The Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative was born out of a resolution by the African Union Heads of State and Governments in 2011 during the Eighteenth Ordinary Session, 24-28 January 2011, EX.CL/Dec.621 (XVIII) to support Organic Agriculture on the African Continent.

EOA-I’s overall goal is to mainstream Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) into national Agriculture systems, policies and programmes by 2025, in order to improve agricultural productivity, food security, access to markets and sustainable development in Africa. EOA-I has been under implementation since 2012. The initiative is currently implemented in 9 countries; Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and Benin.

The initiative is implemented in interrelated pillars that complement each other in addressing different facets of ecological organic farming, with the aim of eventually rolling it out to the whole of Africa continent, through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); a programme of the Africa Union (AU).

EOA -I has six Key pillars: