In Guinea-Bissau, the intensifi cation of cashew monoculture and the decline in yields of rice and other staple cereals is a common issue that puts the population in an unprecedented state of food insecurity. Organisations such as CAURAL REMOBE have tried to fi nd a solution to this problem. The...

Current food systems are at a crossroads. There is a strong need for transforming food production and consumption patterns in a sustainable way. One where farmers adapt and build resilience to the increasing challenges from climate change and where nutritious food is available for all. Agroecology provides one solution towards...

Surendranagar, India – For many people, salt is an ingredient without which a meal is tasteless and incomplete. But have we ever given a thought to the effort which goes into preparing this salt? In India, farmers spend eight months in the harsh salt pans in the Little Rann of Kutch...

The FFS has been one of the most successful approaches developed and promoted by FAO over the last 30 years, empowering farmers to become better decision-makers in their own farming systems. Initiated by FAO in 1989, and followed by many other organizations and institutions, the FFS programmes represent one of...

La Sociedad Española de Agricultura Ecológica/Agroecológica (SEAE) ha publicado el trabajo Evidencias científicas sobre la producción ecológica que trata de mostrar, a través de evidencias, los beneficios de este tipo de producción. Este documento es apoyado por más de cincuenta entidades del ámbito académico, ambientalista, empresarial y del asociacionismo del sector ecológico...

Agroecological practices have been widely promoted as an alternative to the hegemonic agri-food system, yet they also can help to ‘green’ the system. To strengthen a transformative agroecology, Latin American activists have promoted the concept desenvolvimento territorial rural (DTR or rural territorial development), which has different versions. The dominant version advocates broad...

This article discusses the economic dimensions of agroecological farming systems in Europe. It firstly theoretically elaborates the reasons why, and under what conditions, agroecological farming systems have the potential to produce higher incomes than farms that follow the conventional logic. This theoretical exposition is then followed by a presentation of...

In the Western French region “les Pays de la Loire”, an idea emerged about a decade ago in the minds of some environmentalists. Faced with the dreadful, global, current loss of biodiversity, especially in agricultural landscapes – which accounts for 70% of the regional land – these passionate naturalists strived...

The African workforce will grow by 800 million people over the next 30 years. Generating sufficient jobs and incomes to meet their needs is one of the biggest political and economic challenges of our time. This report proposes strategies and policies, harnessing cooperation between Africa and Europe, to enable the...

This brief is based on experience gained from the Master’s Programme in Agroecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in particular, and on contributions from our partner programmes at Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and Martyrs University in Uganda (UMU). The brief provides an overview of agroecology,...

In this report, the HLPE explores the nature and potential contributions of agroecological and other innovative approaches to formulating transitions towards sustainable food systems (SFSs) that enhance FSN. The HLPE adopts a dynamic, multiscale perspective, focusing on the concepts of transition and transformation. Many transitions need to occur in particular...

Agroecology is much talked about, and practiced in many regions, but how does it relate to the word of policy-making? In some countries such as France, agroecology forms the basis of emerging agri-food policy – albeit in a contested and sometimes contradictory way.  Since the time of ecologically progressive Agriculture Minister...

In this essay, we look at the symbolic and material territorialization of agroecology in La Via Campesina (LVC) through peasant-to-peasant processes (PtPPs) in the broad sense. The most significant examples of the scaling up of agroecology are clearly tied to organizational processes and in our perspective, PtPPs are the motor...

Indigenous cocoyams in Burundi have the potential to increase food and nutrition security and contribute to improved livelihoods, but farmers’ capacity to meet the growing demand for them has been constrained by a lack of good quality seed and technical knowhow. The Good Seed Initiative targeted both seed and cocoyam...

Agroecology Europe (AEEU) is an association of members that want to exchange knowledge and experiences on agroecology and to support the transition toward agroecological practices and policies. Together with local farmers, universities, social movement organisations and non-governmental organisations, the second Agroecology Europe Forum was organised to support exchange, reflection and bottom-up contributions. It took...

There is wide agreement on the need to change the prevalent agricultural models, given their negative impacts and their incompatibility with current societal issues. Agroecological transition has been promoted as a potential solution to the ecological, social and economic problems generated by these models. It however involves a systemic, multi-scale...

The latest IPCC report sets the objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, 2070 at the latest. The sustainable intensification of agricultural production, in a land sparing logic, is most often considered as a necessary step to achieve this. In contrast, this Study questions the potential contribution of a more...

This Shared Action Framework developed by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food is a result of the publication ''The Future of Food: Seeds of Resilience, A Compendium of Perspectives on Agricultural Biodiversity from Around the World'' and of a strategic convening on resilient seed systems that was held in Oaxaca, Mexico.  From these discussions,...

Groundswell International and Cultivate! publish this new briefing on how to upscale and outscale agroecology in the Sahel in West Africa.  The briefing starts from an integrated approach, combining agroecology with women’s self-empowerment, nutrition, equity and governance. It outlines concrete steps in three general strategies for how civil society organisations can successfully support processes to scale up...

The history of Lanka Farmers’ Forum (LFF) draws back to the project implemented through the Medium Term Cooperation Programme (MTCP) which is supported by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). MTCP started as a pilot project in 2009 with farmers organizations in Asia and the Pacific. The main objective...