FAO/AGPME thanks the HLPE for the opportunity to make comments on the draft scope of the upcoming report, Agroecological approaches and other innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition.
Framework
The HLPE report should begin by providing a conceptual framework for understanding “innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition”. This conceptual framework should be based on clear definitions of “innovations”, “sustainable agriculture and food systems” and – of course – “food security and nutrition” in all four of its dimensions. Such a conceptual framework does not exist and will be one of the important contributions of this report. It would have to include innovations throughout the food system and not only on the production side (also taking into account processing, transportation, marketing, food losses and waste, but also policies, governance, research, etc). It is to be welcomed that the draft scope recognizes not only scientific and technical, but also financial, political and institutional innovations for enhanced FSN. Perhaps social and cultural innovations should be added as they play an important role, for example in the conservation of sustainable use of biodiversity.
Agroecology
This framework needs to be consistent with the premise implicit in the title of the report: that “agroecological approaches” are a noteworthy example of “innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition”. Therefore the report will need to analyze agroecological innovations and explain why these are a noteworthy example of innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition.
Agroecology is widely recognized for being knowledge intensive. Agroecology underlines the importance of context-specific and continuously adapted knowledge to find solutions for complex and dynamic ecological and human systems. It is therefore a central tenet of agroecology that farmers’ knowledge and understanding of management of local natural resources and knowledge of local cultural and social systems form the foundations of agroecology. The dialogue between different actors (such as farmers and pastoralists, or food producers and consumers) is an important source of knowledge and innovation in agroecology, leading for example to innovations in market systems.
Agroecology has a long tradition of building on localized, traditional knowledge, bringing science to bear in ways that respect farmer knowledge, learning and innovation. This may be through supporting farmers to conduct research themselves, or through introducing interactions with researchers to support on-farm research in collaboration with farmers. A number of interesting cases of this “co-creation” of knowledge for agroecology are highlighted in a special issue of Farming Matters (https://www.ileia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Farmingmatters32_1.pdf).
Understanding the innovation systems of small-scale and family farmers and other food producers, most of which would be in line with agroecological approaches, is also necessary. See for example Susan H. Bragdon and Chelsea Smith (2015), Small-scale farmer innovation, (Quaker United Nations Office, Geneva) and QUNO (2015) Small-scale farmer innovation systems: A review of the current literature (Quaker United Nations Office, Geneva).
Agroecological approaches integrate concerns for social equity and justice as an integral part of food systems that deliver food security and nutrition for all, therefore the question of who creates the innovation, who controls it and who benefits from it are key.
Way forward
The report should lead to a set of policy recommendations on how to strengthen innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition, in particular, agroecological approaches. Pertinent questions would include: What research systems and public policies are needed to support such innovations? What data is required to show the impacts of such innovations in order to inform these policies? What legislative systems can protect collective knowledge resulting from co-creation processes? What are the roles of different actors in terms of strengthening such innovations? What role for international exchanges and cooperation in such endeavours?
Caterina Batello