Agroecology
What is agroecology?
Imagine a diversified agriculture that produces healthy food (free of pesticides and with an old-time taste that you have been dreaming about) without polluting the environment (soil, air, groundwater tables, etc.) and without contributing to climate change (you know, the greenhouse gas that causes storms or dryness all around the world) while allowing farming families to make a living from their work, to keep control over their production resources (their seeds, their lands, and their tools), and to sell their products at a fair price (a price which is reasonable given their work and the services they provide to society)… Such a scenario is possible and already exists: it is called agroecology.
In every part of the world, farmers enhance and share their know-how by implementing a model of production based on the principles of agroecology. To do so, they need public policies which are favorable to this model, scientific research that validates and improves their techniques and means of investment.
Did you know?
7 major principles to follow in order to implement agroecology:
- Optimizing and balancing nutrient flows
- Protecting natural resources
- Fostering genetic and specific diversity
- Promoting ecological services
- Contributing to the local food system
- Keeping the use of unsustainable, scarce and sensitive resources to a minimum
- Fostering the resilience of the system
Our expertise
Eclosio provides expertise to develop sustainable food systems, together with its partners:
- Training courses in agroecology and natural resource management (resilient systems, seed production) through exchanges between farmers, training programs for farmers and Master-Farmers, and promotion of farmer’ field schools.
- Implementation of participatory agricultural assessments.
- Technical and methodological support for agroecological transition (production and promotion of agroecological products).
- Implementation of action-researches, in which researchers and farmers are testing new practices together.
- Facilitation of linkages between different actors and promotion of multi-stakeholder platforms (for instance, TAFAE in Senegal).