Description

Agroecological approaches, based on principles of input reduction, recycling, biodiversity, animal and soil health, diversification, synergy, co-creation of knowledge, social values, connectivity, equitable governance and participation, are increasingly seen as being able to make a key contribution to transitioning to sustainable agricultural and food systems. In sub-Saharan Africa, agroecological practices such as integration of crops and livestock, use of crop residues to produce compost, use and management of woody perennials in fields and landscapes, and conservation agriculture are promising means to sustainably increase productivity. There are some successful examples of adoption of agroecological practices in Africa, generally based on traditional practices in resource-limited contexts or intensive systems with specific markets for high value products. Despite these success stories, there is still skepticism about the ability of agroecological approaches to transform African agriculture at scale. This skepticism is partly caused by lack of comprehensive assessments of the socio-economic performance of farming systems in terms of food security and income and concern that agroecological practices are sometimes labor rather than capital intensive. Given the unique demographic dynamics and low economic diversification in sub-Saharan Africa, it has been suggested that agroecological practices could play a role in absorbing the 14 million young people each year that reach working age but the returns to the additional labor remain insufficiently explored to confirm this.

The overall objective of this project is to better understand the socio-economic viability of agroecological practices and their livelihood system impacts across environmental and demographic gradients in Africa. This is a scientific and methodological challenge because of the lack of a clear set of metrics able to document all the dimensions of this viability over time. The intention is to conduct an holistic evaluation including: 1. The quantitative and qualitative assessment of the labour required by agroecological practices; 2. Income (including returns to labour) and food security outcomes for households with contrasted access to: income sources (non-farm and off-farm), markets and policy incentives; 3. Intra household levers and lock-ins (in terms of access to knowledge, land tenure, gender, risk aversion, religion and age equity); and 4. The economic value of ecosystem services and disservices relevant to the location of the case studies.