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Co-Innovation

GA supports Co-Innovation among successful Agroecology and Agroforestry approaches that integrate positive impact with economic success, for example APCNF that already grew to 1.8 million farmers. 

 

Facilitating Co-Innovation between Leading Agroecology and Agroforestry Methods

In Africa, Asia and Latin America, Global Academy partners with some of the world’s most innovative Agroecological and Agroforestry approaches that integrate regeneration with economic outperformance for farmers and foresters. These approaches include India’s Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming (APCNF), Brasil’s SAF, SAF Dende and Native, Kenya’s PELUM , Tanzania’s SAT (Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania) and Egypt’s SEKEM that collectively support over 2 million farmers who outperform conventional farming in regard to regeneration and financial success. Learn more here.

 

Their co-innovations integrate science and practice-based principles and adaptation to specific local contexts. While Agroecology and Agroforestry greatly benefit from traditional cultivation approaches, the millions of farmers using these evolving methods demonstrate that ongoing innovation is just as important in Agroecology and Agroforestry as it is for any other human endeavor. With GA’s support, practitioners of these approaches learn from each other and make their best practices available in Africa, Asia and Latin America to local farmers who combine it with their own best practices.

 

Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming (APCNF), is an example of how such a new mainstream can be achieved by systematic innovation. APCNF founders learned from some of the world’s most successful practices and integrated them into an systemic approach. APCNF’s researchers, its 12,000 farmer coaches and its 1.8 million participating farmers are a living innovation lab that continues to improve how best to cultivate in India’s diverse contexts. By 2030, it is expected that APCNF will be used by over 50% of all farmers in Andhra Pradesh, making it de facto the new mainstream of this state with 50 million inhabitants.

 

APCNF and other successful approaches are typically not made available to farmers in other parts of the world in ways that they can successfully implement them. Webinars, class room learning and short term advice have proven limited in their capacity to successfully support innovation and implementation of fundamentally new methods. 

 

Together with NOW Partners Foundation and local farmers and other stakeholders, GA is co-creating GA Hubs for Co-Innovation, Capacity Building and Implementation. Here successful farmers that have been trained to become farmer-coaches, support local farmers for many months on the field to develop cultivation approaches that best fit them and their specific land and ecosystems. In countries like Zambia and Sri Lanka this integration of international best practices and local cultivation approaches has already led to locally adapted innovation that significantly outperforms the results farmers generated before with conventional and organic practices.

NFG Zambia
NFG Sri Lanka

Adapting Agroecology Benefits to Local Contexts

Key aspects of this innovation are how to strengthen the soil’s microbiology and biodiversity, which regenerates the soil and increases its water holding capacity. This also significantly increases the size and strength of the root system, which in turn strengthens resilience to droughts, foods and storms. Related innovations for bio-inputs and bio-stimulants. 


Combined with appropriate mechanization and technology agroecological cultivation becomes much more productive and profitable and less work intensive, making it more attractive for younger generations who have been leaving the land because of its hard life and limited economic opportunities. Income can be further enhanced by capacity building for entrepreneurship, value addition and market access, which GA Hubs also offer. This supports access to value chains of food systems and other industries such as healthcare, cosmetics and apparel as well as public procurement markets for healthy and regenerative school meals.

 
 

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