As I write I am thinking about what a year it has been for us all. The impact of this year has been disastrous for many families, in many countries. Particularly those that have also added war in their region to the list. At this time, I know many of our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine, but also of the many other areas that have been affected by this war.

This makes it even more important for us to continue to work towards the end of malnutrition and ensure food security. We are ready to assist to help build gardens to feed communities, to provide educational materials for schools, to enable children to understand the importance for their long-term health, the benefits of nutritious food, and enjoy a nutritious meal each day.

WE NEED YOU to help us by telling our story – you could start your own Chapter of Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group.  And, we need YOU, to become a member, and your club to become a member of Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group.

Thank you all for your friendship and support this Rotary year. I look forward to us continuing to work together.

Thank you for all you do

Yours in Rotary

PDG Una Hobday OAM, PHF

Chair – Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group

Work to identify the most nutritionally rich local food plants and explain the nutritional benefits of them. This information, presented in easy to understand, science-based educational materials, facilitates empowerment of local communities, particularly women, who represent the bulk of smallholder farmers in developing countries.

It is a proven approach:

• that will achieve a diverse nutritious diet
• promotes agroecological methods 
• is sustainable 
• enhances food security and 
• helps to mitigate climate change

AFSA – Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa –  John Wilson Chair of the Citizens Working Group

In 2013 I spent a day moving around with an organisation working with farmers in Western Kenya supported by AGRA.  Not once did I hear anyone talk about the health of the soil. The focus was on urging farmers to become modern farmers by using the chemical inputs that African farmers lag behind with.

This seems to have been the fate of Africa for a century or more now. Outsiders coming to the continent with the next technological solution, with vested interests all in the name of ‘development’.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) was launched in 2009, is an African initiative, created and run by Africans. It’s an alliance of regional networks that themselves reach to the grassroots all over the continent through their various civil society memberships. The core purpose of AFSA is to influence policies and to promote African solutions for food sovereignty.

During the last 50 or so years as the green revolution has gained a footing across Africa, countless small initiatives have arisen offering alternatives based on regenerating the vibrancy of the soil, communities and cultures. These small initiatives, working with farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples and, more recently, with a range of citizens including consumers, have created their own networks to increase their impact. They are united under the banners of agroecology and food sovereignty.

We’ve been delighted in the last couple of years to establish links with Food Plants Solutions (FPS) who have an approach and outlook that ties in with AFSA’s. We look forward to continuing collaboration to develop appropriate materials together.

AFSA advocates for Agroecology, which:

– is a set of principle-driven practices,

– brings together scientific and indigenous knowledge and

– is a fast-growing social movement.

The practices involve farming as nature does, which means having bio-diversity, ensuring soil cover and minimal or no disturbance of the soil with tillage or chemicals, while also aiming for yields of different products for sale or home consumption.”

Poverty and marginalization in rural areas of Cameroon have increased in recent years. Access to food and a balanced meal for rural families has become a greater challenge now that the products are more expensive and distribution problems have arisen.

Thanks to our partnership with Food Plant Solutions, H4BF (Hope for a Better Future) have been able to support 50 rural households within Mezam and Donga Mantung in the Northwest region of Cameroon to establish home and community gardens. The project improves the diet of rural families, by providing tools and knowledge to produce seasonal vegetables and crops during the year that are implemented in their homes and community parcels.

Additionally, through materials created by Food Plant Solutions, over 200 households have learned about what nutrients their bodies need, how their bodies use those nutrients and what local food plants to grow and eat that will provide those nutrients.