Held on 27th February, this webinar, organized by GFAR at the request of the European Commission and Germany, sought to foster an evidence-based exchange of views and sharing of experiences among experts from leading global and regional institutions, GFAR members and networks on the nature and impacts of fertilizer shortages and price hikes in their regions and possible alternatives for soil fertility management and sustainability.

It identified actions that GFAR partners and members can implement in the short, medium and longer term, including fostering better use of fertilizers and the identification and development of alternatives to maintain soil fertility at the regional, national and local levels. The presentations by the OECD, FAO, IFDC, the Agroecology Coalition, Australian National University, CACAARI, IICA, FARA, APAARI, YPARD, Germany and the EC and the exchange between participants was extremely rich. They highlighted diverse perspectives and options for addressing soil fertility which need to be tailored to context.

The webinar attracted more than 360 people from a wide range of countries, organizations and diverse stakeholders across six continents. Participants were drawn from all GFAR constituencies and beyond, including: GFAR Regional Fora; regional research institutes and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS); farmers’ and producer organizations; youth representatives; country level experts; selected international specialists and resource persons; and GFAR Steering Committee members and Secretariat.

Participants highly appreciated the event and expressed interest in GFAR continuing to support efforts to address the challenges related to ensuring sustainable agrifood systems by mobilizing its convening power and capacities for coordination across continents. As follow up to the webinar, GFAR’s Steering Committee will consider the establishment of a new GFAR Collective Action on Agroecology to be implemented in collaboration with other key partners. This will seek to define a collective approach involving diverse stakeholders to identify actions over the short, medium and longer term.

Read the webinar's full report here.

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