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Diversity: diversification is key to agroecological transitions to ensure food security and nutrition while conserving, protecting and enhancing natural resources

Agroecological systems are highly diverse. From a biological perspective, agroecological systems optimize the diversity of species and genetic resources in different ways. For example, agroforestry systems organize crops, shrubs, livestock and trees of different heights and shapes at different levels or strata, increasing vertical diversity. Intercropping combines complementary species to increase spatial diversity. Crop rotations, often including legumes, increase temporal diversity. Crop–livestock systems rely on the diversity of local breeds adapted to specific environments. In the aquatic world, traditional fish polyculture farming, Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) or rotational crop-fish systems follow the same principles to maximising diversity.

Increasing biodiversity contributes to a range of production, socio-economic, nutrition and environmental benefits. By planning and managing diversity, agroecological approaches enhance the provisioning of ecosystem services, including pollination and soil health, upon which agricultural production depends. Diversification can increase productivity and resource-use efficiency by optimizing biomass and water harvesting.

Agroecological diversification also strengthens ecological and socio-economic resilience, including by creating new market opportunities. For example, crop and animal diversity reduces the risk of failure in the face of climate change. Mixed grazing by different species of ruminants reduces health risks from parasitism, while diverse local species or breeds have greater abilities to survive, produce and maintain reproduction levels in harsh environments. In turn, having a variety of income sources from differentiated and new markets, including diverse products, local food processing and agritourism, helps to stabilize household incomes.

Consuming a diverse range of cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables and animal-source products contributes to improved nutritional outcomes. Moreover, the genetic diversity of different varieties, breeds and species is important in contributing macronutrients, micronutrients and other bioactive compounds to human diets. For example, in Micronesia, reintroducing an underutilized traditional variety of orange-fleshed banana with 50 times more beta-carotene than the widely available commercial white-fleshed banana proved instrumental in improving health and nutrition.

At the global level, three cereal crops provide close to 50 percent of all calories consumed, while the genetic diversity of crops, livestock, aquatic animals and trees continues to be rapidly lost. Agroecology can help reverse these trends by managing and conserving agro-biodiversity, and responding to the increasing demand for a diversity of products that are eco-friendly. One such example is ‘fish-friendly’ rice produced from irrigated, rainfed and deepwater rice ecosystems, which values the diversity of aquatic species and their importance for rural livelihoods.

Database

This document presents the results of the seminar held by the group on agroeoclogical transitions (GTAE) on the 14th and 15th of December 2017 and devoted to the evaluation methods of agroecology. The GTAE consists of four NGOs (Agrisud, AVSF, CARI and GRET), which support the development of agroecology in various...
وقائع المؤتمر
2017
Students will get the opportunity to understand structure and function of complex agroecosystems. They will learn to apply systems approaches in studying, designing and evaluating (agricultural) systems and food production chains, and to develop creative solutions for sustainable farming and marketing of organic or other quality products. The program teaches...
France - Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
التعلّم
The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) have joined forces to step up scientific exchanges – in terms of skills and knowledge – between Europe and Africa to boost the impact of agricultural research carried out on the two continents...
المادة
2021
The climate emergency affects us all deeply, in so many ways. However, for farmers, it has implications that are more drastic. It undermines all aspects of the food systems that they depend on. Extreme weather devastates their crops and livestock, and destabilises the very water cycle that they are intimately...
الكتاب
2022
The International Symposium on Agroecology and System Approach for Sustainable and Resilient Horticultural Production will be held within the XXXI International Horticultural Congress that will take place from 14 to 20 August 2022 in Angers, France. Agroecology has developed strongly in the last decade and can be considered as a way...
حدث
2021