Eco Ruralis is a national association of small-scale agroecological food producers, peasants and people working in rural areas from Romania.
Established in 2009, Eco Ruralis is representing the needs, interests and rights of more than 17.000 members across the country and is aiming at promoting and developing peasant agriculture as an ideal model of agriculture, while advocating for the implementation of the rights of peasants.
“Agroecology represents a sustainable path to overcome the current and future challenges that our food and agriculture systems are and will be facing. We are very glad to be part of an ambitious project that is Agroecology for Europe together with very diverse stakeholders from so many countries. We hope that through such a strong cooperation we will understand even further what are the real needs and tools and mechanisms to be put in place for agroeocology to be developed and elevated at European level, and to leave behind the project a solid base for future strengthened framework and networking among actors at all levels.”
Raluca Dan, coordinator at EcoRuralis for AE4EU
For more than a decade, the association has developed several programs in order to support its members and to engage into transformative policy processes at national and international level. Up to now, Eco Ruralis worked in-depth on cultivated agrobiodiversity, access to land, agroeocology, land grabbing, Common Agricultural Policies, as well as on national decision-making processes in regards to food and agriculture, cooperating with a wide range of actors of civil society.
Through its work, Eco Ruralis aims at the following objectives:
- strengthening peasants and small-scale food producers’ movement across the country;
- promoting and developing peasant agroecology and food sovereignty;
- developing education, formation and innovation among its members on agroeocology and peasant to peasant knowledge and practice sharing and production;
- strengthening participation in decision-making processes at all levels regarding food and agriculture;
- fostering cross-sectorial alliances at national, regional and international level to promote agroecology, food sovereignty and human rights in rural areas.
Since 2011, Eco Ruralis is a member of the European Coordination Via Campesina, a grassroots organization gathering 31 national and regional farmer, farm worker and rural organizations based in 21 European countries, aiming at promoting diverse and sustainable family and peasant farming. The association is also a member of the Access to Land Network, working to secure land for agroecological farming across Europe.
Eco Ruralis has been gaining valuable experience taking part in several European cooperation projects financed through the Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020 programs of the European Union, bringing Eastern European contribution and vision and enhancing its activity at local level, too.
Member of the technical staff of Eco Ruralis, Raluca Dan is coordinating the facilitation and networking among its members and the agrobiodiversity program of the association. Since 2021, Raluca is the lead within Eco Ruralis for the AE4EU project.
Author : Raluca Dan (Eco Ruralis)
A Hub for Agroecology
