Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Using digital tools to support climate & agroecological transitions at scale

10 September 2024. Using digital tools to support climate & agroecological transitions at scale.

The Agroecological TRANSITIONS program, supported by the EU, advocates for climate and agroecological transitions by addressing several challenges. 

  • The program has three projects: investigating holistic metrics to assess food and agricultural systems and guide policy and investment decisions; exploring public-private incentives and innovative pathways for sustainable practices; and developing digital tool innovations to support farmers and extension practitioners assess performance.
  • TRANSITIONS’ Inclusive Digital Tools (ATDT) Project looks at how digital resources can boost inclusivity and empower farmers in co-creating sustainable practices. ATDT has evaluated digital resources for technical advice and performance assessment to understand how they support agroecological transition. Regional partners and teams have developed and tested digital tools to support agroecology in Vietnam for rice and in Brazil for livestock. 
  • As the ATDT project comes to a close this year, the panel exchanged ideas with a wider group of organizations and stakeholders actively working with digital resources. Through this work and the parallel projects on metrics and public-private incentives, the TRANSITIONS projects aim to improve food security, minimize negative ecological impacts, and foster climate-informed agroecological transitions in LMICs.

The interactive workshop, discussed opportunities and challenges to scale climate and agroecological transitions using digital resources. The objective was to share knowledge and exchange ideas among leaders and experts in this area on the following topics:
  • Climate and agroecology indicators in digital tools
  • Principles for digital inclusion of smallholder farmers
  • Digital tool design for co-creation
  • Incentives and pathways to scale digital tools for climate & agroecological transitions

Presentations:

  • Facilitator: Sandhya Kumar Agroecology TPP Scientific Coordinator 
  • Lini Wollenberg University of Vermont & The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT - Digital tools for an agroecological transition? 
  • Violaine Laurens Regional Manager – Digital Solutions, Solidaridad Latinoamérica - Co-creating agroecology practices for livestock in Brazil: Solis 
  • Trang Vu/Katie Nelson, IRRI - Vertically integrated digital performance assessment for the 1 Must Do 5 Reductions in Vietnam 
  • Fancisco Hidalgo Socio-environmental researcher, Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT - Leveraging digital traceability tools for agroecology transitions  
  • Mary Crossland Livelihood systems associate scientist, CIFOR-ICRAF - Metrics for holistic assessment in digital tools 
  • Kyle Dittmer Research Analyst, Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT Principles for socially inclusive digital tools for smallholder farmers
Panel: Will this work? What will it take? 
  • Facilitator: Sandhya Kumar Agroecology TPP Scientific Coordinator
  • Oliver Oliveros Coordinator, Agroecology Coalition 
  • Alesha Miller Chief Strategy Officer, Digital Green  
  • Christophe Larose European Commission - Concluding statements
The speakers highlighted:
  • how digital tools can support farmer agency and negotiate top-down and corporate influence in digital tool design
  • how digital tools can best serve farmer needs through co-creation of knowledge and avoiding the pitfalls of current digital tool business models driven by non-farmer interests 
  • how aligning metrics, policy, incentives, and digital tools can help integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation into agroecological practices and technical advice.

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