Background
The current industrial and broken agrifood systems have difficulty to address malnutrition, chronic poverty, insecure livelihoods, and health challenges in the face of water scarcity, soil and land degradation, and biodiversity loss. Furthermore, climate change stressors such as irregular and severe weather patterns, changes in precipitation, and hydrology exacerbate vulnerability. It is clear that addressing hunger and ensuring equitable growth and a sustainable ecosystem require a systematic approach to solve that integrate holistic and integrated approaches. These intricate and systemic issues of hunger and ecological degradation can be resolved by transitioning from traditional, chemical-based agriculture to agroecology-based farming, with family farmers at its core. Agroecology is likely to contribute in protecting the environment, fostering community development, and guaranteeing healthy and nourishing diets Financing and investing in agroecology, including improved communications and implementation, is inevitable as part of the transition and transformation to agroecology approaches. These approaches integrate “science, movement, and practice” to promote healthy, culturally appropriate, inclusive, and sustainable agrifood systems. In this perspective the organizations working with Agroecological approaches and practices intend to establish the Agroecological forum.
The emergence of Agroecology Forum
Bangladesh Agroecology Forum is an alliance of agroecological movements and organizations in Bangladesh that stand for climate-resilient sustainable agriculture and agroecological practices. It emerged with the goal of expanding agroecological practices among pastoralists, foresters, fisher folk, mainstream and indigenous communities in agriculture, including crops, aquaculture, fishing, forest, and livestock farming. It has evolved in accordance with major agroecological principles and the notion of circular economy. It conveys agroecological knowledge, practices, critical learning, and technology among farmers, peasants, and producers of all genders and ethnicities. The network is likely to conduct campaigns and advocacy with multistakeholder, including policymakers, to reduce reliance on external inputs, food loss and waste, and address climate change impacts and stressors that the existing agri-food system faces. The network is expected to increase the use of bioinputs and technology, indigenous seeds, technical and institutional innovations, crop, livestock, and tree production that is diversified and synergistic, focus on healthy soils and landscape regeneration. It gradually reduces the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, to improve the health of the soil and plants. Its primary focus is to facilitate the sharing of agroecological co-innovation and co-learning among agroecological scientists, education institutes, think tanks, private initiators, and farmers and producers. It aims to improve the financial status of agroecology practitioners by connecting markets and providing entrepreneurial development programs. Agroecology encompasses scientific disciplines such as plot/field approaches, agroecosystem ecology, and food system ecology, as well as movement towards environmentalism, rural development, food sovereignty, and sustainable agriculture. It also includes techniques and multi-disciplinary approaches as practice.