Agroecological Science and Technology Investment and Development Indicators

Agroecological Science and Technology Investment and Development Indicators
by Krishan J. BHEENICK in behalf of PAFO. 10 March 2025. Brussels. In person meeting of the Collective Action Agroecology. This is a pre-event before the DeSIRA-Lift conference: Boosting agrifood research and innovation cooperation for impact at scale (11-13 March 2025 in Brussels).

1. Agroecological Science and Technology Investment & Development Indicators-Africa (AESTIDI-Africa) Proposal by the Pan African Farmers Organization (PAFO) & partners Update 10 th March 2025 GFAiR Call for EoI on Collective Actions – Agroecology

2. ‘The challenge’ & problem formulation Many international organisations are gearing up to promote their next round of interventions in Africa around the adoption of agroecological practices, with impact expected at farmers and rural communities Agricultural Research & Innovation and Development (ARD) actors are the intermediaries who run these interventions, and may have differing approaches and interpretations. Farmer Organisations are still confronted with the dilemma of increasing productivity through increasing inputs e.g. fertilizers etc. while proposed to adopt agroecological approaches Soon, members of PAFO (farmers) will be approached by different initiatives to describe the impact of adopting ‘agroecological approaches’ Both ARD and National entities will have to report back on the levels of investments in ‘Agroecology’ as they are already doing for Agricultural Research (e.g. Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI), now managed by FAO) Challenges: How can these projects, still under formulation, to adopt a harmonized approach to reporting on investments and initiatives around the adoption of agroecological approaches? How can the Farmer Orgs help with data provision in a coherent manner?

3. The partnership & CA as a solution The Pan African Farmers Organisation ( PAFO ) has carried out studies on Opportunities & Challenges of FO for Agroecology’( 2023 ) and has ongoing studies on the “ Impact of Agroecology on African Agriculture, with an ongoing formulation of its Advocacy S trategy on Agroecology (f or consideration by other parties) The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa ( FARA ) coordinates the Consortium Europe Africa on Research and Innovation for Food Systems Transformation and its network of constituents (SROs) as well as AFAAS are at the conjunction of EU-Africa investment in AR&I in Africa around Agroecology (e.g. EU reg MIP support) The Agroecology Coalition ’s Meeting of Donors has agreed to use a common tracking tool for assessing investments in Agroecology developed by its Working group on Finance & Investments (AFAT tool) The UN FAO-ESS (Statistics Division) is transitioning the long-running ASTI program and methodology into its Agristats program and is strengthening the data collection process with the involvement of the National Statistical Systems with the NARS in 2025 (Annual response on Core Indicators Investment tracking tool ASTI Methodology & Capacity Dev Institutional & Financial support for Agroecology Farmer Agroecological Practices ARD promotion of Agroecology GFAiR CA offers a platform where these large (potentially independent) interventions to hold consultations and conversations to facilitate the harmonization of the vocabulary, the definition of terms in Agroecology and a concerted reporting mechanism, both of Research and Development investments in Agroecology and the impact reported by the farming community to be integrated in their regional and global reporting structures…

4. What do we know about AE Frameworks? ( i ) Gleismann & Rosemeyer (2010) The conversion to sustainable agroecology-Principles, Processes, Practices Level 1: Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of conventional practices in order to reduce the use and consumption of costly, scarce, or environmentally damaging inputs. Level 2: Substitute conventional inputs and practices with alternative practices Level 3: Redesign the agroecosystem so that it functions on the basis of a new set of ecological processes and relationships. Level 4: Reestablish a more direct connection between those who grow the food and those who consume it, with a goal of reestablishing a culture of sustainability that takes into account the interactions between all com ponents of the food system. 2016 2018 2019

5. What do we know about AE Frameworks? (ii) Geck , M. S., Crossland, M & Lamanna C. (2023) Measuring Agroecology and its performance: an overview and critical discussion of existing tools and approaches The 10 elements are the officially accepted model by all countries (FAO) Frameworks for assessment of agroecological approaches are being harmonized around the HLPE 13 principles at policies, programs & project level; Public sector investments; Business; Farm and Household levels Scope for harmonization across frameworks at farm and household levels (6 criteria, 10 elements and 13 principles) A gap seems to exist at Landscape level, but agroecology is meant to be in a local context…

6. HLPE 13 principles v/s farm practices? GRET- Memento-Handbook on the evaluation of Agroecology (2018) Laurent Levard (2023)/GRET – Guide pour l’evaluation de l’agroecologie Humundi -SOS- Faim (2018) Autodiagnostic des pratiques agroecologique en milieu paysan

7. AFAT connects 13 principles to practices…

8. AFAT connects 13 principles to practices… The RHS column describes good practices that can be compared with the self-assessment of agroecological approaches at farm and community level!

9. Starting off the Collective Action… A ims to facilitate the establishment of a common methodology for planning, assessing the implementation and reporting on investments and development initiatives on Agroecology in Africa, through a discussion led by African Institutions at the heart of implementation namely the PAFO, FARA and its Constituents, and the targeted NARS institutions. Its objectives are defined as follows:- Establish a mechanism for dialogue and collaboration across the partnership to shape discussions around these large initiatives into a cohesive framework for implementation of agroecology in Africa, starting while these projects are planning their implementation phase [Mechanism with Coherence, Cohesiveness, Capacities at its core] Identify/Develop/Agree on a common framework and set of indicators on Research and Development indicators on Agroecology in Africa [Evaluation of frameworks; Reporting methodology; Institutionalization approach] Through the ongoing conversations, support African Partner institutions to develop proposal(s) that are complementary and add value to the ongoing initiatives, in the context of the African Development Agenda [Develop joint & complementary proposals for adoption of Agroecological approaches in Africa]

10. Connecting the 13 principles to AgriFood Systems Concepts Work by the JRC has enabled the connection between the 13 principles with their contribution to driving, influencing and achieving impacts on Food Systems This provides an opportunity to connect agroecological practices on the farm to the AE principles and also to impacts on Food Systems transformation….

11. Addressing Metrics and Data management Ongoing work by the Agroecology TPP on planning the metrics and gathering data defines the engagement needed with operators/practitioners on the ground, which can also help with the process of MEL (based on the TOP approach from Agric Extension) to be applied for the evaluation of adoption of agroecological practices…

12. Conclusion There are sufficient documentation available to start the process of linking agroecological practices on the farm and in the community to the HLPE principles The Agroecology Financing Analysis Toolkit (AFAT) Annex 3 table can be used as the connection point and the range of good practices in agroecology assigned to the appropriate category of the HLPE principle. Activities listed in the self-evaluation guides developed by the French institutions can be compared with practices in the table and assigned accordingly – producing a robust framework for guiding the planning of actions on agroecology at individual, farm and community level Gathering data at the source of the action, through the participation and engagement of the Farmer organisations , enables a rich description of the context and activities requested by researchers, and enables a data-driven, evidence-based documentation of agroecological practices at various scales of aggregation ( Holistic Localized Performance Assessment (HOLPA) tool for collecting evidence on the impact of agroecology )