Agroecology Knowledge Hub
Lead Organization:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Duration:
8/2015—8/2019
Overview:
Agroecology is an important approach in supporting a shift towards more sustainable food systems. The practices, research, and policies relating to agroecology have seen enormous growth worldwide in the last decade. There is a promising alignment between the interests of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the CCRP in issues relating to the integration of agroecological principles into farm and system management to improve the performance of smallholder farming. The FAO has a demonstrated interest in the topic of agroecology. Since the 1980s, the FAO has been working with farmer field schools to strengthen agroecological crop management with smallholders. More recently, the FAO organized the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition in September 2014 in Rome, Italy. The McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program initiated a Website aimed at enhancing access to agroecological information and tools (the “AEI Exchange”). The site as currently configured aims to provide easy access to agroecological principles, evidence/ cases, tools/methods, and to facilitate discussion forums on AEI – related issues. As perspectives on agroecology are gaining more traction on international and regional levels it is timely to re-think the role and contribution of a dynamic, participatory information exchange on the topic of agroecology for smallholder and family farms, particularly in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Grant Aims:
To contribute to improving the performance of smallholder agriculture by integrating agroecological principles in farm and system management by developing a high-visibility Website that can be used by researchers as well as by farmers and those who support them. The Website should enhance access to principles, evidence and cases related to agroecology.
Outputs and Outcomes:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released the Agroecology Knowledge Hub (AKH) in November 2016. The site can be accessed by visiting http://www.fao.org/agroecology/en. The site includes profiles of people and initiatives working on agroecology.If you would like to have an innovative farmer or particular success story resulting from your project featured on the AKH, please contact Renee.VanDis@fao.org. Guidance for compiling such a profile is available in the AKH document “Guidelines Agroecology Profiles”
