Agroecology is a promising approach that is transforming agrifood systems across the Asia-Pacific Region. Indeed, there is increasing evidence of positive results with the transition to agroecology, and these include stable yields, crop resilience, higher incomes for farmers, fishers, and producers, improved nutrition and food security and enhanced biodiversity (Global Alliance for the Future of Food 2023). Several events and workshops across the region over the last year (including TARASA23), have emphasized the need for agroecological approaches. However, to promote agroecology at scale, the domain needs more professionals who can understand, appreciate, adapt, and promote agroecological principles to suit varied agroecological settings, and to support farmers in designing and managing sustainable and resilient farming systems.

But are our educational institutions developing professionals who can effectively support this transition to agroecology? Currently, a gap exists in agricultural education programs – both in higher education and vocational education systems, in developing a deeper understanding of agroecological approaches. Thus the regional (AsiaPacific) working group on agroecology was established by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s TAPAIS project¹ funded by the European Union (EU) to discuss the integration of agroecology into the agricultural education system. The working group was led by the Asia-Pacific Islands Rural Advisory Services Network (APIRAS) in close collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), the Office of Innovation (OIN) and the Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP) of FAO. This Regional Brief primarily serves to present results from the productive discussions among working group members.

Download the Regional Brief from here.

Food systems transformation in the Asia-Pacific depends on the dissemination and mainstreaming of new approaches that foster sustainable agriculture. One such approach is agroecology. Agroecology is fundamentally different from other approaches to sustainable development due to its systemic and holistic nature and by its reliance on localized and bottom-up solutions, ensuring that farmers, their communities, and their local knowledge are fully integrated into improving agricultural sustainability (FAO 2018). This adaptable and flexible approach suggests ways to not only promote efficient and resilient agricultural systems, but also to ensure food security and healthy diets, empowerment of family farmers and their organizations, so as to foster responsible governance and to support the conservation and restoration of biodiversity.

A succession of events and workshops across the region over the last year emphasized the need for promoting agroecological approaches. Apart from these, many pilot experiments across the region have also revealed the benefits of promoting agroecological approaches. Throughout the Asia-Pacific, several agroecological practices – mainly aimed at enhancing soil fertility, increasing resilience to climate change and other external shocks, promoting biodiversity, biocontroling pests and diseases, etc., – have long been promoted. Currently, there is an increasing appetite for such practices among farmers and their organisations with an aim to replace the conventional chemical-intensive farming, especially given the rising cost of imported synthetic agro-inputs. However, mainstreaming agroecological approaches within the Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) necessitates some fundamental changes in the way all actors in the AIS approach agricultural development.

This policy brief was produced as a result of a meeting of the working group on agroecology that was organized under the FAO’s TAP- AIS Project by the Asia Pacific Island Rural Advisory Services Network (APIRAS) and the Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) in close collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This meeting was preceded by many other events that showcased the extensive challenges in promoting agroecology.

Please read the full brief here