Agricultural Biodiversity Community (abc) Annual Meeting, Kenya

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th – 26th November 2015 SACDEP Centre Final report on proceedings [based on new structure]

ABBREVIATIONS abc Agricultural Biodiversity Community AFSA Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa ARIPO African Regional Intellectual Property Organization COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa DFID Department for International Development EAC East African Community EPB Evolutionary Plant Breeding FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FARA Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa GEF Global Environment Facility GMOs Genetically Modified Organism IAASTD International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science & Technology for

Development ICE Institute for Culture and Ecology ICT Information and Communication Technology INHERE Institute of Himalayan Environmental Research and Education IPRs Intellectual Property Rights KBioC Kenya Biodiversity Coalition NGO Non-Governmental Organization PELUM Participatory Ecological Land Use Management SACDEP Sustainable Agriculture Community Development Programme SADC Southern African Development Community SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SIFFS South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies SSNC Swedish Society for Nature Conservation

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Meeting Background

Over the last three years the Agricultural Biodiversity Community (abc) has held various workshops and meetings resulting in the priority areas; Seeds and Breeds, Resilient Communities, Markets and Trade, Information Networks, Policy and Governance. First there was the idea of “breaking the glass house” while focusing on various operation environments e.g. governments; after a study then the thought process. The meeting in Bangkok helped setup abc vision, mission, logo, and other specific roles. The gathering in India defined the workstation and prepared cases for a special issue of Farming Matters magazine. Then in Boxtel, Netherlands the community developed 3 working groups at different levels of engagements on Open Seed Sources, Community Resilience Assessment Tool, and Wikiseedia/ Policy Briefs. The funding for abc was to be closed by October 2015 but the community felt it necessary and important to take the agenda of agricultural biodiversity management forward hence reason for this meeting to analyze abc’s future. ABC is a loose network, and one of the main key questions in this meeting would be how to strengthen it. Being a member owned and demand driven community, it is every member’s business not the network if demonstrations and scale up of knowledge and discussions is to go further. Other key questions that the community needed to focus on are the new operation methods, institutional frameworks and new mechanism for continuous sharing.

The future of abc is to institutionalize its organization by strengthening the member base, expanding the steering committee and evolving organizational structure. Giving continuity to existing initiatives while expanding the scope of abc through new working groups allied with other networks, knowledge generation initiatives and fund raising at different levels as stated in its vision. PELUM Kenya organized a meeting convened in Thika, Kenya from the 23rd – 26th November 2015 for (abc). This meeting’s aim was to discuss the community’s future with the following objectives:

1.2 Objectives

1. Taking on board the active members of abc and receiving their enthusiastic support for taking abc forward on the Organizational aspects and ways of working

2. Facilitate exchange and learning on (local, national, regional and international) experiences and reflections for the advancement and scaling up of agricultural biodiversity initiatives

3. Initiating and developing practical steps towards knowledge co-creation/collaborative effort on the theme of 1) Making markets work for agricultural biodiversity and 2) Building information networks for breaking through the glass house

4. Preparation of action plan for next year (2016) 5. Learning about interesting and insightful agricultural biodiversity initiatives in Kenya A field visit was scheduled for two groups on the first day. One focused on Seed issues to Kivaa hosted by the Institute of Culture and Ecology (ICE); and the other on Biodiversity Conservation (to Murang’a) hosted by Slowfood International, Kenya Chapter.

1.3 Participants

The meeting brought together 37 participants including abc members, the steering committee members and potential members – individuals or organizations working in the areas of biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity management, climate change adaptation and mitigation through co-creation, knowledge management, advancing markets and policy work and other related thematic areas. These experts arrived from 11

countries in 4 continents to discuss the future of the community (See Annex 6.5: List of Participants) 1.4 Process with Photos (See Annex 6.4)

2.0 AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY IN AFRICA 2.1 Macro Picture – Michael Farrelley Presentation

Michael Farrelly gave an expert analysis on the trends in Africa on the status of industrialized agriculture versus ecological agriculture with key institutions involved and a few highlights on the continental bodies spearheading efforts on Agroecology. First is the agricultural modernization agenda pushing for the green revolution, use of GMOs, seed laws that reduce or eliminate farmer and community rights to genetic material and pass these rights to seed corporations, and other bodies formed to spearhead forums to influence governments through regional bodies like SADC, COMESA, EAC, ARIPO, etc. The impact of the drive for profits is leading to a loss of biodiversity, wild crop relatives, traditional crops and varieties; seed and food sovereignty and a loss of knowledge on food and nutrition, especially among the new generations. Criminalizing the traditional practice of saving, sharing, exchanging, and selling seeds reduces access and will limit development of new varieties by farmers hence having strong implications for small holder farmers. Farmers cannot freely exchange or sell, even in small amounts, farm saved seed/propagating material, a practice that underpins seed systems in Africa. GMOs are being commercialized in only 4 countries South Africa (fully on board), Egypt, Sudan and Burkina Faso (the case of Bt Cotton). Trials include: Water Efficient Maize for Africa, Bt Cotton, Vitamin A Banana and Cowpeas. The alternative for Africa is Agroecology with creation of Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) which has 25 members sharing the common objective of Food sovereignty through seed, land, Agroecology, freedom, rights and power as working groups. The goal is to make an evidence-based and coherent case for Agroecology as the sustainable long-term solution for farming in Africa. In many ways, Agroecology is the antithesis of current conventional, corporate-driven, monoculture-based agricultural systems. Where conventional agriculture seeks to simplify, Agroecology embraces complexity, depends on diversity, and builds upon it. Agroecology regenerates and restores, working with nature - not against nature. Agroecology works to ensure food and livelihood security, community-based approaches work best with much potential for upscaling and mainstreaming. Challenges remain in terms of resources, capacity, awareness, access to markets and policy coherence. Michael shared a few case studies done in this research (See Annex 6.3 for PowerPoint presentation).

Plenary Session The forum was challenged to see the role of abc in the emerging trends in Africa as a way forward. Q: In Kenya we are still fighting with GMO, how have you been able to put all these organizations together so that we replicate to be able to present our case based on facts? A: More efforts are needed in order to survive through challenging industrial food systems – pest control, fertilizers etc. Agroecology is the way to go because of the set of practices e.g. Climate Smart Agriculture, it’s a social-political movement hence it is possible that the elements that follow agroecology principles within CSA can be taken up and utilized.

2.2 Kenyan Picture 2.2.1 Field Learning and Exposure Visits Participants were divided into 2 groups and the following guiding questions were to help them in sharing their impressions after the visit:

1) How does the community manage the biodiversity? 2) What are their successes? 3) What are their challenges? 4) How are they overcoming the challenges?

The group in Kivaa, Machakos County hosted by the Institute of Culture and Ecology (ICE) The main aim of the group is to manage natural resources in a traditional and ancestral way. The group has various projects including Herbal medicine for both animals and humans; Seeds and food security; Natural resources management; Advocacy and networking. The Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) has been working in the community for more than 5 years.

The group displayed various seed varieties; 3 varieties of cowpeas, Millet (mainly used to make cakes, coladas, etc.) sorghum, Mung bean (rich in protein). To preserve the seeds they mix the seeds with ashes then store them in calabashes put in grass-made baskets. They tie the sorghum and maize in bundles then hang the seeds in a hot-humid room (the cooking place in the kitchen). The seeds can last for 3 years using these methods.

