Agriculture has shaped Southern Africa’s landscapes, cultures and economies for generations. From Zambia’s maize belt to the sorghum and millet systems of Zimbabwe and Malawi, smallholder farmers have long relied on knowledge passed down through practice rather than textbooks. Today, those systems are under growing pressure. Climate variability, prolonged droughts and decades of input-intensive farming have weakened soils and strained rural livelihoods.
In response, a growing community of researchers and practitioners is calling for a deeper shift, one that goes beyond technologies to embrace agroecology as a way of thinking about and organizing food systems that involve both producers and consumers.
From 3 to 6 February 2026, the Research for Agroecology Network Southern Africa (RAENS) project, funded by the European Union, convened its second annual meeting at the M’Kango Golfview Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia. The meeting brought together researchers, policymakers and development practitioners from South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Malawi.
Hosted by the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) under the Ministry of Agriculture, the meeting aimed to align regional efforts to advance agroecology as a foundation for resilient and inclusive food systems.
Agroecology as a regional imperative
Opening the meeting, ZARI Director Dr Ndashe Kapulu framed agroecology as a practical response to the region’s mounting challenges. He stressed that it is no longer confined to academic debate but is increasingly relevant to farmers, extension services and policymakers.
“Agroecology is more than a science. It is a promise of food security, resilience and sustainability for our people,” Kapulu said. “It speaks directly to the needs of smallholders who are on the front line of climate change. This meeting is both a celebration of what we have achieved together and a call to strengthen our collective resolve.”
Participants reflected on conventional farming systems that expanded food production in the short term but relied heavily on chemical inputs and monocultures, gradually degrading soils and biodiversity. In Southern Africa, these approaches have left many farmers increasingly vulnerable to climate shocks. Agroecology, delegates agreed, offers an alternative rooted in ecological processes, crop diversity and locally grounded knowledge.
For Dr Brittany Kesselman, principal investigator of the RAENS project at the University of Cape Town, agroecology’s strength lies in its evidence base and relevance for decision-making.
“The science generated through this project is critical,” she said. “It provides the evidence needed to inform policy and support governments in making decisions that are grounded in local realities and long-term sustainability.”
Across plenary sessions and working groups, researchers shared emerging findings from field trials, while practitioners highlighted the importance of farmer-led experimentation. Policymakers in attendance emphasized that credible, regionally generated evidence is essential for shaping agricultural strategies that respond to climate and development priorities.
Connecting knowledge, people and practice
Despite growing interest across the region, agroecology knowledge remains fragmented across institutions, languages and formats. Addressing this gap is a central objective of the RAENS project.
One of its flagship initiatives is the establishment of a Regional Agroecology Knowledge Hub hosted on the Agroecology Transformative Partnership Platform and maintained by the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF).
The open-access hub will bring together research outputs, methodologies and practical tools from across Southern Africa. By linking scientific evidence with extension services and farmer networks, the platform aims to ensure that knowledge reaches those who can apply it on the ground.
“We are focusing on developing pilot sites across the region,” said Rhett Harrison, senior ecologist at CIFOR-ICRAF. “These sites act as living laboratories where research and practice inform each other, helping to bridge the gap between theory and the realities farmers face every day.”
Participants also discussed the need to invest in capacity development. Plans are underway to develop country and regionally specific relevant curricula for students, extension officers and farmers. Knowledge management and advocacy were identified as equally important, with a strong call to move beyond information sharing toward sustained engagement.
“Research cannot stop at policy briefs,” said Dr Frank Tchuwa, a researcher at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), Malawi. “We need to engage policymakers directly and consistently so that evidence translates into decisions and actions that deliver real results on the ground.”
From project to lasting network
A recurring theme throughout the meeting was the future of RAENS beyond the current project cycle. Outgoing Resource Mobilization Specialist at Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), Dr Jerome Queste, challenged partners to think strategically about sustainability and long-term coordination.
“We need to be clear on how we transition from the RAENS Project to the RAENS network,” he said. “That means building ownership, diversifying resources and embedding agroecology within regional institutions.”
Dr Norotiana Rasambo, RAENS programme officer at the CCARDESA, outlined the 2026 activities and emphasized the institution’s central coordinating and convening role as the RAENS network scales up across all 16 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States. She highlighted CCARDESA’s responsibility for providing strategic oversight, fostering regional coherence and strengthening linkages among implementing partners.
For the second year of implementation, partners agreed to focus on four strategic pillars: strengthening regional research networks; expanding capacity-building and training programmes; improving access to knowledge and learning products; and deepening policy engagement at national and regional levels.
To ground discussions in practice, participants visited the Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre (KATC) on the outskirts of Lusaka, where a two-year diploma in agroecology has been introduced to support food-system transformation in Zambia. Participants observed integrated farming systems, organic dairy processing and composting practices that demonstrate how ecological approaches can be scaled.
“We want to use nature, not work against it,” said KATC Director Father Claus Recktenwald.
By the end of the four-day-meeting, discussions focused on the next steps required to move agroecology forward. Participants spoke about the need to consolidate research, strengthen regional coordination and sustain engagement with policymakers. Rather than a competing agenda, agroecology was described as a practical, unifying framework that brings together science, practice and policy.
The challenge ahead, several noted, lies in translating this regional momentum into changes that farmers can see and use on the ground across Southern Africa.
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