Agroecology is receiving increasing attention and recognition as a concept for transitions to more sustainable agricultural and food systems. There is however a lack of characterization of ...agroecology in agricultural and food systems, while integrated and holistic measurements of their sustainability are scarce. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is considered to be a system explicitly based on agroecological principles and practices which shows potential in the face of the sustainability challenges in agriculture and food systems, but its link with agroecology and its holistic sustainability performance have remained understudied. Therefore, we applied the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) to 24 Community Supported Agriculture farms in the Flanders region of Belgium in order to characterize agroecology and to assess their multidimensional sustainability performance. Our results show that Community Supported Agriculture farms can be characterized as advanced agroecological systems, highlighted by their high to very high performance on many of the elements of agroecology. Moreover, our results show positive outcomes on several sustainability criteria across environmental, social and economic dimensions such as soil health, presence of natural vegetation and pollinators and ecological management of pests and diseases, as well as dietary diversity and profitability criteria like gross value, added value and net revenue. The integration and role of animals in these agroecosystems and the importance of - and dependence on - labor are however identified as two critical aspects regarding the agroecological transitions and sustainability of Community Supported Agriculture. Our findings emphasize the exemplary role Community Supported Agriculture could play in broader agroecological transitions, which, coupled with their high performance on several sustainability criteria, highlight the potential contribution of Community Supported Agriculture, and by extension of agroecology itself, to more sustainable agricultural and food systems in Flanders and beyond.
There is increasing interest in agroecology as a way to move toward more sustainable agriculture and food systems. However, the evidence of agroecology's contribution to sustainability remains ...fragmented because of heterogeneous methods and data, differing scales and timeframes, and knowledge gaps. Facing these challenges, 70 representatives of agroecology-related organizations worldwide participated in the development of the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE), to produce and consolidate evidence on the multidimensional performances of agroecological systems. TAPE is composed of: Step 0, the preliminary step that includes a description of the main socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the agricultural and food systems and an analysis of the enabling environment in terms of relevant policy, market, technology, socio-cultural and/or historical drivers; Step 1, the Characterization of Agroecological Transitions (CAET), based on the 10 Elements of Agroecology adopted by FAO and its member countries, using descriptive scales to establish scores and assessing the degree of transition, with information from the farm/household and community/territory scale; Step 2, the Core Criteria of Performance listing the key dimensions considered relevant to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Environment & climate change; Health & nutrition; Society & culture; Economy and Governance. Finally Step 3, a participatory validation of the results obtained from the previous steps with the producers and relevant stakeholders. TAPE can be used (i) to assess the extent of agroecological transition among agricultural producers in a community or a territory, (ii) to monitor and evaluate projects by characterizing the initial and subsequent steps in an agroecological transition, and/or (iii) to evaluate widely diverse agricultural systems against agroecological elements and how they contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. Its application can support the transition of all forms of agricultural systems toward more sustainable practices and the formulation of adequate policies to enable this transformation. Preliminary results from pilot applications show that TAPE can perform in a variety of geographic regions and agroecosystems and that it allows assessment of performances of various criteria that move beyond classic indicators to begin to build a global evidence base for agroecology and support transformation to sustainable agricultural production and food systems.
The process of transition to agroecology of family farms is a topic of great importance in Cuba and the need to support family farming is gaining worldwide attention, while agroecology has been ...recognized as the most promising approach for the sustainable development of smallholder farmers. This work analyzes the process of agroecological conversion implemented by a family farm in western Cuba, highlighting the causes that enabled the process of transition and examining its effects on the family's food security and livelihoods. The study shows how all the four aspects of food security - availability, access, stability, and utilization - have improved after the transition to agroecology, while positive impacts are also registered in soil quality, environmental sustainability, and resilience. From the point of view of economic sustainability, the transition has had high costs at the beginning but, after three years, agroecological production is resulting in increased income and better living conditions. The work also suggests actions to be implemented in order to advance in the process of transition to agroecology and hence achieve full food sovereignty.
This data article is a result of research conducted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers with the aim of analyzing agroecological transition and performance of agroecology in Ethiopia. It was ...conducted in four districts of Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's (SNNP) regional states - Fedis district (East Hararghe Zone) and Miesso district (West Hararghe Zone) from the Oromia region, and Kindo Koysha district (Wolaita Zone) and Meskan district (Gurage Zone) of SNNP region. The rationale behind generating this dataset lies on the fact that there is scanty empirical evidence on the multidimensional performance of agroecology in the country. Available evidence only provides data on limited indicators of sustainability. Hence, there is a lack of comprehensive data on the economic, environmental and social indicators of sustainability and agroecological transition in the context of smallholder farming systems in the country. To fill this gap, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) commissioned a consultancy project that employed the Tool for Agroecological Performance Evaluation (TAPE) to assess several dimensions and indicators of agroecological transitions and generate globally comparable data. A random sample of 619 farms were selected from 12 Kebeles (i.e., the lowest administrative unit), and trained enumerators gathered primary data based on a modified TAPE questionnaire using Kobo Toolbox. Participation of smallholders was on a voluntary basis and informed consent was obtained from the respondents. The survey questionnaire contained information on basic socio-economic and demographic characteristics, access to services and infrastructure, livelihood and Income-Generating Activities (IGAs), social and ecological indicators. Data on the 10 elements of agroecology was also collected. The collected data were entered into a STATA software, cleaned and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The outputs were summarized in Tables, Charts and Graphs. Since the data contained in this data article are disaggregated by study district, categories of agroecological transition, production typology and land size groups, this can foster the promotion of specific projects and programs that can address expressed needs of smallholder farmers. It can also facilitate agro-ecological based implementation of development interventions to encourage agroecological transition, sustainable development and food systems. The dataset can also enable researchers, practitioners and other decision-makers to make comparative analysis on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability. The analyzed data is provided in this data article. The raw data used to prepare figures is provided as a supplementary material. A copy of the questionnaire, raw dataset, and description of variables are available online on Mendeley Data.
