The African Association for Vertical Farming (AAVF) has announced that it is joining the Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA).
To expand the beneficial impacts of vertical farming, going beyond on-farm production to also integrate value addition is paramount. This is necessitated by the need to eliminate rising postharvest losses (PHLs) and leverage the process to unlock multiple enterprise opportunities along entire value chains. It is for this reason, and the urgent need to maximise agro-productivity while taking care of the environment that AAVF has joined the EBAFOSA.
Facilitated by the UN Environment, EBAFOSA is a countries-driven inclusive policy and implementation action framework that convenes multiple actors – state and non-state, individual and institutional – to forge complementary and mutually beneficial partnerships that connect the dots towards scaling climate action. But doing so from an enterprise paradigm that ensures market longevity.
Established in mid-2015 and endorsed at the highest continental environment policy forum – the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), EBAFOSA focus is on climate proofing and maximising productivity of Africa’s agro-value chains. The end being to convert inefficiencies along Africa’s agro-systems that cost over $48 billion each year, into food secure homes, income and enterprise opportunities and macroeconomic expansion. The core strategy applied is enterprise partnerships that decentralise appropriate clean energy – a climate solution - to power value addition of produce sourced from ecological production – a climate solution as well. This as the core, is combined with innovative financing, market incentives and policy feedback to catalyse growth of diverse enterprises with climate action co-benefits along entire value chains.
Youth being the majority in the continent and hence the most significant nonstate actor constituency are key in driving this “connecting the dots” approach. They are structurally guided and inspired to leverage their skills, ongoing work and existing enabling policies, and work collaboratively with their peers of complementary skilling towards undertaking climate action enterprises. Such voluntary mutual & complementary collaborations to drive climate enterprise actions are the EBAFOSA modus operandi called Innovative Volunteerism.
In all these, the EBAFOSA logic is that challenges for actors along Africa’s agro-value chains present opportunities for complementary actors with solutions having climate co-benefits. But that these two polar opposites need to be brought together. EBAFOSA provides the inclusive framework where these two polar opposites are brought together for collaborative solutions and unlocking enterprises.
To date, EBAFOSA innovative volunteerism actions are ongoing in over 40 counties across Africa.
AAVF looks forward to working with EBAFOSA and the mentioned stakeholders towards ensuring vertical farming catalyses growth of multiple climate action enterprises in areas of AAVF operations through innovative volunteerism.
For more information:
African Association for Vertical Farming
www.aavf.ch