Piloting the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) in Mali and China
The Animal Production and Health Division (NSA) and the Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP) are piloting the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) in various countries to support the transition towards more sustainable food systems. In this context, 2 virtual trainings have taken place in Mali and China.
TAPE is an innovative framework to evaluate the performance of agricultural systems and create global evidence on how agroecology supports the transition to sustainable food systems. Following a request by FAO Member Countries in 2018, this tool was developed through a participatory process involving a large number of FAO technical divisions as well as external partners. As the last step in its development and with the support of local partners in over 15 countries, TAPE is currently undergoing a piloting process in different regions worldwide to fine tune its application, ensure its local adaptability and global data robustness. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the team adapted the trainings initially planned to be carried out in person to a virtual format.
A first training on TAPE was held in Mali between 10th and 14th August, in collaboration with the Institute of Research on the Promotion of Alternatives for Development (IRPAD), which is leading the process of data collection and analysis for the application of the tool in over 200 farms in the Kayes region (western Mali). TAPE is being used to establish a baseline on the status of agroecological transitions for a GEF project aiming at improving resilience, productivity and sustainability of crops and animal husbandry in the region. TAPE will also be used to identify and support strategies and practices for a transition towards more sustainable food systems in Kayes.
Virtual TAPE workshop in Mali (Credit: Dario Lucantoni)
The training received important inputs from the FAO Country Office in Mali, the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment (OCB), and the Food and Nutrition Division (ESN). The later provided training on the tool for mapping territorial markets, which will be coupled to TAPE for analyzing how agroecology helps to connect small crop and livestock farmers to territorial markets and how these can support the spreading of agroecological practices and principles for improved sustainability of the local food system.
"Some 90% of West African agriculture is made up of family farms,” said Mamadou Goïta, director of IRPAD, adding that agroecology and food sovereignty have already been written into national and regional policies. “Agroecology responds to the demands of millions of farmers across West Africa. It is a systemic response to the COVID-19 and climate crises."
Agenda of the TAPE workshop in China (Credit: FAO China)
A second TAPE training was held between 31st August and 2nd September at the Shared Harvest Organic Farm, in the Shunyi District of Beijing, China. More than 40 people participated in the training, most of them farmers and belonging to the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Alliance, which is thriving in China. The Shared Harvest Organic Farm was chosen as the meeting place because of its fundamental role in the establishment of the CSA Alliance in the country.
Map of the CSA farms in China that will implement TAPE. (Credit: CSA Alliance in China)
The training was delivered remotely by NSA and NSP with the support of FAO’s China Country Office and FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP). The training received important inputs from the Division of Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equity (ESP) on the importance of gender-disaggregated data collection and analysis, highlighting the fundamental role of women in the process of transition to agroecology and in the overall sustainability of food systems.
Participants at the TAPE training in Shunyi district, China (Credit: CSA Alliance)
“The 10 Elements of Agroecology paints a picture for sustainable agriculture development in different contexts. TAPE provides a very useful and practical tool to assess the characteristics of agroecologcial transition of local food systems from multiple dimensions. The training has broadened the vision of participating CSA farmer representatives from different parts of the country, who are encouraged to further disseminate this tool among their local networks”, said Dr. Shi Yan, founder of the Shared Harvest.
“These innovative virtual trainings took place in 2 different contexts and with different partners, but with a common goal of providing tools to support the transition to sustainable food systems. In total, more than 60 people have been trained in the use of TAPE in Mali and China,” said Anne Mottet and Abram Bicksler, coordinators of TAPE.
“It was a challenge to adapt our training content to a virtual setting,” said Dario Lucantoni, Livestock and Agroecology Specialist in NSA, “but with a bit of time and effort, all sessions were conducted successfully and participants showed a strong interest and participation during the Q&A sessions.”
“Providing training virtually and remotely has been made compulsory by the pandemic and the resulting “new normal”. It has proven to be rather efficient and innovative (like agroecology itself). However, it will never replace physical trainings for both the direct interaction and informal exchanges with participants, which help building trusting collaborative relationships and the field testing that usually accompanies this initial training,” remarked Pierre Ferrand, Agroecology Officer for RAP.
Enumerators will collect data with the on-line TAPE questionnaire using the KoBoToolbox in their respective regions and territories and will thus assess the level of transition to agroecology of hundreds of farms. These data will enter FAO’s global database on agroecological transitions and will be used to produce evidence about the performance of agroecology and its impact on all the different dimensions of sustainability. Results from TAPE analysis will be discussed and validated with the communities and used to inform local organisations and governments about the multi-dimensional impact of agroecology and formulate recommendations that can support the processes of transition to agroecology at different scales and in different regions of the world.