This article explores the transformative potential of an agroecological project in addressing challenges faced by vulnerable smallholder farmers in Kembata Tembaro, Ethiopia. Four key indicators of ...farmers' food security - enset stock, land sharing, agricultural biodiversity, and fodder production - were assessed before and after the project implementation. The findings reveal that the agroecological transition initiated by the project positively impacted all indicators, with longer-term beneficiaries experiencing more significant improvements. The transition resulted in breaking the vicious circle of food insecurity and in establishing a virtuous circle of improved livelihoods and resilience through enhanced productivity, reintroduction of livestock, and the production and marketing of fodder into local markets. The study also highlights the crucial role of traditional indigenous organizations, in identifying context-specific needs and in creating and sharing knowledge for successful agroecological transitions. Millions of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia are trapped in a vicious circle of food insecurity and vulnerability due to soil degradation, high population density, and depletion of natural resources. This research serves as a compelling call to prioritize and invest in agroecology as a key solution to sustainably intensify smallholder agriculture, conserve natural resources, protect biodiversity, and improve the livelihoods of vulnerable farmers in similar contexts.
In 2019, FAO and partners launched the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE), an innovative and comprehensive framework to produce global and harmonized evidence on the multidimensional ...performance of agroecology and on its potential to contribute to sustainable food systems and the achievement of the SDGs.
In 2020, TAPE was used in Mali to assess the status of agroecological transition of local farms and to identify its correlation with farms' quantitative performance across the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability.
The aim of this study is to present the evidence on the multidimensional performance of agroecology produced through the implementation of TAPE in 233 farms in the region of Kayes, in Mali.
Through a standardized survey filled during farm visits, TAPE provides a characterization of the level of agroecological transition of local farms and an assessment of their performance across the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability.
The use of TAPE in this study shows that agricultural systems in the region of Kayes are at very different levels of agroecological transition and that more advanced agroecological types of farms have better performances across the different dimensions of sustainability:-produce more and create more wealth from agropastoral activities using less external and industrial inputs;-use less pesticides, have better soil health, have more agricultural biodiversity, and higher presence of natural vegetation and pollinators on farm;-have more empowered youth more prone to continue as farmers and less prone to emigrate, and more family members directly employed in agropastoral production;-enjoy an improved dietary diversity and a higher level of food self-sufficiency.
There is a growing global interest in agroecology and a growing demand for evidence on its performance across the different dimensions of sustainability and on its potential to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. TAPE has been created with the goal to fill this knowledge gap through the creation of global and harmonized evidence on the multidimensional performance of agroecological systems. The presentation of TAPE's results from Mali is meant to inform all interested stakeholders on the performance of agroecology in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa, to support the transition of different types of agricultural systems towards more sustainable production, and to encourage the formulation of adequate programs and policies enabling different processes of transition that take into consideration agroecological practices and principles. Such evidence is particularly needed in Sub-Saharan Africa where agroecology as a science, a practice and a social movement has been less promoted than in other regions.
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•TAPE is confirmed to be an innovative framework to generate evidence on the multidimensional performance of agroecology.•More agroecological types of farms in Kayes produce more and generate more income with less use of external resources.•Strict correlation between agroecological transition and the existence of local and territorial markets in Kayes.•Agroecological farms use less pesticides, have better soil health, are more biodiverse, including more pollinators.•Agroecological farms have more empowered youth less prone to emigrate and more family members directly employed on farm.
Since 2014, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has played a leading role in facilitating agroecology discussions and dialogues among many different regions and ...stakeholders. FAO’s engagement with agroecology as one promising way of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was confirmed in 2018 with the launch of the Scaling Up Agroecology Initiative. FAO’s function is of a dual but interconnected nature: that of normative operational work. This is reflected in FAO’s work on agroecology, which combines the normative and operational aspects to create synergies through their linkages, thus creating a policy bridge for transformation. Undergirding this work is the framework of the 10 Elements of Agroecology, which was approved by FAO Governing Bodies in November 2019 and has been expanded to include its use in visual narratives to describe plausible theories of change to facilitate food systems transformation. The 10 Elements serve as the foundation for the normative and operational aspects of the Scaling Up Agroecology Initiative (SUAI), which include various tools, knowledge pieces, projects, policy initiatives, and sharing platforms. Nowhere is this foundation of the 10 Elements clearer than in the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE), a tool for assessing the multidimensional performance of agroecology. TAPE relies upon the 10 Elements to characterize the level of agroecological transition of production systems in agriculture at scale and in time. Upon this snapshot of transition, criteria of quantitative performance are assessed. Recent utilization of TAPE across the globe has strongly shown how TAPE can help actors make data-driven decisions to elicit transformational change at all levels of the territory, when it is linked to the other aspects of the SUAI underpinned by the 10 Elements, thus effectively bridging policy and praxis.
