The Agroecological Transitions Programme for Building Resilient and Inclusive Agricultural & Food Systems
Introduction
In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), agricultural investment remains a priority for economic development. Sustainability is a key challenge in LMICs, as many of the current agricultural practices reduce soil fertility and greatly depend on external inputs. Agroecological approaches are increasingly recognized as a means to improve sustainable development of food systems, ensuring the regenerative use of natural resources and ecosystem services, while also addressing the need for more socially equitable decision-making.
Climate-informed agroecological transitions require a multi-faceted support to farmers, enabling them to shift to more sustainable agriculture production systems that increase food security while minimizing negative ecological and human impacts.
Yet, supporting farmers to make the transition to agroecology globally has been constrained by a lack of:
Metrics to holistically assess agroecology and guide outcome-based policy and investment
Tools, including digital tools, that provide technical support and performance assessments for practitioners.
Incentives and investments to support innovative pathways and traceable private-public sector models for agroecology
In addition, current guidance to agroecology has not integrated climate change adaptation and mitigation practices.
Aim
TRANSITIONS aims to enable climate-informed agroecological transitions by farmers at significant scales in LMICs through the development and adoption of 3 parallel workstreams:
For each of its 3 objectives, Transitions has a dedicated project work stream. These include the following:
1. Holistic METRICS
The Metrics workstream is designed to support agroecological transitions through the development and adoption of holistic metrics and assessments for food and agricultural systems performance. To accelerate the transition towards agroecological approaches, several critical questions need to be addressed, including: how to measure agricultural performance in ways that allow equitable comparison; how to ensure shifts towards agroecology are sustainable and equitable; what roles the public and private sectors should play in such a transition; and what kinds of tools and resources will best support widespread and systemic change.
Mary Crossland (CIFOR-ICRAF): @M.Crossland@cifor-icraf.org
2. Inclusive Digital Tools (ATDT)
Digital resources in agriculture are changing the way food is produced and have the potential to transform agriculture at large scales. Yet, digital tools are not widely used by smallholders, women, the rural poor and other marginalized groups in low- and middle- income counties (LMICs). The ATDT workstream will evaluate how farmers benefit from using improved digital tools and their potential to generate large-scale impacts for climate-informed agroecology. It 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.
Lini Wollenberg (The Alliance Bioversity and CIAT, University of Vermont)
3. Private Sector Incentives and Investments (PSII)
The Private Sector Incentives and Investments (PSii) workstream contributes to the broader TRANSITIONS program objectives and aims at the development of inclusive incentive structures for private sector and private-public stakeholders, as well as leveraging investments supporting agroecological transitions at multiple levels. It will fill persistent knowledge gaps on the role of private and public sector incentives and investments in supporting agroecological transitions for farmers in low- and middle -income countries.
Evidence on multidimensional performance from a cross-country TAPE assessment in Africa. Adoyo, B., et al (2025) Agroecology is increasingly recognized as a pathway for transforming agrifood systems and advancing progress toward the SDGs. Yet, large-scale, cross-context evidence on its multidimensional performance as framed holistically by the FAO’s 10 Elements remains limited. To address this, the…
Results of the test of a Prototype method in four use situations in France and in Senegal. Presented by Maryline Darmaun at the Agroecology Science Days, Lausanne 2025
Experts convene to shape Ethiopia’s National Agroecology Strategy, by Eyob Getahun Read the event article on a five-day writeshop organized in August 2025 by the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), in collaboration with CIFOR-ICRAF, and the Alliance of Biodiversity International and CIAT, to collect expert inputs on the proposed Ethiopia national agroecology strategy.
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By Edith Anyango, Beatrice Adoyo, Anne Kuria Overview of a three-day in-person workshop to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for the NAS-FST. Organized on behalf of the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) and facilitated through the Intersectoral Forum on Agroecology and Agrobiodiversity (ISFAA)
By Daniel Kweitsu Event overview of a four-day hybrid Agroecology co-learning workshop in Kenya organized by the Regional Multi-Actor Research Network (RMRN) Project, funded by the European Commission with technical support from the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The workshop, co-organised with the Agroecology TPP, brought together researchers, partners, and stakeholders from across Africa to strengthen capacity…
Hosted on 8 February 2024, the ‘Transitions for our future’ Webinar shared key highlights and progress to date from the Agroecological Transitions Programme for Building Resilient and Inclusive Agricultural and Food Systems (TRANSITIONS).
Crossland M, Coe R, Lamanna C, Chiputwa B, Orero L, Adoyo B, Kumar S, Mwangi VM, Anyango E, Fuchs LE, Kuria A and Geck M (2025) Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 9:1472109. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1472109
This infographics displays the complex relationships between the 3 Projects of the TRANSITIONS Program, all working in synergy to advance agroecological transitions. The 3 domains of work are: holistic metrics, digital tools and public and private incentives and investments.
Khung tổng hợp cho người dùng chỉ số. Báo Cáo Kỹ Thuật Số 7 (Vietnamese translation of Working paper 4). Lamanna, C.; Coe, R.; Crossland, M.; Fuchs, L.E.; Barahona, C.; Chiputwa, B.; Orero, L.; Adoyo, B.; Geck, M.
Méta-cadre à l’attention des utilisateurs d’indicateurs et de mesures. Document de Travail 6 (traducion en français du Document de Travail 4), par Lamanna, C.; Coe, R.; Crossland, M.; Fuchs, L.E.; Barahona, C.; Chiputwa, B.; Orero, L.; Adoyo, B.; Geck, M.
Un metamarco para usuarios de parámetros. Documento de Trabajo 5 (traducción española del Documento de Trabajo 4). Lamanna, C.; Coe, R.; Crossland, M.; Fuchs, L.E.; Barahona, C.; Chiputwa, B.; Orero, L.; Adoyo, B.; Geck, M.
