Eastern Africa Community

Abstract and Main Features

On 11 July 2025, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) passed a motion encouraging all East African Community countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) and partner countries to promote agroecology. The motion, developed with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT) based in Uganda, calls for regional laws and policies that protect traditional seeds, invest in research and farmer-led practices, and empower women and youth. This regional push can guide national policy reforms, funding, and programs that make food systems more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive in the seven countries. 

The Motion’s main features are: 

• The identification of existing challenges that prevent the implementation of agroecology 
• The elaboration of recommendations Eastern African countries can take to further support the development of agroecology through policies, and actions on capacity building and education, multistakeholder engagement, and sensitization/ awareness raising. 

Motion’s Recommendations 

In the motion, the East African Legislative Assembly urges the Council and Partner States:  

• To enhance the implementation of regional policies and legal frameworks that foster cooperation and policy coherence to support sustainable and resilient agroecological systems in East Africa.  
• To enhance promotion and facilitating agricultural extension services in effectively promoting agroecological knowledge and practices to smallholder farmers within the Community. 
• To enhance support and efforts to train farmers and raise public awareness on agroecology to boost agriculture and food security. 
• To strengthen programmes to support smallholder farmers, local communities, and civil society organizations through training, access to organic inputs, integrate agroecology into agricultural education, promote awareness campaigns in order to accelerate the adoption of agroecological methods. 
• To promote multi-stakeholder engagement including government, civil society, private sector, academia, and farming communities, in advancing agroecology across the region, and the formation of regional alliances, platforms, and knowledge-sharing networks to promote best practices, innovations, and experiences related to agroecology. 

Key Target Groups  

The Motion mentions activities targeting smallholder farmers, local communities, civil society organizations, private sector and academia. 

Expected Results 

The Motion does not mention expected results per say, but Eastern African Community countries and partner countries are expected to take action to elaborate policies and programmes supporting agroecology. 

Motion Development Process 

The East African Legislative Assembly requested FAO’s support in extending its regional efforts, building on ongoing regional collaboration through the Eastern Africa Parliamentary Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (EAPA-FSN). A capacity building session was held in November 2024, with the collaboration of CEFROHT, and aimed at strengthening parliamentarians’ understanding of agroecology and food systems transformation, referring to the Committee on World Food Security’s (CFS) Policy Recommendations on Agroecological and other Innovative Approaches  for sustainable agriculture and food systems (2019). These recommendations emphasize a shift towards more sustainable practices that enhance food security and nutrition. 

Ministries and Stakeholders Involved in the Process 

Stakeholders involved in the process include FAO, CEFROHT, and the East African Legislative Assembly’s parliamentarians. 

Implementation 

The Motion identified the following implementation gaps in terms of support to agroecology: 

• Lack of institutional coordination.  
• Inadequate role of agricultural extension services in promoting agroecological knowledge and practices to smallholder farmers.  
• Limited involvement of small-scale women and youth farmers who should play pivotal role in the transition to agroecological farming.   
• Limited financial resources and incentives for farmers to adopt agroecological methods.  
• Limited awareness and capacity building train farmers and integrate agroecology in agricultural education.  
• Lack of comprehensive, disaggregated trade data specifically for “agroecological products. 

The Motion’s recommendations mentioned above aim at tackling them. 

Budget and Funding 

The Motion did not assess how much funding would be needed, nor funding streams, to support the promotion of agroecology in each country. 

N.B. This summary did not receive an official review by the EALA 

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Image Credit: Axel Fassio/CIFOR-ICRAF