Agroecology Knowledge Hub

Human and social values: protecting and improving rural livelihoods, equity and social well-being is essential for sustainable food and agricultural systems

Agroecology places a strong emphasis on human and social values, such as dignity, equity, inclusion and justice all contributing to the improved livelihoods dimension of the SDGs. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems. By building autonomy and adaptive capacities to manage their agro-ecosystems, agroecological approaches empower people and communities to overcome poverty, hunger and malnutrition, while promoting human rights, such as the right to food, and stewardship of the environment so that future generations can also live in prosperity.

Agroecology seeks to address gender inequalities by creating opportunities for women. Globally, women make up almost half of the agricultural workforce. They also play a vital role in household food security, dietary diversity and health, as well as in the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. In spite of this, women remain economically marginalised and vulnerable to violations of their rights, while their contributions often remain unrecognized. Agroecology can help rural women in family farming agriculture to develop higher levels of autonomy by building knowledge, through collective action and creating opportunities for commercialization. Agroecology can open spaces for women to become more autonomous and empower them at household, community levels and beyond – for instance, through participation in producer groups. Women’s participation is essential for agroecology and women are frequently the leaders of agroecology projects.

In many places around the world, rural youth face a crisis of employment. Agroecology provides a promising solution as a source of decent jobs. Agroecology is based on a different way of agricultural production that is knowledge intensive, environmentally friendly, socially responsible, innovative, and which depends on skilled labour. Meanwhile, rural youth around the world possess energy, creativity and a desire to positively change their world. What they need is support and opportunities.

As a bottom-up, grassroots paradigm for sustainable rural development, agroecology empowers people to become their own agents of change.

Database

Students will get the opportunity to understand structure and function of complex agroecosystems. They will learn to apply systems approaches in studying, designing and evaluating (agricultural) systems and food production chains, and to develop creative solutions for sustainable farming and marketing of organic or other quality products. The program teaches...
France - Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
Learning
The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) have joined forces to step up scientific exchanges – in terms of skills and knowledge – between Europe and Africa to boost the impact of agricultural research carried out on the two continents...
Article
2021
The climate emergency affects us all deeply, in so many ways. However, for farmers, it has implications that are more drastic. It undermines all aspects of the food systems that they depend on. Extreme weather devastates their crops and livestock, and destabilises the very water cycle that they are intimately...
Book
2022
Agroecology Europe, a European association to promote agroecology, was created on the 27 of January 2016 in Graux Estate, Belgium with the participation of 19 founders from 10 countries. Agroecology Europe intends to place agroecology high on the European agenda of sustainable development of farming and food systems. It wants to foster interactions between...
Website
2016
The communities Biowatch is engaged with are located in Umkhanyakude and Zululand District Municipalities in northern Kwazulu-Natal, in the south-east of South Africa. The initiative is focused around smallholder family farmers, self-organised as local farmer groups. The farmers implement a number of inter-linked agroecological practices which build new knowledge on the...
South Africa
Innovation
2021