Fostering agro-ecological transitions in the humid tropics of Central and Eastern Africa through "living laboratories" - CANALLS

Description

Eight ALLs (Agroecology Living Labs) are being set up initially in Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, working alongside more than 20,000 farmers and stakeholders in the value chains. The aim is to enable all these stakeholders to co-create and benefit from optimal combinations of agroecological practices based on crops that are vital for subsistence and economic development (cocoa, coffee, manioc, rice and maize). In parallel, the project engages in strong multi-stakeholder collaboration with rural communities, advisory services and governments to develop a holistic evaluation framework and assess the socio-economic and environmental performance of the co-created practices (taking into account trade-offs and synergies).

The evidence generated is used to build capacity and share knowledge (practice summaries, replication guidelines, policy recommendations) as well as to provide equitable, inclusive and sustainable business models and services and tools to facilitate market access and improve demand for agroecological products.

The vision of the project is to create an expanding network of ALLs that takes advantage of European Union-African Union cooperation to conduct transdisciplinary research, offer scientific support and take coordinated action with the aim of providing holistic solutions that help create favourable conditions for agro-ecological transitions.

The expected outcomes of the CANALLS project are as follows:

• living agroecology laboratories engaging multi-stakeholder communities in transdisciplinary research are established to identify and co-create the conditions and tools to support agroecological transitions;
• practical tools are co-developed to identify combinations of agroecological practices adapted to the humid tropics of Africa, and to monitor and measure their socio-economic and environmental performance;
• services and marketing tools are co-designed to increase demand for agro-ecological food products, and to develop fair proposals and economic models to ensure financial viability and facilitate market access;
• agroecological strategies adapted to the humid tropics of Africa are co-created, tested and evaluated, addressing the complex socio-economic and environmental challenges of food systems, in line with policy priorities;
• the adoption of agroecological practices is supported and strengthened, taking advantage of knowledge exchange, policy dialogues and coordination with key networks for the dissemination, exploitation and replication of these practices.

Video presentation of the project