{"id":2288,"date":"2026-02-28T13:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T13:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2026-05-02T13:53:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T13:53:36","slug":"dr-rev-tolbert-thomas-jallah-jr-speech-at-the-afsa-champions-collective-land-tenure-and-agroecology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/dr-rev-tolbert-thomas-jallah-jr-speech-at-the-afsa-champions-collective-land-tenure-and-agroecology\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Rev. Tolbert Thomas Jallah Jr. Speech at the\u00a0AFSA Champions Collective Land Tenure and Agroecology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 6<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Good morning distinguished guests, partners, farmers, youth leaders, and friends of AFSA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Today, as Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), I am honored to launch our new campaign: \u201cProtect Our Land, Restore Our Soil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Land is more than a resource. It is our heritage, our identity, and our future. Across Africa, our soils feed our families, sustain our economies, and connect generations. Yet today, land degradation, extractive practices, climate change, and land grabbing threaten the very foundation of our food systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">When soil is degraded, food becomes scarce. When land is taken or misused, communities lose dignity and security. Protecting our land is not optional \u2014 it is essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This campaign is a call to action.&nbsp;We call on governments to strengthen land rights and protect smallholder farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">We call on communities to embrace agroecology and regenerative practices that rebuild soil fertility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">We call on young people to see agriculture not as a last resort, but as a powerful pathway to innovation and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">And we call on all partners to invest in systems that nourish both people and the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Healthy soil is living soil. It holds water during droughts, stores carbon, supports biodiversity, and produces nutritious food. When we restore our soil, we restore hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">At AFSA, we believe that Africa\u2019s future lies in food sovereignty \u2014 in empowering communities to control their land, seeds, and knowledge. This campaign strengthens that commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Let this be more than a launch. Let it be a movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A movement to protect what sustains us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A movement to restore what has been depleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A movement to ensure that future&nbsp;generations inherit land that is richer, stronger, and more abundant than we found it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Together, we protect our land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Together, we restore our soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Together, we secure Africa\u2019s future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 6 Good morning distinguished guests, partners, farmers, youth leaders, and friends of AFSA. Today, as Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), I am honored to launch our new campaign: \u201cProtect Our Land, Restore Our Soil.\u201d Land is more than a resource. It is our heritage, our identity, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2288"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2294,"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions\/2294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fjnetwork.org\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}