The calabashes are also used as food plates, containers for milk storage and even as house decoration. They preferred using calabash than tree leaves to avoid damaging trees. They plant many seeds in many places in order to have diversity and cope with the climate changes. Participants from India shared insightful seed preservation methods that were in more ways useful to the group. It was also important to note the gender division of seed work solely relied on women since “everything inside the house is a woman concern” hence it’s easy for women to be in charge of preserving the seeds. Land is owned by men, however, they cannot dispose it without family consent (which is a government requirement in Kenya); with the new constitution dispensation women can inherit land from their fathers unlike in the past. Herbal medicine preparation addresses ailments and diseases by processing mixtures of plants for consumption or application. This traditional knowledge around herbal medicine is passed to the new generations during meetings attended by interested youths both men and women. It does not matter whether these youths go through formal education they still learn how to practice herbal medicine during school holidays. The team also learned that negative effects of climate change impacts on group activities, including changing rain patterns sometimes causing flash floods, droughts or untimely planting season. The group showed an Ecocultural calendar with marked seasons, crops that they plant in each season, the work that they do during the season and accompanying ceremonies. Challenges 1. The clash between modern and traditional techniques of seed preservation. 2. Drastic ecosystem changes; for example it is difficult for women to fetch grass for basket

weaving.

3. Bugs attack crops producing the seeds that the group tries to preserve. In order to control pests they require the entire family labor, unfortunately the youth migrate to the cities in search of work or for studies.

4. Youths shun food prepared from these seeds (traditional food) hence forced to add value or fortify their foods into cakes or chapatis. The group established a cultural center for educating on cultural knowledge about the seeds and food preparation.

Principles identified: a) Women, men and youth have specific roles to manage and utilize biodiversity inside the

community. b) Spirituality is very important to the community and is a key factor in the use and

management of biodiversity. c) The community wants to preserve traditional ways of using biodiversity but they are

open to progressive changes. Successes 1) At least 10 types of indigenous seeds saved as a result of communal, cultural,

multigenerational effort 2) Biodiversity and environmental preservation especially mountains (for medicine,

ceremonies, soil and water conservation) is also done communally and it’s a multigenerational effort.

The Rastafarians group in Murangá hosted by SlowFood International, Kenya Chapter H.I.M Negus Shiriki is a 10-member Community Based Organization driven by the beliefs of and Inspired by His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie, a spiritual monarch. The group’s main activities include agriculture, creative arts, music, education, environment conservation, entrepreneurship, media and communication. The group was selected due to its outspoken rich biodiversity conservation involving youths with a unique setup of Rastafarian lifestyle. H.I.M’s Negus Shiriki’s mandate is working with the youth to tap skills and talent therefore being informed and responsible citizens. They worked together with elders, raising youths with awareness and responsibility. Their main aim of existence is to serve the community with 10 years’ experience spanning back to Kibera slums of Nairobi where they started with organic agriculture since they needed food for survival.

“It’s a shame to die without planting a tree, Mother nature protection is a responsibility for all of us” said one of the group members while explaining group activities. Members believed that it’s shameful that the world puts its money in the bank but the group invests organically as in soil, value adding into indigenous foods. They were sad that even children now die of cancer; the community is coming back to its roots of organic foods.

Garden tour The visiting team had a short learning tour, to see the farm. It had various crops planted in the piece of land, propagated in adherence to biodiversity principles. These crops are used for food, medicine and biodiversity conservation. These include various Banana species, Mangoes, Avocado, Onions, Cassava, Sugarcane, Maize, Sorghum, Arrow roots, Pumpkin

(with many medicinal values), Calliandra, Sesame, Pawpaw, Tomatoes among other undocumented leguminous crops. The farm also has a preserved swamp as a natural habitat for remediation of water bodies. How do you deal with Biodiversity? i) No mono-cropping, members plant diverse

variety of crops; allow a natural environment with canopy, shrubs, and tubers to blossom.

ii) Preservation of indigenous crops and seeds, working with Kenya forestry department to get indigenous tree seedlings.

iii) Avoid using pesticides and allow natural open pollination, as birds feed on nectar. Members explained that pests on crops isn’t necessarily a threat since everything has its place in the ecosystem; weak plants could also be eliminated with certain pests.

Successes of Biodiversity o Various crops are doing well hence plenty of food, clean air and environment o Various visits to the farm for observation, networking and learning on replication

especially the community within o The inter relationships of flora and fauna Challenges: The group had to reclaim the piece of land that was originally a bush. This took physical

and mental strength They need funds for Value Addition (e.g. establishing a cane juicer and cassava

processor) The government doesn’t support this type of farming due to influence of seed

companies. The existing markets don’t support their crops Community is being brainwashed Difficult to find old/ traditional crop seeds in Kenya- must go far including to Uganda to

collect and source for these seeds The group doesn’t have an existing seed bank

2.3 Interactions with Officials from Ministry of Agriculture, Kiambu County Rosemary Nyamu, the Director Crops and Irrigation and Mr. John Mburu, Livestock extension officer of Kiambu County government were invited to share status of the County Agricultural sector. Kiambu County is 2,543.4 square kilometers with 64.5% of arable land. The county has 12 sub-counties and 60 wards with a human population of 1.8 million with 80% engaged in agriculture. The County’ main agricultural initiatives involve crops, seeds and irrigation including free supply of legume seeds of cowpeas, beans and green grams issued to farmers in the lower region of Thika, Juja and Ruiru Sub counties. The crops department has various value addition initiatives in dairy, fisheries, rabbit production. They also do agro-processing and value addition promotion on tissue culture banana (TC). Resilience initiatives include soil and

water conservation, seed bulking, relief seed to the vulnerable farmers and demonstrations on appropriate technologies including clean/certified seed, CA, organic farming, composting, push-pull technology, green houses, aquaculture, hydroponics, agro-forestry etc. They also encourage safe use of chemicals for high value crops and also promote stevia crops. There are two (2) forests Kiani, Kinari in Kiambu County; during the long rains the government donates seedlings for tree planting in the forests for reforestation and to address illegal logging. Farmers are also encouraged to develop livestock and crop related income generating activities. In conserving the environment communities are advised on stocking rates, and to plant trees that enrich the soils. Challenges 1. Diminishing agricultural land sizes due to increased population pressure and real estate’s

encroachment which generates higher and faster returns from the neighbouring country’s capital, Nairobi from tenants

2. Reliance on rain fed agriculture due to limitation of irrigation infrastructure 3. Inadequate marketing structures for agricultural produce 4. Low value addition resulting in reduced produce prices to the farmers 5. Slow adoption of modern technologies in the agricultural sector 6. Low utilization of dam fishery resources (See Annex 6.3 for the Presentation) Plenary Session

Questions 1. If a farmer or farmer groups want to access indigenous/ traditional seeds from the

seedbanks can they access to re-introduce these crops in their farms? 2. What kinds of fertilizers are supplied; organic or chemical fertilizers? 3. If there are options to use sustainable options i.e. compost, organic matter would you

recommend this? 4. What do safe chemical applications entail? 5. How is the research agenda working together with farmers? What sorts of crop varieties

are produced and distributed? 6. Can you propose that Kiambu County becomes the first GMO free county in Kenya? Indigenous vegetables seeds can be accessed at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) has indigenous knowledge on local vegetables and seed as well. The government faces other challenges of farmers losing seeds after planting hence depleting the shelves with no tracing system unless it’s tracked back to the Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). Fertilizers are imported both organic and non-organic and farmers can choose. However most farmers do not embrace organic agriculture fully and they prefer to also use inorganic fertilizers. The organic fertilizers are subsidized to almost half the price (mavuno fertilizers for bananas, beans, avocado and macadamia). For the high value agriculture crops like flowers, there is also campaigning for organic fertilizer use. Safe use of chemicals application is where awareness I created on unsafe chemical use, if one wants to sell produce daily it’s safe to do organic vegetables or practice post-harvest

intervals to transition out of conventional farming. In seed research there are regular meetings, researchers pick on topics to research on and extension advice the research on gaps hence this is farmer driven. After the ideas are formulated they get back again to take the technologies to the farmers and run a joint evaluation together. They carry out field observation, document the learning process; evaluate then advice policy makers. Most varieties are need driven - beans, tissue culture bananas etc. GMOs have not been accepted here in Kiambu and in the same spirit that’s why there are efforts to preserve the indigenous seeds so that farmers do not rush to the shops now and again whenever they require seed.

