Upscaling agroecological practices
This project aims to promote the dissemination and adoption of agroecological practices around the world through research, lobbying and advocacy efforts.
In a context of a changing climate and growing concerns for more sustainable and healthy food systems, agroecology is gaining momentum as a scientific discipline, sustainable farming approach and social movement.
There is growing anecdotal and case study evidence of its multiple benefits, from climate resilience to farm productivity. Yet its promotion by donors as well as in public agricultural policies, research and extension remains quite limited.
A high level workshop organised in London by IIED and Practical Action in October 2015 pinpointed eight major challenges to scaling up agroecology, including:
- Its negative image in the eyes of some donors, governments, researchers and farmers
- The time delay before the benefits of agroecological systems are realised
- Weak knowledge and advisory systems
- The high labour demand of many sustainable agricultural practices
- High transaction costs, given that agroecological systems tend to have a greater number of products (crops or livestock), each with a smaller volume for sale or processing
- Incongruence with key national government priorities and political interests
- Lack of mechanisms for landscape level coordination, and
- Inappropriate incentive systems in research.
By jointly working to address the systemic barriers to utilising agroecological principles in farming systems, we can ensure that millions more smallholder farmers can increase the resilience, productivity and sustainability of their operations.
Source: IIED