Globally, agriculture remains a leading driver of deforestation, land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate breakdown, responsible for about 11.7% of global emissions, second only to energy. These aspects of agriculture are reinforced by over $600 billion in harmful agricultural subsidies annually. In Africa, farming systems are responsible for deforestation – among other losses – yet they need not. Agroecology offers a model where food production and forest conservation can co-exist.
Agroecological transitions provide a systemic and integrated response to the interconnected global crises of climate change, land and water degradation, biodiversity decline, and broken food systems. Importantly, agroecological transitions extend beyond farming to encompass the entire food system, from production to consumption to waste management.
Building research capacity through Regional Multi-actor Research Networks
Ahead of the Africa Regional Centres of Excellence (ArcX) Forum, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) convened researchers from the Research for Agroecology Network Southern Africa (RAENS) and other regional networks (known as Regional Multi-actor Research Networks (RMRNs)) to strengthen their capacity to design, implement, and evaluate agroecological research and innovation. The training combined classroom-style and field learning, exposing participants to agroecological principles, innovations, and assessment tools while fostering collaboration across research networks.
Participants were urged to embrace systems thinking, interdisciplinarity, and participatory research, that is, doing science with people, not on them. Such approaches are crucial because agroecology transcends disciplinary and sectoral boundaries, balancing ecological, social, and economic values.
Images: Researchers engaging in active discussions, learning and dialogue during pre-ArcX forum training. Photo credit: RMRN
Persistent questions of scale
Agroecology promises sustainability, resilience, and inclusiveness, values long neglected in productivity-focused conventional agriculture. Yet scaling remains a concern. Industrial agriculture is perceived as more “scalable,” reinforced by entrenched policies and incentives.
Discussions also unpacked the blurred lines between agroecology and related approaches such as organic, regenerative, climate-smart, and conservation agriculture. While overlaps exist, agroecology is much broader than these approaches, encompassing ecological, socio-cultural, technological, and governance dimensions.
Fundamental questions linger about how agroecology can overcome the policy “lock-ins” that favour industrial-scale farming. Participants highlighted the need to strengthen the research–farmer–policymaker interface and proposed strategic and science-grounded advocacy. Another debate centred on scaling strategies. Scaling out agroecology is often labour- and knowledge-intensive. Some argued for scaling “deep” instead, embedding agroecological principles more firmly in local contexts.
Moving forward: Where to from here?
Some participants called for minimum standards to certify agroecology, as in organic agriculture. Others resisted, noting agroecology’s inherently non-prescriptive nature. Ultimately, the call was to ground agroecology in research, technology, and measurable performance, thereby avoiding its reduction to ideology rather than science.
Images: (L) Researchers taking part in a field experience of agroecology in practice at the Drylands Natural Resources Centre, Kenya. (R) The RAENS researchers who participated in the training. Photo credit: RMRN
Building strong communities of practice (CoPs) emerged as a key priority. These networks, connecting researchers, practitioners, farmers, policymakers, and investors, will be vital in linking evidence of agroecology’s benefits with broader adoption. They can also share lessons across regions.
Agroecology provides a transformative framework for feeding the world without consuming the earth. The task now is to continue to generate and disseminate evidence, build partnerships, and create the policy and investment conditions that allow it to thrive at scale.
Amos Amanubo, PhD candidate, University of Cape Town, Bio-economy Research Chair