity organisations should provide the African continent with support in the form of financial resources for advanced technology as well as sustainable agriculture education.