In 2022, unpredictability and overlapping crises became the new normal — from the never-ending pandemic, to the war in Ukraine, to increasing floods and droughts across Africa driven by the climate catastrophe. It was also a year of what the World Food Programme called “unprecedented hunger.”
At the same time, we saw increased attention on food systems, which gave many of us hope that it would be the year for a real shift toward more resilient and sustainable approaches to how we grow, produce, and distribute food. Specifically, we hoped for the widespread adoption of agroecology models — that work in sync with nature — over industrial agriculture.
Yet, as world leaders gathered to discuss solutions to the climate crisis at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, the voices of Africa’s small-scale farmers were again sidelined in favor of corporate interests, techno fixes, and false solutions deceptively labeled “climate-smart” agriculture.
About the author
Bridget Mugambe
Bridget Mugambe, program coordinator at the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, is a social scientist who leads the agroecology and climate working group at AFSA, which represents more than 200 million farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, Indigenous peoples, faith groups, women’s movements, youth, and consumer associations across 50 countries.
