How it works
TAPE can be used to assess all types of production systems and agricultural subsectors: crop and livestock production, pastoralism, aquaculture, fisheries, and forestry. The tool is adaptable to local contexts, languages, and social and cultural groups (e.g., Indigenous People). It is flexible enough to be complemented with any other methodology or indicators to inform additional dimensions of sustainability that are not covered by the core criteria or to provide deeper analyses on a specific topic.
Designed to remain simple, it follows a stepwise approach:
STEP 0
The “preliminary step” is a collection of all relevant context information, from territorial and higher scales, including the descriptions of production systems and agroecosystem and the enabling local and regional environment.
STEP 1
The 10 Elements of Agroecology are used to characterize production systems by assessing their level of transition to agroecology. This diagnostic can be used to identify strengths and weaknesses of the systems assessed, but also to monitor and evaluate projects or to establish entry points for activities.
STEP 2
The 10 core criteria of performance quantify the impact of the level of transition to agroecology assessed in STEP 1 by informing various dimensions of sustainability, namely: land tenure, productivity, income, added value, exposure to pesticides, dietary diversity, women’s empowerment, youth employment, biodiversity, and soil health.
STEP 3
The final step of TAPE is a participatory analysis of the results, where the multidimensional performances (STEP 2) are reviewed in the light of the level of transition to agroecology (STEP 1) and the context and enabling environment (STEP 0). The analysis of the evidence generated in a systemic and multi-dimensional framework will inform the identification of the way forward with the community/territory and will generate a global database of harmonized evidence on the performance of agroecology. At this stage, any further methodology of assessment or indicator can be added to complement TAPE and provide deeper analyses on specific topics.
The TAPE data collection typically starts in Step 0 with a desk review that is often complemented with focus group discussion or key informant interviews focusing on data from higher levels (community/territory, region or country). The data in Steps 1-2 is collected through surveys typically focused on the farm/household. A data collection tool utilizing a free and open-source software both on-line and off-line is available and can be easily translated into different languages. Depending on the needs, Step 3 can include participatory research methods such as focus group discussions, priority grid, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis and case studies.
TAPE is currently being used for data collection in the field in several different countries and contexts, and FAO is consolidating a global database from which an analysis of the diversity of contexts and performances of agroecology will be carried out.