3.0 BUILDING AND STRENGTHENING ABC (OBJECTIVE 1)

3.1 Briefing by Anchors

i. History of abc

The Knowledge programme agricultural biodiversity @knowledged is the strategy map journey for abc. Maryleen Micheni (member of abc Steering Committee, SC) asked “why can’t farmers scale up a good practice; the answer lies in breaking the “glass house” This three year program was to share knowledge we have and to know what barriers there are, develop concepts of sharing meetings and during these meetings encourage ourselves even though we aren’t listened to as a community. The 2012 search conference in Thailand brought forward the need to have a network to make a community with strong collaboration, powerful hence the 5 themes generated. This followed the Open House dialogue in Starnmeer with all invited industrial experts, the conference scrap metal material from Farming Matters communication materials (Policy briefs, films and news). In Boxtel, Netherlands in October 2014 the transition process began for abc to be a professional and learning community with 3 working groups; Resilience, Open Seed and breeds and policy influencing. Delegates held field visits coined “food safaris” in seed companies to share different perspectives. The resilience team toured farms taken though mechanization to learn these economies of scale utilization in multipurpose farming. In policy the meeting learned the 2 farms innovations on sustaining farming in 2 income streams.

ii. Briefing on Organizational Developments Dr. M.P. Vasimalai began the session saying, “all of us have a shared purpose, we have vision, mission, goals but the question is how do we practice these shared purpose, and contribute to abc and how do we get membership and involvement?” The existing working groups have committed a contribution (in reference to the Skype conversations) but the question Vasimalai asked members is “how do we go beyond just the community contribution? How many of us here are giving knowledge back to the abc network? The process of institutionalization was informally initiated in Madurai 2013 Annual Meeting then formally continued in Boxtel, Netherlands and now to be concretized during this meeting in Thika. One of the things needed is to create a secretariat to make all this to be implemented. The key components of institutionalization shared in his presentation include membership structure and commitments, ownership and engagement; co-creation and collaboration; Knowledge dissemination; fund mobilization; identification of core supporters and the timelines to mark end of the programme (See Annex 6.3 for Presentation).

iii. Lessons learnt

Edith van Walsum of ILEIA Netherlands shared abc’s lessons learnt document terming it “a sample of perspectives – a mirror for abc” of how networks have touched each other. This is a hybrid document not pure public relations, nor a rigorous study.

The key questions in the mirror include; 1. What have people learnt on the abc process 2. Any value added of the abc 3. What new knowledge gained and from whom 4. What knowledge is shared and with whom Edith envisioned the future of abc through a reflection of “what if cultures collapse or biodiversity collapses” hence the importance of diverse and cross-cultural initiatives as the cornerstone of building the community. The community needs to embrace the two types of knowledge substantive (know what) and strategic (know how). They should embrace unpredictability, linking with advocacy cross-fertilization with other networks. LET’S MOVE ON! 3.2 Sub-Group Discussions

i. Suggestions for active involvement and ownership of members in abc

What benefits members can get?

What contributions can members make?

What benefits can a member get?

Market Access

Different Technology

Best practices

Solidarity

Logistic support - Organize a meeting or legal support

Share opportunities – organizations in solidarity for a cause

What contributions member can make?

Membership

Volunteer

Facilities

Field visits

Workshops – Use skills or knowledge to train in workshops

Contribute with information

Share skills

Consulting

Expertise and knowledge

Fundraising

Ownership

Right to use the logo and name as a member

Right to recommend new members

A loose network for now

Moving towards a concrete structure

ii. How can we build alliances with other relevant stakeholders working on AB?

i) Identify organizations and networks to collaborate ii) Suggest mechanisms

In Person training - it could be long or short term; regional, national and international

Short/ day workshops

Training in specific techniques like drought management and growing different crops that can tolerate weather uncertainties of climate change.

Physical training facilities

Events/ holidays/ fairs

Gardening and Kitchen (learning how to grow crops and kitchen preparation)

Online Learning

Cataloging

Curriculum

Forums, interactive feature

Media/ Materials

Working with educational institutions

Can have a shared calendar of events or all our different groups can post upcoming events

Newsletter – to help distribution of information

iii. How do we do skill exchange and collaboration? Share some possible ways; The working area of Seeds and Breeds could be a potential arena for partnerships under conservation and breeding, marketing, education and advocacy. Potential organizations for collaboration;

International collective fish workers - already collaborating

Seed savers exchange; based in the USA

African Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA)

Horn of Africa Regional Environmental Centre Network

African Biodiversity Network (ABN)

International Federation for Organic Agriculture Movement

Seed Alliance - based in the USA

Grandmothers College: this college has been able to create more structures and alliance for organizations that are already working and being able to amplify indigenous and traditional voices especially of elders

The Grow Biointensive Agriculture Center of Kenya (GBIACK) - Part of the UN's global important agricultural heritage

The strategy and the benefits

Sharing more publications and make it stronger in sharing practices, including research

Knowledge exchange and actual collaboration on initiatives

Conference calendar – helping members to know when different events related to agricultural biodiversity are going on and to organize and collaborate efforts when possible between members joining such events.

There can be research done to allied organizations for conferences that they have

SWOT analysis - looking at prioritizing the right organizations is also important

iv. Where and how to mobilize funds for effective impact and autonomy?

a) Where have the funds been coming from? - HIVOS - Oxfam - Novib

c) What is the niche for fundraising? - Agricultural Biodiversity - International membership diversity - Experts in the field

b) For what are we mobilizing? - Annual events - 100,000 USD pa

d) Where to get funds from? Possibilities include:

- Staff support (Administration and Secretariat) - 100,000 USD pa - Working groups (5) - 200,000 USD pa - Co-creation support - 50,000 USD pa - Collaboration network - 50,000 USD pa - Total = 500,000 x 3 years = 1,500,000 USD

i) - SWED BIO - SWISS Development Cooperation (SDC) * Capacity building * Institutional development - Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) * Environment - SWISSAID, DANIDA, Agro Ecology fund (USA) - Bread for the world (Germany) - Online funders - fundsforngos.org ii) Self - Financing a) - Annual subscription fee from members * Associate members - 50 USD * Individual members - 50 USD * Organizations - 100 USD - Life time membership * Organizations - 1,000 USD * Individuals - 500 USD

b) Training programs - Exposure visits - Exchange visits c) Corporate Social Responsibility funds d) Self - financing by organizations for Bio-diversity activities - on-going projects e) Crowd funding i.e. using social media

Note: - Need to assess the ethics of funders - Form a core group of 5 members Responsible for fundraising working hand in hand with the secretariat

Plenary Summary Questions Q- What is the information package for a new member, what do I expect? Q- What’s the entry criterion for a new member and funder? Q- In terms of market access, what happens with post-harvest loses (especially fruits and tomatoes), is it put in the abc? Reactions It depends who is the funder: for USAID it’s a Red light, EU is Yellow light and SSNC it’s a Green light. This is an ideal categorization system to make sure that the funder is selected ethically to avoid future issues. For new members some of the basic entry requirements would be:

- Must be actively promoting agrobiodiversity - Subscribe to the abc mission statement - Recommended by an existing abc member organization

