Co-designing socio-technical innovation bundles for the sustainable intensification of mixed farming systems: A methodological note

Mixed farming systems (MFS) are complex systems where multiple components (e.g., livestock, trees, subsistence and cash crops, horticultural crops, aquaculture, value-adding activities) are tightly
interlinked, and the whole system is managed towards the satisfaction of multiple productivity, economic, environmental, and societal goals (e.g., social inequality, food security, income generation, risk management, resource conservation, preservation of cultural values and traditions).

To improve the performance and sustainability of MFS, sociotechnical innovation bundles (STIBs) need to be developed so that contextualized combinations of interrelated technical advances combined with social, organizational, and policy enablers are packaged for impactful implementation and scaling. To develop these STIBs for sustainable intensification of MFS, a processbased disciplinary-focused approach might not suffice, and a participatory systems’ perspective is needed. Systems analysis
allows an understanding of the characteristics, dynamics, and interconnectedness of different components and actors in the system, as well as their role in the overall system’s performance. It also relates to the interrelations amongst system components and external (and internal) drivers of change.

Gebreyes, M., Notenbaert, A., López-Ridaura, S., Kizito, F. and Wery, J.