A project of the Agroecological Transition Program for Building Resilient and Inclusive Agricultural Food Systems (TRANSITIONS)
Scaling climate-informed agroecological outcomes with inclusive digital tools
Digital resources in agriculture are changing the way food is produced and can transform agriculture at large scales. However, digital tools are not widely used by smallholders, women, the rural poor, and other marginalized groups in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Involving farmers in the co-design of knowledge is a key principle of agroecology. If digital platforms are to be a major driver for scaling up agroecology, it is essential to support inclusive tool use and farmer co-design of practices to address LMICs’ needs. Therefore, the ATDT Project will evaluate how farmers benefit from using improved digital tools and their potential to generate large-scale impacts for climate-informed agroecology (figure 1).
The TRANSITIONS’ Inclusive Digital Tools (ATDT) project will promote innovations related to digital tools and their interfaces that enhance inclusiveness, integrate climate change resilience and mitigation with agroecological aims, and enable farmers to develop new practices (see figure 2).
Activities and outputs
To achieve its goals, the ATDT Project has strategically planned activities and outputs to assess the global and site-specific digital ecosystems, improve digital tools to engage farmers in the co-creation of knowledge, and test and evaluate digital tool innovations for scaling up climate-informed agroecological outcomes.
Regional & supply chain focus
Rice systems in Vietnam: Mekong River Delta
Sustainability standards are prominent within Vietnam in higher-value crops, like coffee and cocoa. However, they are less prevalent in staple crops, like rice. To address this in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta region, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and local stakeholder partners, will support the development, design, and improvement of digital tools facilitating agroecological practices for rice farmers. The Vietnam team and IRRI will focus research on advanced farming packages that promote agroecological production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing farmers’ income.
Livestock landscapes in Brazil: Pará & Mato-Grosso
The Brazil team will support the improved use of good agronomic practices and traceability tools for incentives to smallholders and recognition of their livestock production practices. The team will work in the Amazon agriculture frontier of the states of Pará and Mato Grosso, Brazil. With this purpose in mind, the Brazil team will review the inclusivity of existing tools, map and systematize knowledge on production practices, and influence tool access, design, and improvement to support agroecological transitions.
Part of a bigger picture: Agroecological TRANSITIONS
Agroecological approaches are increasingly promoted as a means to improve sustainable development outcomes of food systems to ensure regenerative use of natural resources and ecosystem services while addressing the need for more socially equitable decision-making.
In LMICs, agricultural investment remains a priority for economic development. Climate-informed agroecological transitions require supporting farmers to shift to more intensive production systems while minimizing negative ecological and human impacts.
Yet, supporting farmers’ transition to agroecology globally has been constrained. The CGIAR’s Program on Agroecological Transitions for Building Resilient, Inclusive, Agricultural and Food Systems (TRANSITIONS) aims to address these constraints by enabling climate-informed agroecological transitions by farmers in LMICs through the development and adoption of holistic metrics for food and agricultural systems performance, inclusive digital tools and transparent private sector engagement.
More information
Project title
Inclusive Digital Tools to Enable Climate-informed Agroecological Transitions (ATDT)
Duration: 2021-2024
Partners
Funding
Funded by the European Union through its DeSIRA Initiative. Manged by the International Fund for Agricultural Development
Further Resources
- Agroecology Info Pool
- Alliance Multifunctional Landscapes
- Transformative Partnership Platform on Agroecology (TPP)
- OneCGIAR Initiative: Transformational Agroecology Across Food, Land & Water Systems
- Alliance Research on Improving Food Systems Through Agroecology
ATDT Outputs
BRIEFS
Best practice guidance for inclusive digital tool development for sustainable rice in Vietnam
Digital tools for climate change adaptation and mitigation
Digital tools for supporting climate-informed agroecological transition in beef production in Brazil
Exemplary features of digital tools for agroecology: A global review
Key actions to develop inclusive digital resources for smallholder cattle ranchers in Brazil
Socially inclusive digital tools for agriculture: A way forward
REPORTS
EVENTS
May 2022: Global Digital Development Forum Side event – Farmer co-design of climate change solutions
October 2022: Driving the Agroecological Transition [recording] [blog]
November 2022: Best practices for digital tool inclusiveness and farmer co-creation
Presentations can be found here
The header photo was taken by JP Sinohin (IRRI, 2013) and shows Joan Villoria, an agricultural extension agent, and farmer Angel Bautista using the Rice Crop Manager in Los Banos, Philippines.
This content was originally published on the Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT Website
For more information, please contact Sadie Shelton, Communications Officer, ATDT, University of Vermont and The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.
The Agroecological Transitions for Building Resilient, Inclusive, Agricultural and Food Systems (TRANSITIONS) Program is funded by the European Union through its DeSIRA initiative and managed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The TRANSITIONS Inclusive Digital Tools (ATDT) project aims to support the use of digital resources and citizen science to empower farmers to co-create, adapt, and innovate practices for climate-resilient and low-emission agroecological outcomes at large scales. Find a list of ATDT outputs here. The contents and opinions expressed in this publication are not peer reviewed and are the sole responsibility of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, IFAD or affiliated organizations.
