Authors: Simone Staiger-Rivas and Gabriela Wiederkehr (both Alliance Bioversity-CIAT), based on initiative country reports
The CGIAR initiative “Transformational Agroecology Across Food, Land and Water Systems” is actively engaging with food system actors (FSA) in seven countries (Burkina Faso, India, Kenya, Lao PDR, Peru, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe) to codesign, test, and adapt agroecological innovations, both technological and institutional, from food production to consumption. At the core is the necessity to generate scientific evidence that shows how agroecological principles applied in different socio-ecological systems are better able to provide equity, productivity, economic and environmental benefits than alternatives, including the status quo.
The engagement takes place in Agroecological Living Landscapes (ALLs) that are formed in selected territories of each country with diverse stakeholders, including farmer associations or communities, researchers from multiple disciplines, extensionists, private companies, international and national non-governmental organizations as well as local, regional, and national policymakers. The establishment of ALLs does not follow a standard methodology: Each country’s context leads to a different agroecological transition pathway(s) and multi stakeholder approaches. (Read overall reflections on the Initiative engaging with stakeholders and establishing Agroecological Living Landscapes)
Jointly, people who act along the food value chain assess and demonstrate which agroecological innovations (practices, business models, and institutional arrangements) work best, where, why, and for whom. They identify business opportunities and financial mechanisms for local enterprises to deal with agroecological innovations. They develop strategies and action plans that encourage and support sustainable behavior change oriented to agroecological principles and transitions, and they determine the most suitable policies and mechanisms of policy integration for promoting effective and sustainable agroecological transitions.
At the current stage, FSA are engaged in the creation of the Agroecological Living Landscapes, assessing contexts and envisioning possible agroecological transitions with stakeholders that will allow the codesign of agroecological innovations. The analysis of collected data on the total of 1,346 FSA who have been engaged to date in seven countries reveals valuable insights.
- From the 1,346 FSA engaged to date, 42% are female and 58% are male.
- Tunisia has engaged the most FSA (532), followed by Kenya (299), Zimbabwe (228) and India (123)
- Farmers are the biggest group of FSA (622), followed by NARS (170), Private sector (145) and extensionists (85)
Country-specific analysis show differences, such as Zimbabwe with strong engagement with NARS; Peru with a targeted engagement around a specific value chain that includes policymakers; Kenya, with a majority of female FSA and a first engagement around agroecological business models and financing strategies.
The current engagement process in the seven countries benefits from prior efforts and extensive dialogues with partners, including the private sector, national research centers, farmer cooperatives, and international organizations that led to the creation of the Agroecology initiative. Country teams have been well suited to involve national and local FSA as well as partners for scaling and impact according to their specific contexts focusing not only on technical solutions but also on the socio-political dimensions beyond the farm level that are needed to positively affect food systems.
Progress to date with the engagement of FSA confirms the premise that to be successful, rather than offering prescriptive approaches, agroecology must be flexible with solutions tailored to specific environmental, socio-cultural, economic, and political contexts. It must also combine local and scientific knowledge and build strong local partnerships as a key factor of success for sustainable and scalable innovations.
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