In order to handle market issues around post-harvest handling, one can subscribe to the

marketing group; there are lots of techniques for instance value addition and processing that can be done through farmers’ cooperative where it is collectively managed. Okumu – It’s also important for the marketing group to know about good practices for post-harvest handling and to make packaging attractive to the consumer. How do you minimize losses that take place from production to the market? Training and observing marketing standards is a necessity; “Let’s do what we do best in the value chain, if its production you are good at then perfect that, if its marketing then strengthen on that” Commons: If we can’t at least fund the minimum we are at risk of continuing abc. It’s prudent to begin with a lighter structure based on funding availability then it’s also important to have accountability for funds. Farrelly: - What I struggle with is the point of abc, what is the product of the discussions around market? What does abc bring to the table that others aren’t doing? Where is the demand for abc product as we move forward? What’s the niche for this workshop? The cross fertilization between Asia, Africa, America, South America, Europe is a big plus. Asia is ahead of Africa as they have been through the green revolution before and know how to deal with it. Latin America is also way ahead in terms of property development and social movements and agroecology. Africa has a lot to learn from those experiences. This is a major benefit of being involved in this community. The agrobiodiversity case studies have catalyzed when starting off without kick-starts. Putting the case studies in the seedmap is like doubling our outreach. It’s important to get a clear picture to the funders about what is abc and what are its pillars, purpose of the pillars and the product from each of them. Vasimalai - What is the niche for abc? Edith - In the niche market members should share our niche spaces in abc Thomas - Our diversity is our strength, build a new character Sonali – Valuing, conserving and promoting agriculture biodiversity is seen as challenging the mainstream concepts of benefits of specialization and economies of scale as well as money being the primary concern and need of farmers. A network like abc is re-energizing providing solidarity and support to those who think and work differently with consciousness of a larger purpose. All components of abc as well as the relationships fostered are extremely important covering the range from seed work to policy and advocacy. Fellowship and knowledge exchange is valuable. For example, persimmon fruit is newly introduced in our region in India. It cannot be eaten raw and cannot be transported when ripe. Marketing it is a challenge. From an abc friend I learnt how to solve this problem. Information is priceless; creating a niche will define the knowledge and right information. It’s an important space that the biodiversity community is giving to its members. Biodiversity is recognized but how to handle is another issue altogether; this means there are many variables to be defined and lots of education is needed (See Annex 6.1 on the Niche of abc)

4.0 KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE AMONG MEMBERS (OBJECTIVE 2&3) 4.1 Sharing of Progress by Working Groups

Existing working groups experience (Skype call session) i. Seedmap and Wikiseedia Patrick shared his experience with the meeting on importance of pushing agricultural biodiversity agenda and building on Seedmap and wikiseedia. The first thing to be clear is why is agricultural biodiversity is so important in policy work; because communities are losing agro biodiversity due to industrial agriculture and industrial fisheries, forestry, mining among others. Seedmap and wikiseedia platforms will help raise awareness about what people are doing in different parts of the world, seed collection and biodiversity issues inclusion within international institutions like FAO (within the committee of world food security.) How is FAO including Agroecology principles for food justice? Seedmap and wikiseedia provides valuable information which helps to inform a variety of different actors therefore contributing to the seedmap is very helpful. Among other issues of awareness in these platforms is respect of territory rights, fishing communities and pastoralists migratory routes, seed protection for food and agriculture, watershed and other resilience items should also be protected. ii. Resilience Lisbeth Jamila Haider is a resilience expert, and she started the session with defining resilience as the capacity of a system (individual, forest, city or economy) to deal with change and continue to develop. It’s about how humans and nature can use shocks and disturbances to spur renewal and innovative thinking. “Think of resilience as outward and toward resilience of food system to internal and external surprises or changes for example there is also resilience for whom by whom” The idea is to engage people who are doing this to have an opportunity representation. “The process is that we start by telling the story with a narrative - start with indicators or attributes you work for. If it is useful and appropriate, make it concrete and be able to monitor it. Lisbeth shared the community resilience website showing the steps taken in Communities self - assessing resilience starting with Why, Community representation, Telling the story, Identifying attributes then Action. iii. Open Source Seed System Ramoo Anjaneyulu provided insights on the current scenario on open seed system with the possibility of less diversity, as standardized seed products are made the norm by law and its practice hence the less on-farm innovation by farmers having lesser access to seed and planting material and less legal and strategic control over seed. For abc, the Open Source Seed System means arrangements that facilitate and preserve freedom of access and use of plant genetic material, prohibit exclusive rights and apply to any subsequent derivatives of those materials. In order to implement open source seed

system, there is need of an (open Source Seed Foundation/Network) agency which can coordinate such activities and act as an agency for bringing together breeders and farmers and for guiding farmers on aspects related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). It would be partnership between farmers, farmer breeders, farmer cooperatives, NGOs, Research institutions etc. This is useful because it helps increase access to plant germplasm freely, while preventing or impeding Biopiracy, and use of farmer derived genetic resources in propriety breeding and for further development of GMOs. This shall also foster development of a legal/ institutional framework that allows farmers to freely exchange, save, improve, and sell seeds. The registration, licensing, monitoring, coordination and legal issues will help farmers/ breeders engaged in selection and development of newer varieties - governed by Material Transfer Agreements. The end user license agreements encourage reuse to be free (Individual Farmers) and selections and breeding newer varieties. Key policy support measures shall require simple documentation for traditional/ farmer varieties and to avoid exclusive rights over germplasm.

Plenary Edith said that what is needed is critical consciousness drawing examples from Latin America line of thinking. People have possibilities to reflect from their own situation then they have understanding of the world around them to make this critical assessment to them. Participants were asked to put in mind the following issues;

What research indicators for resilience would be useful?

Indigenous technologies for self-assessment

Critical consciousness - reflect on the community then the situation

4.2 New Working Groups Formation 4.2.1 Making Markets work for Agricultural Biodiversity Two subgroups came up with a methodology and components for success.

Sub group 1 - These are recommended processes/ approaches 1. Importance of Knowing the mind-set differences between running an NGO a business 2. Producer and worker-owned business and cooperatives coordinated/ managed by

professionals 3. Phases of development / incubation A) Formation B) Standardization C) Scaling - up 4. Identifying and developing Marketing structures with A) Increased production B) Aggregation/ producer hubs C) Production and retailing processed/ value-added and branded products. 5. Education of consumers

Sub group 2 – These are key success factors identified from many successful cases shared o Identify the nutritional and medicinal benefits of the crops/ varieties o Promote the cultural and traditional foods and recipes o Multiple use and values o Value addition o Promote cooperative storage and processing (shared costs/ greater efficiencies/ able to sell over

time/ able to sell in volume) o Community supported agriculture (CSA) and herdshare o Multipurpose farm/ diverse products o Use social media to promote products o Sharing your work and story with the media o Develop market linkages with key institutions like schools, hospitals, cooperatives and individual

consumers o Quality of the product o Certificate and product branding o Packaging o Participatory marketing systems development o Market assisted development o Local innovation, creativity and adaptability o Making markets work for the poor (M4D) o Local farmers markets o Food and seed fairs Case Studies i. How to connect small farmer’s products to markets - California USA- from Maya

Blow- Soulflower Farm

Stay local sell locally

Many income streams

Diversified products examples; milk, eggs, poultry, lamb, beef, honey, classes, tours, summer camps, herbal medication

Links to consumers through herdshare (selling shares of dairy animals, collecting monthly payment and consumer picks up weekly milk, cheese, butter or cream)

CSA model (Community Supported Agriculture) consumers pay ahead seasonally then pick up their produce of meat, or other products weekly, monthly or seasonally

Good to sell to a market where there is a high demand

Can advertise on website, blog, facebook

Create blog to tell farmers stories

Create strategies to make markets work for poor or under resourced communities Traders, bartering Charge higher prices to majority then sliding scale for low income consumers

