Improving the integration of agroecological transition in projects: AFD presents its position paper

On Tuesday 11 July 2023 in Paris, AFD presented its position paper "For a better integration of the agroecological transition in projects" to a group of stakeholders from various backgrounds: research, civil society from the North and South, French and European public institutions. The paper reinforces the work Agrisud has been doing in Southern countries for 30 years.

Agroecology at the heart of AFD Group's strategy

AFD's "committed" positioning is in line with its new sector intervention strategy "Agriculture, Rural Development and Biodiversity" (in French) published in September 2022. 

The Group strongly supports the agroecological transition, considering that agroecological production systems combine the economic, social, environmental and health performances needed to combat, among other things, food insecurity and climate change.
The positioning paper (in French) aims to establish a common language for dialogue with partners and to better characterize projects in order to measure AFD's contribution to agroecological transitions, with a view to accountability.

AFD thus presented its new tool for assessing the contribution to agroecological transition of each project supported by AFD Group, which takes into account actions carried out at the level of agrosystems and structural changes at the level of agricultural and food systems, and their combinations, making it possible to identify a typology, ranging from "precursor" projects to "transformer" projects, via "initiator" or "catalyst" projects.

Despite the achievements of agroecology, there is a growing need to produce references to ensure a real transition to scale. 

AFD's assertive position has reinforced Agrisud's action in Southern countries for 30 years, with 85,567 family farms. The results obtained in 28 countries are convincing in terms of productivity, viability, market integration and positive impact on the territories.

Agroecology is a technically and economically ethical agricultural model for farms. It allows a control of the expenses, an increase of the production - contrary to certain received ideas - and of the incomes. It is a model whose results are long-term through better management of resources and improvement - among other things - of soil quality and biodiversity.

AFD's position paper (in French) in favor of long-term support for agroecological transitions, based on a pragmatic vision of an innovative, efficient agroecology that strongly contributes to the achievement of the main Development Goals Sustainability (SDG) is even more important as few similar institutions have produced an equivalent document. The outlook on agroecology is unfortunately still too often negative, including among many public institutions and donors. It is seen as sympathetic, marginal, even ineffective at best, and often associated with a return to the past.

It is therefore essential to work on the production and dissemination of references, presented in an intelligible way for a non-specialist public to demonstrate to political and financial decision-makers that it is a productive, sustainable and resilient mode in relation to crises. Three defining characteristics for the times to come.

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TO FIND OUT MORE about Agrisud and agroecology: "Agroecology in practice" guide