Agrobiodiversity was the buzz word at a recent international conference in Pokhara City, Nepal organized by the FFF. Put simply, it means adopting farming practices that conserve and enrich nature which in turn contribute to long-term resilience and food security. And it might just be the answer to saving our planet.

In the face of the climate crisis, nature emergency, and an uncertain global food supply, it is becoming more and more important to adopt agrobiodiversity practices worldwide. That’s why, in April 2024, participants from 32 countries came together in Nepal to share ideas about how to advance and conserve agrobiodiversity for climate resilience. This included small holder farmers, Indigenous Peoples, local and international civil society organisations and other stakeholders from across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. 

What is agrobiodiversity?

Agrobiodiversity is the opposite of large-scale commerical mechanised monoculture where growing one single crop depletes soil nutrients and destroys wildlife. It’s about growing lots of different trees, plants, crops and livestock - promoting insect, animal and plant life, attracting pollinators and enriching the soil microbiome. 

Often cultivated on a small-scale, more food is produced in these agrobiodiverse areas worldwide than through large-scale, mechanised agriculture. Though the food produced is more expensive, it is kinder to the planet and plays a big role in feeding the world’s population. 

Globally, the area of land devoted to agriculture (46%) now exceeds the area devoted to forests (38%). Most of the world’s remaining agrobiodiversity is maintained by smallholder farmers in traditional farming systems and Indigenous territories and it’s essential this continues and expands for the future of a healthy planet. 

Agrobiodiversity and climate resilience

Agrobiodiversity is vital for building climate resilience and food security. Increasingly unstable weather patterns mean it is no longer feasible for smallholder farmers to put all their eggs in one basket and focus on one crop alone, because if it fails, they have nothing left. But by cultivating a variety of trees, crops and livestock at the same time, smallholders are able to spread their production risks whilst enriching nature, providing long-term resilience and food security. 

The Union of Peasant and Indigenous Organizations of Cotacachi (UNORCAC) in Ecuador are an excellent example of smallholders embracing agrobiodiversity as part of their livelihoods. High up in the Andes in Cotacachi canton at an elevation between 2,200-3400m, members use sophisticated farming practices to manage an estimated 172 on-farm species. Their colourful mosaic smallholdings include grain crops, tubers, fruit trees, vegetables, medicinal plants, fodder crops, hedge species, wild timber, grasses and different livestock. 

Women play a particularly important role as conservationists and custodians of ancestral knowledge about seed, agriculinary practices, medicinal uses of plants, agricultural cycles, lunar cycles and the agricultural festive calendar. 

For 20 years UNORCAC has helped organise the annual Muyu Raymi Seed Fair that creates space for local producers to learn about and exchange seed of native varieties. It is also an opportunity to showcase the gastronomic-cultural heritage of FFPOs throughout Ecuador and reinforce cultural identity. 

Advancing agrobiodiversity

Agrobiodiversity has many clear advantages such as improved food security and livelihood resilience, nutritional and health benefits from eating a wide range of local plants and animals, preserving ancestral knowledge, and mitigating climate change. 

But in the face of an alarming rate of biodiversity loss and industrial-scale monoculture farming, how can we best advance agrobiodiversity? 

According to recent research by IIED, launched at the conference in Nepal, key strategies include: 

• marketing the nutritional and health benefits of agrodiverse products
• sharing ancestral knowledge of how to grow different crops and sharing seeds with others through seeds fairs and community seed banks
• developing different enterprise models – such as organising market fairs that enhance sales of diverse products and building collective businesses between neighbouring cooperatives that reinforce cultural identity
• reshaping how cooperatives are funded so there is access to flexible finance, allowing members to experiment and adapt to the changing climate by diversifying what they grow and produce
• protecting Indigenous and peasant seed systems and giving precedence to United Nations declarations on human rights for Indigenous Peoples and peasant farmers over commercial plant-breeder rights or trade agreements. 

In November, Colombia will host the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP 16) so agrobiodiversity is set to remain high on the global agenda.

More about the international conference in Nepal.

Read the report of the conference.