Create cooperatives among farmers to sell their products to city consumers through CSA model

ii. Saving forests to making markets in Zimbabwe- from Stanley Zira There was an area where people illegally cut down trees in the forest and some of the trees bore fruits used to make products such as jam, edible oil and for skin application. The community was engaged in discussions over other advantages of the forests other than oxygen and ecosystem services. After the forum, they established a co-operative which would process various products from the forest for selling. The community realized trees

aren’t just for firewood but can also be conserved for products they can sell. The local fruits adapt to climate change hence available all seasons. iii. Enabling markets for traditional rice varieties – India- from Krishna Prasad- Sahaja

Organics/ Sahaja Samrudha Krishna’s organization (Sahaja Samrudha) started saving traditional rice varieties in 2006 and by 2008 they had conserved more than 800 varieties. “But we felt conservation, marketing, production are different aspects, so we shortlisted 25 potential rice varieties consumed daily for breakfast, other meals during key festivals.” They realized that around 20 varieties are unknown to the consumer. The organization had to find a way of popularizing the few nutritious varieties. They first got ideas from food technologista---. “Since traditional varieties are very unique; we did an analysis on popular hybrids and traditional varieties, we realized that most of the traditional varieties are rich in dietary fiber, 10 times better than regular rice” The next step was to get an effective marketing strategy; they developing a media package but later realized putting a pullout in a newsprint insert aren’t enough. They developed a glossy brochure but this time gave to lower primary school children to take to parents (the targeted consumers). For the media, they developed elaborate information on Indian rice recipes targeting different reporters and media houses. Different journalists in India have different angles of publishing these different varieties so a special media package was designed. Farmers are now happy making direct sales for their rice competing with the popular rice. One of the selling points is that 30% - 40% traditional rice have medicinal values. They also created a pricing policy to manage cartels selling the products exorbitantly. iv. The ‘earth markets’ concept – Kenya Samson Kiiru from Slow Food Kenya shared the earth markets concept where convenient markets are created based on slow food guidelines. First they must focus on small scale farmers and artisan producers who must bring high quality products. Producers in farmers markets must appear in person and must be willing to talk about the products they produce and how the prices are justified. The concept is to encourage local people to market their locally produced products. These markets should have wide range of crops and animal products, which must meet quality criteria reflecting slow food principals (fresh, seasonal, healthy and tasty). These products must be exceptionally organic with fair pricing. This concept is to make consumers become co-producers and also to eliminate the exploitative middlemen in the value chain. 4.2.2 Building Information Networks for Breaking the Glass House The group addressed the following questions on knowledge sharing; 1. Successes: What are your successes in information sharing? 2. Challenges: What are the negative experiences in information sharing? 3. Needs: What information do you want to get from the ABC network?

Successful information sharing o Sharing information on millet o Using social / cultural gatherings, e.g. coffee ceremony, burials, to engage farmers o Farmer open days with farmer to farmer knowledge sharing o Peace Kitchen: people bring and cook traditional food, and discuss o Translation of producers’ knowledge into other languages o Valuing and reinforcing farmers knowledge o Training manuals in local languages o Newsletters o Farmer training centers with trained managers and electronic devices – linking farmers

and extension o International (6 country) online knowledge platform on nutrition in mountain

communities o Facebook / Twitter / Website o Local FM radio talk-shows / call-ins o Community research groups for indigenous crops, leading to ‘how-to’ guides o Knowledge centers in shipping containers with online computers, attracting indigenous

knowledge (e.g. on livestock keeping) o Smartphone app with video reporting by farmers of pests and diseases, building farmer

knowledge base, linked to extension service o Training farmers on lobbying and advocacy, asking them what they want to communicate

to their leaders / politicians, and producing the key messages for distribution during election period

o WhatsApp for reporting, info and image / picture sharing o Ensuring appropriate farmer information sharing using cropping calendar, e.g. on land

preparation at planting time o Different media for different age groups Challenges in information sharing

Lack of response from abc community members, e.g. for newsletter articles

Farmer illiteracy, lack of access to radio / TV

Hard to get feedback on website use /activity

Not being taken seriously by government e.g. claiming lack of evidence-based knowledge, lack of standards

Lack of funding for information sharing Needs: What information do you want to get from the ABC network? How to strengthen local food systems How to communicate with farmers who have no access to radio or are illiterate Sharing knowledge and experiences between Africa, Asia, South America How to amplify the voice of farmers / pastoralists / fishers to be heard by decision

makers Evidence based data and information to influence policy Co-creation of knowledge For example: Farmers with farmers

Seeing and believing CSOs with farmers Farmers with scientists Research & Extension African researchers choose what info to share, then extensionists choose what info they

share, both in a dysfunctional top-down way Researchers have access to policy makers so we need to find the ‘good’ ones and work

with them. Information Spaces Expert knowledge from who others can learn, e.g. how to do Sustainable Rice Intensification (SRI). New information / innovation e.g. open source seeds Interfacing between actors, e.g. abc, farmers, scientists (See Annex 6.2 on Information Needs).

Plenary Comments Michael Commons reminded participants that these discussions on making markets work for agricultural biodiversity will lead to a position paper; so while cases are shared they also need to focus on enabling factors. The challenges of remote farmers are accessibility but by processing their goods and doing it collectively, the distance limitation can be overcome. Most challenges in these cases have sets of solutions to overcome them. He invited volunteers to share cases on how they are linking with markets. Vasimalai added that he two working groups; making markets work for agricultural biodiversity and information networks to break the glass house need to discuss and volunteer names to take the agenda forward to the next level. Co – creation of knowledge was defined to be building knowledge together e.g. among scientists and farmers. They shared an example of the seed group visited where participants exchange of learnt and also shared their experiences on how to make better the technologies there are using.

4.3 New topics generated for Co-creation and Collaboration Participants listed the following areas of interest in the market place discussions 1. Evolutionary plant breeding 2. Building social capital for biodiversity 3. Gender and Agro ecology 4. Farmer to Farmer Training Methods 5. Educating children out of the food system 6. How can we build sustainable agro-ecological systems within modern context? 7. Global Seed savers Network 8. Global electronic platform connecting supplies to buyers for organic products 9. Training small farmer groups to become entrepreneurs 10. Global Sources online curriculum on Agroecology

4.4 Co-Creation Assignment: Making Markets Works for Agricultural Biodiversity 4.4.1 Position paper on making markets work for agricultural biodiversity

The abc community has five priority, and one of them is ‘Markets and trade’. This was

identified as a priority area as the abc members recognized the importance of ‘markets and

trade’ in reducing as well as promoting agricultural biodiversity. Some of the members have considerable experience of ground level practice on this theme. The idea of collective work among the members was mooted in Thailand meeting (2012) and again in Kenya meeting (2015). However, for moving ahead some kind of situation analysis was needed on this theme that can synthesize the knowledge from the current practice and identify the knowledge gaps. To accomplish this, a position paper was planned with the small support from SwedBio. Contributions were invited in a semi-structured format from the members and out of the contributions, four case studies were selected. Further, other relevant experiences were also reviewed. Some of the important insights gained from the practical experiences include: 1. Market supported agriculture biodiversity by creating consumer value for unique

varieties and rare commodities on the one hand and by supporting methods of production that lead to greater agricultural biodiversity on the other hand.

2. Producers centric approach is required. Producers’ intensive involvement needed either by owning or actively participating in all things related to engagement with market, at the same time protecting, conserving and restoring bio diversity. Producers need to be enabled to do complex business production and processing methods. Engagement with market is to be done by collectives of producers, as an individual producer will not be able to compete with market forces.

3. Innovation is one of the key elements of success. Practices like organic and fair trade certification, brand building and patronage bonus helps in accessing niche and premium markets and realizing better prices by the producers. More innovation is needed to serve mass markets.

