The Prosperity of East Africa’s Food System Lies in Agroecology

A sovereign vision of agriculture will be featured at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto

To be held from September 26 to 30 in the Parco Dora in Turin, Italy, Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2024 will mobilize the energies of the Slow Food delegates and activists who will be gathering from over 120 countries with the aim of transforming the food system.

From Uganda we are very pleased to welcome our Slow Food international president Edie Mukiibi, and a delegation of 12 people from the Slow Food Uganda network including farmers and herders, agronomists and academics, and representatives of indigenous communities.

Among them, Stephan Katongole, a Ugandan born and raised in Germany who returned to Uganda to become a coffee farmer. Ugandan coffee producers are among the protagonists of the Slow Food Coffee Coalition space at Terra Madre, which provides a perfect blend of teaching and conviviality thanks to the involvement of diverse participants (coffee farmers are coming from Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, Malawi, Uganda, India, Thailand, and the Philippines).

Edie Mukiibi will chair the conference Agroecology: Agriculture on the side of nature (September 27 at 5pm). The panel includes:

• Miguel Altieri, (Chile), Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who served as General Coordinator of the United Nations Sustainable Agriculture Program and as a Scientific Advisor to the Latin American Consortium on Agroecology and Development. His book, Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture, is a foundational volume in the field of agroecology.
• Mariama Sonco (Senegal), a farmer, activist, and national coordinator of Nous Sommes la Solution (“We are the solution”), a rural women’s movement for food sovereignty active in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Guinea, and beyond.
• Morgan Ody, (France), owner of a vegetable farm in Brittany, a member of ECVC (European Coordination Via Campesina) and the General Coordinator of La Via Campesina International.

Ethiopia is sending three delegates, representatives of the country’s local groups:

• Asmelash Dagne Datiko of the Derashe indigenous community. His academic career led on to his commitment to the promotion of sustainable natural resource management. He has studied Integrated Natural Science (Hawassa college of Education), Natural Sciences (Arba Minch University), Permaculture Design (Permaculture institute of Northern Britain/United Kingdom) and has obtained a Master of Science in Environmental Resource Management at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, in Senftenberg, Germany. He also helped promote the establishment of a school and community gardens in Ethiopia as part of the Slow Food Gardens in Africa project.
• Amanuel Samuel Menna is a Slow Food Youth Network Activist focused on gardening. He is running different projects with a German organization focusing on agroforestry for small-scale producers, water management and training on agribusiness for entrepreneurs.

The Slow Food International Councilor for East Africa John Kariuki Mwangi is also coming to Turin. He is the coordinator of the Slow Food network and projects in Kenya. Speaking about Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, he says, “I am extremely proud to be part of the international network that is Slow Food, and to represent a delegation that will take part in the 20th anniversary edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto! I am sure that, through exchange and dialogue with people who differ in culture, language, and customs, every one of us will return home richer and with new enthusiasm for pursuing our activities and striving for a better future for our planet.”

The Kenyan delegation is a very large one – 30 people – and includes members of the Maasai, Ogiek, Kalenjin, and Borana indigenous communities. One of the spaces dedicated to debates and lectures is actually dedicated to Joannah Stutchbury, an environmentalist and activist, who worked for years to defend Kenya’s forests and was killed in 2021 precisely because of her work. Slow Food honors her by naming the Arena after her, which is hosting a programme with internationally renowned personalities.

Elizabeth Atieno Opolo from Kenya is a food campaigner and spokesperson for Greenpeace Africa and will speak at the conference Against nature: Multinationals are starving the planet.

Tanzania is also sending an enthusiastic delegation of four people representing the country’s numerous gardens and Ark of Taste products. The Somalian Slow Food network will be represented by four delegates who are all engaged in crucial work to preserve local biodiversity and enhance food security and sovereignty, which are particularly important in a country facing decades of political, social and economic crisis.

Rwanda will join Terra Madre as well, with a delegation of two people.

John Kariuki Mwangi – International Councillor for Eastern Africa

[email protected]