Soils that are alive make sounds – and soils that are cultivated in different ways sound different from one another. The research and art project “Sounding Soil” makes these sounds audible. Biovision uses “Sounding Soil” to sensitise the population, students, farmers and decision makers about sustainably managing soils.

The CLEVER travelling exhibition raises young people’s awareness for sustainable consumption. Every day we make countless decisions about our diet: Do we eat meat or cook vegetarian? Organic or conventional? CLEVER provides answers so that young people can make better purchasing decisions.

Together with our partner Farm Radio International, we want to transform Tanzanian agriculture to be more sustainable. Print magazines and radio programmes are helping raise awareness among millions of farmers for promoting local varieties and avoiding artificial fertilizers and chemical pesticides.

In Ethiopia, Biovision promotes mangos as a pivotal source of income. To ensure the sustainability of the crop, farmers are trained in agroeconomic practices, and their connections to entrepreneurs and authorities along the mango value chain are strengthened.

Agroecological enterprises are a key element in the transformation towards just and sustainable food systems. To enable them to scale up and create more local jobs and impact, we and our partner organization Shona set up the Neycha Accelerator & Fund to provide capacity building, networking and access to capital.

In order to catalyse the scaling of agroecology and advance the transformation of the food system, this programme wants to increase the availability of suitable capital and build an enabling environment for agroecological enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The objective of the programme is to increase the sustainability of food systems in Sub-Saharan African and beyond by creating coherent and equitable policy frameworks that enable an agroecological transformation of food systems.

The project aims to strengthen systemic research in agroecology. A study with renowned international partners analysed relevant cash flows and the most important points of leverage.

“Food Future Switzerland” makes a substantial contribution to the current discussion on future holistic policies for a healthy and sustainable food system in Switzerland. For the first time in Switzerland, a national citizens’ council will gather and develop recommendations for concrete measures on food policy, and a scientific expert panel will develop and present current proposals.

In Kenya, agroecological measures should help smallholder farming families better adapt to climate change. With this in mind, Biovision combines longstanding methods with the newest insights from research.

With the “Food Policy Forum for Change”, the project creates a platform where policy makers from around the world can learn from each other through mutual exchange and receive guidance in designing effective measures and initiatives for sustainable food systems.

Biovision advocates for a solution-oriented and science-based political framework that makes a transformation towards a sustainable Swiss food system possible. To this end, Biovision is involved in networks such as the Agrarian Alliance and Agriculture with a Future.

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network Switzerland, SDSN for short, is committed to promoting the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in politics, society, business and science. The individual actors are networked with each other in order to jointly develop sustainable solutions for the current problems of our time. SDSN is a United Nations initiative.

Can farmers conduct research? Definitely! In Malawi, they are experimenting with dozens of agroecological farming methods – and with great success.

Traditional healers play an important role in health care in rural Uganda. Training in organic farming methods increases their understanding of sustainable medicinal plant use and therefore conserves forest resources.

Biovision wants to support the use of agroecological practices along the entire value chain. To do so, various interest groups must be brought together. At the Centre for Agroecology in Morogoro, Tanzania, we are doing just that.

The project combines beekeeping with sustainable forest use. Through the use of bees, the people promote the pollination of surrounding plants and have an additional source of income through the honey. They can use the wood they receive from the reforestation measures without destroying the sensitive mangrove forests.

In Ethiopia, Biovision wants young women to earn a stable income through beekeeping. This not only helps their families, but also promotes plant diversity and the renaturation of the region.

In the Ethiopian districts of Tiyo and Hitosa, we are involved in promoting more sustainable and fairer agriculture on three fronts: We increase farmers’ yields using clever methods, encourage healthier soils and more biodiversity, and also empower women through training and education.

This project investigates how using trees in livestock farming contributes to better livestock health and to the conservation and improvement of pasture land. Agroforestry is a promising concept that also has the potential to improve local people’s economic situation.

This project supports the development of a disease outbreak information and early warning system to better protect humans and animals from epidemics or harmful environmental occurrences. Its aim is to better protect the health and livelihoods of livestock farmers.

Local seed banks in the Kenyan district of Vihiga are not just for making agriculture more resilient to climate change. Biovision also wants to contribute to the survival of traditional plant varieties. The seed banks provide farming families with an important additional source of income.

As society changes, valuable knowledge about the sustainable use of soil, water and seeds is increasingly being forgotten. With the project partner Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE), we promote traditional knowledge and bring it together with new findings.

In the Samburu district of Kenya, Biovision is relying on camels and the innovative use of invasive plants. With them, herders can cope better with challenges such as climate change.

Through a long-term study in Kenya, Biovision wants to compare the costs and benefits of organic and conventional farming methods. The project also involves local farmers with their knowledge and experience.

Whoever lives in the vicinity of their livestock in Kenya is at increased risk of contracting malaria or another potentially deadly disease. Through an innovative research project, Biovision is making a virtue of necessity.

The effects of climate change, depleted soils, disease and pest infestation and missing support are key challenges for smallholder farmers in East Africa. Awareness that a profound transformation of food systems is needed to solve these problems is also growing in many African countries. For this transformation to succeed, “change makers” are needed.

Livestock farming forms the basis livelihoods of the populations in northern Kenya, but grazing land is degraded by overuse and deforestation. The project strengthens sustainable use of grazing land through a two-pronged approach.

Small farmers in Kenya and Tanzania are using Push-Pull to successfully control pests. This organic farming method also has a positive effect on the soil and the climate. Above all, however, it increases harvest yields and nutritional diversity.

Biovision’s Farmer Communication Programme (FCP) is a multimedia package that disseminates information via magazine, radio, internet and personal advice in the field.

Because pests routinely ravage tomato fields in Kenya, farmers often used highly toxic insecticides in the past. Biovision wants to show that plant protection can also function sustainably and without harmful substances.

Mangoes offer a lucrative sales market, but fruit flies introduced into the area have cause massive damage to farmers’ harvests. Biovision supports the use of integrated methods to control this pest.

Western Kenya is characterised by severe soil erosion caused by deforestation, the cultivation of intensive monocultures and overgrazing of green areas. Within the framework of the EU project “Regreening Africa”, Biovision supports applied research to optimise countermeasures.