4. Engagement of professionals with business acumen and social values is one of the key factors of success.

5. Many challenges were observed in up-scaling of initiatives. Working for strengthening crop/product/commodity eco-system was found important for scaling up on the long run.

Detailed paper will be shared soon.

4.4.2 abc Secretariat functions at the DAN Foundation

The abc secretariat housed at DHAN Foundation focused on the following aspects during

the reporting period: a. Organizing annual meeting: While PELUM Kenya looked after venue and meeting

arrangements, the secretariat invited existing members and new participants, shaped the agenda with the steering committee, and played a key role in conducting the meeting and preparing the proceedings.

b. Explored addition of new members for improving the representation from the regions less represented until then.

c. Brought out the first issue of abc e-Newsletter.

d. Facilitated many virtual steering committee meetings over skype.

e. Website hosting for abc- exclusive web space is being created.

f. Explored fund raising with different agencies.

5.0 ACTION PLAN 5.1 Information Network and Communication

a.i.1. Members profile (all members of abc whether individual or organization) need to: a) Outline what kind of activities you are engaged in b) What are your interests in the abc initiatives e.g. ESB, Seed

savers c) All members to add their profiles to the seedmap a.i.2. Quarterly newsletter a) Very first one is out (articles contributed by different members/

organizations using a format shared. Members to submit by end of 2015) The articles can be original or already published then give a byline #agbiomatters (https://twitter.com/hashtag/agbiomatters)

b) Existing members are encouraged to use this hashtag the Dgroup

c) New members to join this email service to catch up but need to be accepted first

d) Administrators to give clear instructions how to get into the Dgroup.

* We don’t have a social-media network presence for abc one need to be created for facebook and twitter accounts with administrators managing these pages, need for designer and coordinators and the right mechanisms To map out which individual is doing what we need; 1. Member profile 2. What activities you are engaged in 3. What you’d like to contribute searchable, key topics SEED MAP.ORG Encourage individual members to add themselves to this group 1st Shared 11/23/2015 2nd issue quarterly newsletter - contribute articles by 12/31/2015 original or Published #agbiomatters policy matters Karthikeyan rsd@gmail.com Dgroup additions - Make social media presence - FB, Twitter - Form Working group - social media and websites

1. Krisha Munti - India 2. Belinda Weya - Kenya 3. Anne Murimi - Kenya 4. Samson Kiiru - Kenya 5. Michelle Wright - USA The working group skills a) Social media networking

Website design b) Website Maintenance c) Coordinator to set out

mechanisms for check - ins

5.2 Marketing Group 3 action points linking small farmers to markets 1. Packing, Branding (Borrowing technology, Designs, ideas) 2. Inform sharing on how people are adding value to their

Convener: Mayra - Mexico Co-Convener:

products (recipes, ideas) 3. Communication and promoting (Products, special campaign,

photos, videos, storytelling) Develop code of ethics that info is freely accessible to all in the network Moving Forward Timeline: January 15th, 2016 Facebook page for sharing, Send 1-2 paragraphs to the convener about yourself, What you are doing, any templates and a personal photo Develop a face book page for group to share ideas and ask questions. There is need for continuous networking when visiting respective areas where an abc member is working. Plenary - info on Facebook should include practical questions and answers that can generate discussions and relevant information

Krishna - India Co-Convener: Mark - Zimbabwe

5.3 Collaboration and Co-Creation 7 things came out in open setting hence this person will be open point then collaboration and creation; Open space - Open seeds General agroecology Farmers to farmers training Seed network (open source) *For co creation we need a concept note to go for fundraising *We ought to share that through join strategies

1. (7) Working groups 2. (3) Collaborators to take

it forward 3. Group leaders that are

responsible

5.4 abc Institutionalization Working Group Agenda 1. Expanding steering committee 2. Membership fees 3. Members mobilizing (ownership engagement) 4. Fundraising co-group 5. Governance/ leadership/registration/institutions 6. Constitution 7. Registration of secretariat 8. Transition (ABC) 9. Working Strategic planning 10. Governance (structures/rules/define membership/elections) 1. Steering Committee The steering committee has 6 members a) PELUM Kenya (Africa) b) EARTH NET FOUNDATION (Asia) c) Stockholm-Resilience Centre (Europe) d) INHERE (Asia)

Members present 1. Maryleen Micheni PELUM Kenya 2. Vasimalai

DHAN Foundation 3. Hellen Ngema

SACDEP-Kenya 4. Kennedy Okumu Sunstar Research Kenya 5. Edith Sifuna YARD - Uganda 6. Dr. Wanja Kinuthia Museums of Kenya 7. Julian Teelar (SIFFS) India

e) RUZIVO Trust (Africa) f) DHAN Foundation (Asia) *It was advisable that steering committee members have alternate members in each of the organizations where possible Criteria for steering committee Consideration is based on; 1. Geographical representation (Africa, Asia, Europe, West Africa,

South America, East Africa, Southern Africa, North America) 2. Competence (skills and perspectives) 3. Rotation- 3 years 4. (9) members have to be included- West Africa, Latin America,

North America (USA and Canada) The following three members suggested include; 1. Omar Mbathie from West Africa Group 2. Patrick Mulvany from UK 3. Faris Ahmed from Canada * Invitation of special skill to make contribution was suggested 2. Membership Fee Different membership fees; Annual subscription a) Associate membership fee USD 50 b) Individual membership fee USD 50 c) Organization membership fee USD 50 d) Civil society membership fee USD 100 e) Network membership fee USD 100 f) Academics membership fee USD 100 g) Government membership fee USD 100 Lifetime membership a) Individual membership fee USD 500 b) Organization membership USD 1000 c) Annual subscription USD 20 ABC Benefits • 80% support from abc • 20% support by participant • Events usually in October • Support documents and information 3 months in advance • Resources • Newsletter in 3 months 3. Fundraising for ABC activities Fundraise for activities 150,000 USD- annual events 150,000 USD- staff and admin 200,000 USD – working groups 100,000 USD – collaboration and networks

100,000 USD –co-creation and capacity building 700,000 USD per year and 2,100,000 USD for 3 years Funding Partners • SDC • SSNC support from SIDA and can be approached • Swiss Aid • Agro Ecology Fund from USA • Bread for the World from Germany • Meserior • Online funders – Funds for NGOs.org • Crowd funding • Co-operate social responsibility-BIDCO, • DFID ( Call for Proposal) • Darwin Initiative Call • FARA • FAO (landscape approach to biodiversity approach) • GEF (small grants) Core-group - (resource mobilization and fundraising group) • PELUM Kenya (Zachary, Maryleen) • Michael Farrelly, (Swiss Aid and Bread for the World) • Edith Van Walsum • DHAN Foundation (Karthikeyan, Vasimalai) • Krishna Prasad Member mobilization Capacity building (public awareness) Recruitment drive ICT communication with membership forms Other recommendations Governance and registration Strategic plan/ document to carry operation of abc Members to have alternate contacts or seconded persons incase first contacts aren’t reachable

6.0 ANNEXTURES 6.1 What is the Niche for abc? Contributor Content

Michael Farrelly An incubator for innovative thinking/ knowledge products on abc

An international knowledge sharing platform on abc

“Agricultural Biodiversity”

Sonali Bisht Using biodiversity for food security, smallholder farmer livelihoods, climate change resilience and natural resource conservation

Evidence base on the importance of biodiversity

Knowledge sharing and collaboration on marketing biodiversity

Julian Teeler abc initiative needs to stabilize as a practical solution for moving ahead towards networking, collaborating and linking all stakeholders, actors and factors in small scale, traditional and artisan communities across the globe for a meaningful livelihood and food security

M. P. Vasimala Diversity of members; Practitioners, Academics, Policy Influencers, cross national, international participants

Value addition/ advancing agricultural biodiversity by co-creation and collaboration

Building from grassroots experience and active interaction with farming communities

Nurturing different methodologies of agro-biodiversity in varied agro-ecological zones (knowledge)

Sharing information

Integrating new technologies findings with indigenous knowledge to ensure agro-biodiversity conservation

Faith Wanjiru Kariuki

Sending

Mobilization of farmers to adopt organic (sustainable) agriculture

Capacity building actors/ collaborators and innovators on sustainable/ organic agriculture

Lobby and advocate for organic foods production and utilization

Packaging innovative technologies/ initiatives and uploading them on ABC website Receiving

Strengthened networks with ABC

Regular involvement of “faith” in your meetings and workshops

Regular updates on ABC achievements and milestones/ bulletins etc.

