Improving the

performance of farming

systems through

Agroecological

intensification (AIE)

Hamado Tapsoba, PhD Regional Representative for West Africa

The McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) funds collaborative research between smallholder farmers, leading local researchers, and development practitioners to explore solutions for sustainable, local food systems.

Helping smallholder farmers feed their world www.ccrp.org

The McKnight Foundation (www.mcknight.org) The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation, seeks to improve the quality of life for present and future generations. Through grantmaking, collaboration, and strategic policy reform, we use our resources to attend, unite, and empower those we serve.

Collaborative Crop Research Program

Vision & Mission of the CCRP

The CCRP works to ensure a world where all have access to nutritious food that is sustainably produced by local people.

We do this through collaborative agroecological systems research and knowledge-sharing that strengthen the capacities of smallholder farmers, research institutes, and development organizations.

Andes CoP - Bolivia - Ecuador - Peru

West Africa CoP - Burkina Faso - Mali - Niger

Eastern Africa CoP - Ethiopia - Kenya - Uganda

Southern Africa CoP - Malawi - Mozambique - Tanzania

www.ccrp.org

4 Communities of Practice (CoP) Twelve countries on two continents where poverty and food

insecurity have created “hunger hot spots.”

3 Concepts

AEI

OxC FRN

Agroecological intensification (AEI)

Improving the performance of agriculture through integration of ecological principles into farm and system

management

Depending on the context, improved performance = any combination the following:

o increased productivity

o enhanced use of local resources

o maximized returns from external inputs

o improved stability and/or diversity of diets with associated increases in resilience

o environmental service provision from farmed landscapes

Agroecological intensification (AEI)

Characteristics of AEI

• Uses local and global knowledge to improve efficiency and effectiveness of crop, tree, livestock, pest and disease, and soil management

• Enhances soil health and fertility, increases functional diversity, and reduces pre- and post-harvest losses

• Contributes to the development of local value chains and diverse and nutritious human diets

• Is flexible and responsive to local conditions, including farmers’ access to inputs and markets

• Is based on evolving understanding of biophysical, socio-economic, cultural, gender, and other contexts

• Reduces risk and increases productivity through enhanced resilience and adaptation

• Requires cross-sector, multilateral collaboration

AEI levers and outcomes

• Component improvement

• Agroecological pest management

• Systems diversification

• Risk management

• Improving farm resource-use efficiency

• Social/technical innovation – Building human and social capital, and collective action

• Improving functionality of value chains

• Influencing policy

• Cross-cutting capacities

AEI levers

Option by Context interactions (OxC)

One size does not fit all!

Very high level of social and biophysical heterogeneity

Environments

People Heterogeneous Widely adapted

technologies => Rare

Need for local adaptation, innovation

G x E x M x S

Farmers group themselves • Objectives • Gender • Interests • Constraints – what is limiting? • Resources – what is available?

Land size? • Opportunities – market?

Social factors

Farmers group their farms • Soil types • Altitudes • Slope • Whatever they think is

important

Environmental factors

Form sub-sets of farmers with shared contexts factors

Context analysis groups of farms (or groups of groups)

Option by Context interactions (OxC)

Farmer Research Networks (FRNs)

FRN

Farmers and Farmers’ organizations: Influence the agenda; contribute a bit of data and get a lot more

Extension/NGOs: Looking to empower communities and deliver benefits

Researchers: Like farmers, need bigger data to effectively match options contexts

FRN structure

A social innovation

A type of multi-environment trial

A way of linking social and technical innovation processes

Farmer Research Networks (FRNs)

FRN

Social capital: Farmer organizations; innovative intermediaries skilled in facilitation

Technical capital: Viable options meet important problem/opportunity

Methodological capital: Multi-Environment Trials (MET), participatory methods, adult learning

Ingredients for an FRN

Farmer Research Networks (FRNs)

Principles

1. Situational Analysis

2. Mutual Benefit

3. Knowledge sharing and co-creation

4. Use research to discover hidden social and technical patterns.

5. Ongoing engagement

6. Inclusion and equity

7. Embedded scaling

3 Concepts

AEI

OxC FRN

CCRP