This report presents the results of the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) stock-take on agroecology, an outcome of IFAD’s engagement in the multi-agency Scaling Up Agroecology Initiative launched in 2018. The report assesses to what degree IFAD is supporting agroecology throughout its in-country portfolio across the five IFAD regions to the benefit of small-scale producers and sustainable food systems. It also identifies gaps and opportunities for scaling up and scaling out agroecology and provides recommendations for moving forward.

The study is based on a systematic desk review, validated by the IFAD country teams, of all 207 IFAD-supported projects completing in 2018-2023 across the five IFAD regions.

Inspired by FAO’s 10 Elements of Agroecology, the IFAD Agroecology Framework defines agroecology-relevant interventions through 33 activity groups operating at four levels typical of IFAD co-funded projects, namely: (i) farm level agroecological practices; (ii) landscape-level natural resource governance, community learning and adoption of nature-based solutions to sustain and enhance ecosystem services and secure equitable access to resources for vulnerable groups; (iii) market level support for value addition and innovations in connecting small-scale producers and consumers around shared values of sustainable and healthy food; and (iv) policy level instruments and services enabling agroecology and sustainable food systems.

Results and recommendations for scaling up agroecology in IFAD

Approximately 13 per cent of the 207 projects sampled across the five IFAD regions entirely apply agroecology, while another 47 per cent partially apply agroecological practices. The remaining 40 per cent of projects are not based on agroecology. However, 42 per cent of these do not address crop, livestock and aquaculture production. Thus, only 23 per cent of the IFAD projects reviewed that support agricultural and livestock production are not promoting agroecology-related practices. This shows IFAD’s solid grounding and experience in supporting governments, small-scale producers and their communities in developing integrated agroecological farming systems. It also shows a demand for this type of support from IFAD’s development partners.

Agroecology strongly contributes to IFAD’s mainstreaming priorities on gender, climate change, nutrition and youth and Indigenous Peoples.