Agroecology Knowledge Hub

Synergies: building synergies enhances key functions across food systems, supporting production and multiple ecosystem services

Agroecology pays careful attention to the design of diversified systems that selectively combine annual and perennial crops, livestock and aquatic animals, trees, soils, water and other components on farms and agricultural landscapes to enhance synergies in the context of an increasingly changing climate.

Building synergies in food systems delivers multiple benefits. By optimizing biological synergies, agroecological practices enhance ecological functions, leading to greater resource-use efficiency and resilience. For example, globally, biological nitrogen fixation by pulses in intercropping systems or rotations generates close to USD 10 million savings in nitrogen fertilizers every year, while contributing to soil health, climate change mitigation and adaptation. Furthermore, about 15 percent of the nitrogen applied to crops comes from livestock manure, highlighting synergies resulting from crop–livestock integration. In Asia, integrated rice systems combine rice cultivation with the generation of other products such as fish, ducks and trees. By maximising synergies, integrated rice systems significantly improve yield, dietary diversity, weed control, soil structure and fertility, as well as providing biodiversity habitat and pest control.

At the landscape level, synchronization of productive activities in time and space is necessary to enhance synergies. Soil erosion control using Calliandra hedgerows is common in integrated agroecological systems in the East African Highlands. In this example, the management practice of periodic pruning reduces tree competition with crops grown between hedgerows and at the same time provides feed for animals, creating synergies between the different components. Pastoralism and extensive livestock grazing systems manage complex interactions between people, multi-species herds and variable environmental conditions, building resilience and contributing to ecosystem services such as seed dispersal, habitat preservation and soil fertility.

While agroecological approaches strive to maximise synergies, trade-offs also occur in natural and human systems. For example, the allocation of resource use or access rights often involve trade-offs. To promote synergies within the wider food system, and best manage trade-offs, agroecology emphasizes the importance of partnerships, cooperation and responsible governance, involving different actors at multiple scales.

Database

This is the story of Ms Bouchan Huengvilay, a PGS-organic farmer in Lao PDR. She is part of one of the PGS groups formed and supported under the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) on "Small-scale Farmer Inclusion in Organic Agriculture Development through Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS)".  
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Video
2018
This is the story of Mr Nov Keo, a PGS-organic farmer in Cambodia. He is part of one of the PGS groups formed and supported under the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) on "Small-Scale Farmer Inclusion in Organic Agriculture Development through Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS)".
Cambodia
Video
2018
A field experiment with four treatments of rice-duck farming systems was conducted in the Zengcheng Teaching and Research Base of South China Agricultural University to further understand the effects of this farming system on the physiological characters of rice. The results showed that rice-duck farming could decrease the plasma membrane...
China
Journal article
2007
The case studies follow on from IPES-Food’s 2016 report, From Uniformity to Diversity, which identified the vicious cycles locking industrial food and farming systems in place, despite their severe impacts on human health, economic and social well-being, biodiversity, and climate change. The case studies provide concrete examples of how people are rethinking...
Report
2018
Agroecology is an approach to food and agriculture that promotes more sustainable interactions between humans, plants, animals, and the environment. It combines proven local practices with the latest evidence-based scientific knowledge. Agroecology reconnects us to our food by supporting local culture and food traditions. It boosts rural development by promoting...
Video
2020