En América Latina, la intensificación de los sistemas agrícolas y las consecuencias sociales y ambientales derivadas del proceso, han generado cuestionamientos respecto del modelo productivo ...imperante. En Argentina, la región pampeana ha sido escenario de este proceso. Sin embargo, en el sudeste bonaerense en general y en el partido de General Pueyrredon en particular, adquieren relevancia los sistemas con bases agroecológicas que emergen recientemente en zonas de transición urbano-rural, con mayor énfasis en la agricultura intensiva y, en menor medida en la extensiva. En este contexto, surge el interés de avanzar en la evaluación del desempeño de los sistemas con bases agroecológicas del partido de General Pueyrredon. Para ello, se ha comenzado a trabajar con experiencias hortícolas. En la primera etapa de la evaluación, se encuentra el desafío de caracterizar la transición agroecológica de sistemas hortícolas del Partido, que es el objetivo principal del presente trabajo. Mediante la aplicación de la metodología TAPE (FAO, 2019) que integra los 10 elementos de la agroecología, se presentan los resultados obtenidos de seis experiencias. Se evidencian situaciones diferenciales en el proceso de transición. En promedio, los elementos de creación conjunta e intercambio de conocimiento y economía circular, reflejan las mejores condiciones. En el otro extremo, se encuentran las sinergias y el reciclaje. El acceso a la tierra, la disponibilidad de capital y la capacidad de gestión, inciden fuertemente en el proceso. La evaluación del desempeño de los sistemas permite obtener un diagnóstico útil para formular políticas. Se considera que incluir la mirada de los actores en etapas iniciales de la evaluación permitiría consensuar los criterios más adecuados para la realidad socio-históricamente situada que permita avanzar hacia la sustentabilidad del territorio local.
ABSTRACT
In Latin America, agricultural systems intensification and the social and environmental consequences derived from this process have raised questions about the prevailing production model. In Argentina, the Pampas region has been the scene of this process. However, in the southeast of the Buenos Aires province in general and in the district of General Pueyrredon in particular, systems with agroecological bases acquire relevance. These systems have recently emerged in urban-rural transition zones, especially in intensive agriculture and, to a lesser extent, in extensive agriculture. In this context, the interest arises to advance in the evaluation of the performance of the systems with agroecological bases of the district of General Pueyrredon. To do this, work has begun with horticultural experiences. In the first stage of the evaluation, there is the challenge of characterizing the agroecological transition of horticultural systems, which is the main objective of this research. Through the application of the TAPE methodology (FAO, 2019) that integrates the 10 elements of agroecology, the results obtained from six experiences are presented. Differential situations are evident in the transition process. On average, the elements of joint creation and exchange of knowledge and circular economy reflect the best conditions. At the other extreme are synergies and recycling. Access to land, availability of capital and management capacity strongly influence the process. The evaluation of the performance of the systems allows obtaining a useful diagnosis for formulating policies. It is considered that including the gaze of the actors in the initial stages of the evaluation would allow a consensus on the most appropriate criteria for the socio-historically situated reality that allows progress towards the sustainability of the local territory.
The peripheral BDZ receptor ligand Ro 5-4864 was administered to rabbits in doses ranging from 0.2 to 7 mg/kg IV. Changes in electrocortical activity appeared within 1 min after administration, ...characterized by trains of slow waves in the posterior sensorimotor and optic cortices (0.6-2 mg/kg) and by grand mal seizures (2-10 mg/kg). The low doses also induced alterations in the basic rhythms both of the hippocampus (reduced amplitude and spike-like waves) and of the nucleus ventralis of thalamus (trains of slow waves), not associated with observable behavioural changes. The paroxysmal EEG activity observed at higher doses of the drug was first recorded in the cortical areas and then spread to the subcortical structures. No change in electrical activity could be observed in the spinal cord. The paroxysmal activity was associated with tonic-clonic convulsions and scialorrea. The EEG and behavioural manifestations were inhibited by administration of Ro 15-1788. This drug at doses of 0.6 and 6 mg/kg antagonized the effects of Ro 5-4864 at doses of 0.6-5 mg/kg and 6-7 mg/kg, respectively. This effect began 1-3 min after administration of the antagonist, and led to EEG synchronization. These data suggest that in rabbits the convulsant effect of Ro 5-4864 is due to interference of the drug at the GABA-BDZ-picrotoxin receptor oligomeric complex. Such an effect seems to be mediated at least in part by central BDZ receptors.
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