James Ligare Encourage the available organizations to inspire potential partners to join the abc

Create awareness about abc to potential members

Michael Commons Diverse and comprehensive knowledge around Agricultural Biodiversity

Links different regions and continents

Community with trust and sharing relationship

6.2 What members want to share with abc and what they want to benefit from abc Name To share with abc To learn from abc

M.P. Vasimala

1. Small millets conservation, consumption, cultivation and commercialization

2. Conservation of small scale water bodies as climate change adaptation

3. Building people institution with sustainability

4. Promoting community banking for agricultural biodiversity

5. Coastal ad rain-fed agriculture 6. Organize capacity building, exchange (skills

1. Organic farming 2. e-learning to offer on-line education 3. Collaboration with networks

to learn)

Wanja Kinuthia a) Role of pollination in enhancing crop nutrients/ yields (research information)

b) Role of pollinators/ invertebrate as an indicator of farm/ agroforestry health

c) abc members can develop crop-pollinators guide for their specific farming community. For pollinator conservation and for honey

a) Information packaging for community utilization

b) Youth involvement to create stories via ICT i.e. photos, animation, art and artifacts – youth to develop this as a business

c) Practical value addition of indigenous plant (medicinal oil, fruits) etc.

Biodiversity management inventory at farm and community level

a) Online communication about abc b) Capacity building on marketing of abc c) Capacity building on development

and management of seed bank center for small holder farmers

d) Medium for communication

Sonali Bisht Can share what INHERE is doing to add value to a range of produce which is diverse

Other ways of adding value to biodiversity and also steps for successful marketing

Maya Blow a) Knowledge, techniques and creative approaches to implement as a small organic farmer, also practical applications

b) How to connect with consumer (as a small farmer) through a diverse market

c) How to share many income streams on a small farm

d) How to be a creative and adaptive entrepreneur as a small farmer

e) How to create resiliency on a small farm

Networking and fundraising skills and tools

a) The skills in connecting young generation with local communities to facilitate intergenerational learning using the relation between culture and biodiversity

b) How the traditional knowledge of rural farming communities contributes towards sustainable agro-biodiversity

a) Strategies to influence policy b) Methods of consumer sensitization to

promote healthy foods and organic products

c) Knowledge co-creation and sharing d) The concept of open seed system

Faith Wanjiru Kariuki

a) New indigenous traditional knowledge b) Germplasm preservation, conservation and

propagation c) Updates on available biodiversity

a) Packaging of innovations i.e. certification, patenting, branding

b) Germplasm exchange/ models/ platform/ structure/ regulation and movement

c) Planting breeding for organic biodiversity conservation

d) ABC – Milestones and future plans

Atalo Beley

a) In areas where my organizations have been working there are lots of farmers whose literacy level is low and are away from media access. We use social gatherings mostly cultural to exchange information / knowledge. This could be helpful to other countries and ABC to teach or communicate to illiterate farmers

b) Exchange visits between model farmers to

share experiences from one village to another

a) Traditional seed saving b) Use of traditional medicine (learned of

lots of herbs and shrubs which have medicinal value)

c) Information, exchange and networking with stakeholders and farmers

d) How to train farmers to be entrepreneurs

e) Online information exchange and networking

Evolutionary plant breeding Marketing / Agroecology

Ana C. Galurs Knowledge produce by the organizations : Agriculture biodiversity in Africa/ Asia

Martinez

SOCLA/ Food first www.redagress.co www.socla.co www.agroeco.co www.foodfast.org facebook – foodfast la via Campesina web page

Edith Sifuna

Promoting smallholder farmer entrepreneurship

Gender and agriculture most especially marketing

Adding value to different agriculture products

Making markets work for the agriculture products

Sharing and strengthening information networks

James Ligare The importance of community empowerment in agricultural biodiversity

Success factors and challenges in growing agricultural biodiversity

How to strengthen community based agricultural biodiversity based initiatives in order to have a desirable impact

Michael Commons

Self-reliance and diversified farming system a) Diverse and comprehensive knowledge around agricultural biodiversity and how to support it

b) Links different regions and continents c) Community with trust and strong

relationships

Julian Teelar

a) Knowledge and skills on traditional fishery practices and appropriate technologies

b) Traditional fish recipes c) The near-to-be-forgotten beach sports and

games, cultural events like dances, songs and drama

d) The skills to organize fish workers on a cooperative framework

a) On communication and information network

b) On value added products global marketing

c) On fundraising towards capacity building initiatives and resource management activities

d) On creating linkages, collaboration and networking with CBOs of various small scale sectors operating globally and locally

Kennedy Okumu a) M&E knowledge/ skills for performance measuring (tools and technologies)

b) Agric Biodiversity through establishment of nature based enterprises

c) Preparation of case studies and successes stories – through MSC stories = through evidence based approach

a) Information on new development and emerging issues on abc

b) Space/ platform for members to share experiences and knowledge exchange

c) How to conduct field trials and evidence based research

Leah Atwood Online agroecology curriculum CSAs and herd-shares Heritage goats Network formation

Evolutionary plant breeding Agrobiodiversity policy change Carbon farming

Simon Use of events to during holidays to create awareness, to see indigenous foods shown how to share hands on knowledge and skills e.g. peace kitchen event organized by slow food and table for two organizations

Knowledge not shared is as good as dead knowledge, therefore the grassroots knowledge and skills in terms of stories should be written in articles form, printed and shared to ensure this knowledge is not lost

Omar Mbathie

Business development services a) Networking b) Communication

Michael Farrelly a) Fundraising/ project planning and management

b) Writing in English/ publication production c) Climate change adaptation

a) Experience of ABC members in Latin America and Asia to inform practice in Africa

Mayra Martinez Encouraging youth in farming, best practices, social media skills and connecting with my network in Mexico

a) What other organizations are doing to support the farmer to be success.

b) How the seed companies working, seed banks and women organization

Hellen Ngema

About inventory management of biodiversity at farm level and organizational level

About preservation of biodiversity initiatives in different regions like India, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia Capacity building of development of seedbank center

a) The role of farmers knowledge for Agro biodiversity conservation

b) Re-connecting youth with indigenous knowledge

c) Youth empowerment to make them environmental advocates

Krishna Prasad Sahaja India

Sending – Seed saving techniques - Value addition to biodiversity

Receiving – abc successful case studies Support for regional workshops

6.3 PowerPoint Presentations a) Agricultural Biodiversity in Africa – Michael

Africa Context ABC

Thika.ppt

b) Ministry of Agriculture, Kiambu County – Presentation

c) Building and Strengthening abc – Vasimalai

d) Building Networks

SACDEP_ Presentation_Rosemary_26ty Nov 2015.pptx

ABC instituionalisation Thika presentation.pptx

Networking and Worknetting in ABC - Makanya.ppt

6.4 Meeting Agenda

Agricultural Biodiversity Community (abc) Annual Meeting, Kenya 24th – 26th November 2015

