Agroecology Knowledge Hub

Co-creation and sharing of knowledge: agricultural innovations respond better to local challenges when they are co-created through participatory processes

Agroecology depends on context-specific knowledge. It does not offer fixed prescriptions – rather, agroecological practices are tailored to fit the environmental, social, economic, cultural and political context. The co-creation and sharing of knowledge plays a central role in the process of developing and implementing agroecological innovations to address challenges across food systems including adaptation to climate change.

Through the co-creation process, agroecology blends traditional and indigenous knowledge, producers’ and traders’ practical knowledge, and global scientific knowledge. Producer’s knowledge of agricultural biodiversity and management experience for specific contexts as well as their knowledge related to markets and institutions are absolutely central in this process.

Education – both formal and non-formal – plays a fundamental role in sharing agroecological innovations resulting from co-creation processes. For example, for more than 30 years, the horizontal campesino a campesino movement has played a pivotal role in sharing agroecological knowledge, connecting hundreds of thousands of producers in Latin America. In contrast, top-down models of technology transfer have had limited success.

Promoting participatory processes and institutional innovations that build mutual trust enables the co-creation and sharing of knowledge, contributing to relevant and inclusive agroecology transition processes.

Database

On November 23, 2021, the Food Policy Forum for Change co-organized a roundtable in collaboration with the Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa (3AO), the National Council for Organic Agriculture (CNABio) of Burkina Faso, and the Centre Ecologique Albert Schweitzer Switzerland (CEAS). The aim was to bring together political decision-makers,...
Burkina Faso
Article
2021
The debate concerning the need for significant transformations toward more nutrition-oriented, environmentally sustainable, and inclusive food systems has generated increased attention towards agroecology in recent years. Literature on this subject has already demonstrated that transitions to agroecology will be context specific, as countries and regions have distinctive visions for the...
Working paper
2022
The positive impact of agroecological practices and their environmental, socio-cultural, health, and economic benefits are highlighted in three interesting case studies from the “Building Local Economies in East Africa through Agroecology” project, funded by the Agroecology Fund and launched by Slow Food in collaboration with its local networks in Uganda,...
Congo - Kenya - Uganda - United Republic of Tanzania
Article
2021
Women and youth-led agri-enterprises (WYE) (which may also be operating as family businesses) in agricultural value chains have been identified as catalysts for rural transformation given their potential for creating employment and stimulating value addition both on and off-farm. Given that agriculture and food systems are likely to remain the...
Ghana
Book
2021
Haiti’s rural farming communities have been historically marginalized and disenfranchised. In this context, peasant farmers must resort to self organization to develop and spread sustainable farming innovations. Similarly, in order to sustainably grow local economies, they need to reduce dependence on intermediaries and address the growing consumption of cheap, imported,...
Haiti
Innovation
2018