Agenda Facilitator

Tuesday 24th November 2915

I. INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME (09.00 to 10.15am) Process Facilitator

1. Opening Ceremony Dr. Enoch

2. Welcome address Zachary (PELUM Kenya)

3. Opening remarks M. P. Vasimalai

4. Sharing the agenda Karthikeyan

5. Icebreaking session Process facilitator

II. AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY CONTEXT IN AFRICA

1. Brief reflections on the field visits (10.15 to 10:45am)

A SC or abc participating member will brief the meeting for 5 minutes of their experiences for the group, purpose being:

Process Facilitator

Health break (10:45 – 11:00am)

2. Emerging trends in Africa Biodiversity (11.00-11.30am) Michael Farelly & Annie Murimi

III. INTRODUCING ABC (11.30- 13.00AM) Process Facilitator

1. History of abc and works done so far Karthikeyan

2. Lessons learnt document Ms. Edith, ILEIA

3. Moving forward

Vasimalai

Lunch (13.00- 13.45pm)

IV. WORKING SESSIONS

1. Sharing by the working groups (13.45- 15.30pm) Skype: - Patrick - Ramoo - Jamila Session facilitator (Karthikeyan)

Health break (15:30 – 16:00)

2. INITIATING NEW WORKING GROUPS a) Parallel sessions (16.00 – 18.00) i. Making markets work for agricultural biodiversity:

Lead presentation

Areas in need of attention

Leads for working together

ii. Building information networks for breaking the glass house

Lead presentation

Areas in need of attention

Leads for working together

Mr. Michael Commons & Mr. Ken Okumu Ms. Edith van Walsum & Mr. Job Mainye

Group Dinner

Story Telling Sessions (20.00 to 21.00)

Sonali

Wednesday 25th November 2015

b) Plenary discussions of the parallel session (9.00 – Process Facilitator

10.30am)

Health break (10.30 – 11:00am)

3. ABC institutionalisation (11.00- 11:30pm) Briefing on Organizational Developments

Process Facilitator M. P. Vasimalai & Zachary Makanya Building and strengthening the ABC (11.30 to 13.00)

Group Work with following lead questions:

1) Suggestions for active involvement and ownership of members in abc i) What benefits member can get? ii) What contributions member can make?

2) How can we build alliances with other relevant stakeholders working on AB? i) Identify organisations and networks to

collaborate ii) Suggest mechanisms

3) How do we do skill exchange and collaboration? Share some possible ways

4) Where and how to mobilize funds for effective impact and autonomy?

5) What are the other suggestions for future?

Lunch (13.00- 14.00)

Plenary session on strengthening ABC (14.00-15.30) Report back: Discuss implications of key issues and make recommendations for specific components of institutionalization

M. P. Vasimalai

Health break (15:30 – 16:00)

4. Market place for co-creation and collaboration (16.00-17.30)

Michael Commons

Evening event (17:30 onwards)

Traditional edutainment, dinner and storytelling activity

Jeff

Thursday 26th November 2015

Sharing of the outcomes of market place (09.00 to 10.00) Michael Commons & Sonali

VI. Meeting with outsiders - government officials in Kenya (10.00 – 12.00)

Kiambu County Government Officials

Health break (10:30 – 11:00)

Planning for the future (12:00 – 13:00) Working out specific action plan

M.P. Vasimalai & Maryleen

Lunch (13.00- 14.00)

Working out specific action plan (Cont’d) M.P. Vasimalai & Maryleen

Concluding session (15:00– 16:00) Farewell

Dr. Enoch

6.5 List of Participants for the abc annual meeting, 2015

PARTICIPANTS FOR THE abc ANNUAL MEETING FROM 23RD -26TH NOVEMBER 2015 AT SACDEP KENYA-THIKA

No. Name Organization Gender Telephone email address 1 Faith Kariuki Agriculture - Kiambu County F +254721835721 Wanjiruwairegi2011@yahoo.com

2 Belinda Weya BioVision African Trust F +254721229199 bellaweya@gmail.com

3 Theerasit Amornsaensuk Green net SE, Thailand M +66819911533 t.saensuk@gmail.com

4 Annie Murimi African Biodiversity Network (ABN)

F +254727480922 Murimi.annie@gmail.com njeri@africanbiodiversity.org

5 Hanna Kigamba Institute For Culture and Ecology (ICE)

F +254728615773 hannah@icekenya.org

6 Michael Farrelly Tanzanian Organic Agriculture Movement

M +255755503089 mrfarrelly@gmail.com

7 Sonali Bisht Institute of Himalayan Environmental Research and Education (INHERE)

F +919650525806 sonalibisht@yahoo.co.in inhereindia@gmail.com

8 Maede Salimi Centre for Sustainable Development (CENESTA)

F +989123547796 maede@cenesta.org

9 Gizaw G/Mariam Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD)

M +251923369190 gizawgab@gmail.com

10 Edith Sifuna Youth Association for Rural Development (YARD) Uganda

F +256774296478 edithsifuna@ymail.com

11 James Ligare Muliru Farmers cons. Group M +254728738631 mulirufcg@gmail.com

12 Atalo Belay Pesticide Action Mexus (PAN- Ethiopian)

M +251913987506 feelatalo@gmail.com

13 Krishna Prasad Sahaya Samrudha M Prasadgk12@gmail.com

14 Ana C. Galvis Martinez Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology-Food First

F +1-5104149038 agalvis@foodfirst.org

15 Kennedy Okumu Independent Consultant M +254721547341 Kennedy.okumus@gmail.com

16 Mayra Martinez Mota MESA Program F m.mayrag.m@gmail.com

17 Maya Blow Soul Flower Farm F +1-5108160177 soulflowerfarm@gmail.com

18 Leah Atwood MESA F +1-5106548858 leah@mesaprogram.org

19 Michelle Wight MESA F +1-5106548858 michelle@mesaprogram.org

20 Monica Wanjiru RODI Kenya F +254727292069 njorogemonicah492@gmail.com

21 Stanley Zira SAFIRE Zimbabwe M +263772392955 Zirastanley77@gmail.com

22 Thomas Mupetesi FACHIG Zimbabwe M +263772228898 thomasmupetesi@gmail.com

23 MS. Edith van Walsum ILEA, Netherlands F +31629602989 E.van.Waslum@ileia.org

24 Samson Kiiru Slow Food Kenya M +254719100913 s.ngugi@slowfood.it

25 Job Mainye Thinkomm Communications M +254721390659 nmainye@gmail.com

26 M.Karthikeyan DHAN Foundation M karthikeyanrfd@gmail.com

27 Enoch Opuka Consultant M +25473307331545 enochopuka@yahoo.com

28 Hellen Ngema SACDEP Kenya F +254724912037 nafuna2013@gmail.com

29 Daniel Ngesa Thinkomm Communications M +254716952827 pasngesa@gmail.com

30 Maryleen Micheni PELUM Kenya F +254723540417 maryleen@pelum.net

31 Julian Teelar South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS)

M +98470006272 teelar@gmail.com teelar@siffs.org

32 M.P Vasimalai DHAN Foundation M +919443738587 dhanfoundation@dhan.org

33 Michael Commons Earth Net Foundation M +66818688720 michael@greennet.or.th

34 Anne Maina KBIOC-Kenya F +254722386263 annenjiku@gmail.com

35 Zachary Makanya PELUM Kenya M +254714642916 makanya@pelum.net

36 Alice Kariuki PELUM Kenya F +254721311449 alice@pelum.net

37 Irene Nyaboke PELUM Kenya F +254725834273 irene@pelum.net

38 Omar Mbathie VECO WEST AFRICA M

6.6 Selected Process Photos

(See attached photos – Separate Document)