A meta‑framework for metrics users. Lamanna C, Coe R, Crossland M, Fuchs LE, Barahona C, Chiputwa B, Orero L, Adoyo B, Geck M. 2024. Working Paper 4. Bogor, Indonesia and Nairobi, Kenya: CIFOR-ICRAF: The Transformative Partnership Platform on Agroecology.
A presentation on the results of the use of a co-designed assessment method in four use situations in France and in Senegal by Maryline Darmaun at the 1st Mediterranean Agroecology Congress (AEMED 2025) in Sicily, Italy
Presentation by Trang Vu, International Rice Research Institute, at the “Increasing farmer’s digital agency for agroecology” webinar on 8 May 2025, an event of the Transformative Partnership Platform (TPP) for Agroecology and Agroecological TRANSITIONS Project (ATDT).
Presentation by Violaine Laurens, Solidaridad Latin America, at the “Increasing farmer’s digital agency for agroecology” webinar on 8 May 2025, an event of the Transformative Partnership Platform (TPP) for Agroecology and Agroecological TRANSITIONS Project (ATDT).
Fostering responsible co-development of digital technical advisory tools. Inclusive Digital Tools Project of Agroecological TRANSITIONS, at the “Increasing farmer’s digital agency for agroecology” webinar on 8 May 2025, an event of the Transformative Partnership Platform (TPP) for Agroecology and Agroecological TRANSITIONS Project (ATDT).
A new national strategy aims to put agroecology at the heart of Ethiopia’s fight against soil degradation and food insecurity. Report of the ministerial meeting on Forest News by Eyob Getahun
Mockshell, J., Omulo, G., Asante-Addo, C., Ritter, T. N., Quintero, M., & Remans, R. (2025) This study employed a systematic review approach, focusing on Peruvian cacao sector, to explore incentives promoting agroecological practices and their sustainability outcomes
Ogutu S, Mockshell J, Minh T, Remans R (2025) Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, a scoping review of 120 articles was conducted to understand the incentives applied for promoting agroecological practices, whether and how the incentives promote the adoption of agroecological practices, and their relationship…
This video was produced in the framework of the TRANSITIONS-PSii project activities in Vietnam in collaboration with the local project partner, the private sector company An Dinh. This is a technical and business training for farmer suppliers to An Dinh company.
Produced and broadcasted with the VTC16 channel, this video news on multiple Agroecological Transition pathways for the rice sector in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta Region was developed in the framework of the TRANSITIONS-PSii project activities and published in December 2024 in Vietnamese
Exploring agroecological practices and investment opportunities in Doyogena, Ethiopia. Mosquera, L.E.; Blanco, M.; Balcha, Y.; Mockshell, J.; Ritter, T. (2025) This report is part of the PSii project and provides an in-depth analysis of three cooperative business models in four wheat clusters, as well as of agroecological practices in Ethiopia
Blanco, M.; Mosquera, L.E.; De Los Rios, R.; Crisostomo, D.; Díaz, C.; Ritter, T.; Ivanova, Y.; Mockshell, J.; Sanchez, J.C. (2025) This report provides an in-depth analysis of three cooperative business models in four wheat clusters, as well as of agroecological practices in Ethiopia
Presentation on Measuring agroecological transition – tools, methods and experiences at the East Africa Agroecology Conference (EAAEC) 2025 Side-event on 26 March 2025. By Matthias Geck
Impact story for DeSIRA Book by Jonathan Mockshell, Thea Ritter, José Sánchez-Choy, Degefie Tibebe This story drives conclusions from the use of incentives in two different countries – Ethiopia and Peru – in which the TRANSITIONS PSii project leverages collaboration with the private sector to scale agroecology innovations.
Mockshell, J.; Degefie, D.T.; Balcha, Y.; Ngige, C.M.; Abdulbari, I.M.; Ritter, T.; Ogutu, S.O. (2025) A case study of how the PSii sustainability project provided bundled agroecological solutions, including faba bean and wheat crop rotation to enhance nitrogen fixation and biodiversity in Doyogena Ethiopia.
From the 14-16 of January 2025, 76 participants coming from 17 countries in Asia-Pacific gathered in Hanoi, Vietnam to share and critically reflect on the major achievements of the EU-funded DeSIRA initiative in the region in support of agrifood system transformation and agroecology transition. Read all the daily summaries of the DeSIRA Connect Days 2025…
PowerPoint presentation as a contribution to the panel on innovation policies and policy innovation at the DeSIRA Connect Days, Vietnam 2025. By Fergus Sinclair
Ng’ang’a SK, Ogutu SO, Tibebe D, Akinyi D and Mockshell J (2025) This research evaluates the profitability and risk of adopting agroecological practices among wheat farmers in Ethiopia.
This study conducts a meticulous exploration of cacao business models and agroecological transitions in Ucayali, Peru. It provides a deep dive into the operational intricacies of cacao producers. Blanco, M.; Mosquera, L.E.; Crisostomo, D.; Díaz Casana, C.; Ritter, T.; Mockshell, J. (2024)
Mejorando la salud del suelo con Bocashi en la Transición Agroecológica Ucayali. Blanco Garcia, M.A.; Araujo De Lima, S.; Mosquera Escobar, L.E.; Varon Molina, A.P.; Marulanda Duran, L.A.; Mockshell, J. (2024) ENG Version
De Los Ríos Dantas AR; Saavedra Barria T; Guillén Guevara J. (2024) This report is the result of the assessment of the capacity building needs of agri-food system actors to enable AE transitions in the private sector.
Ex-ante insights from the Peruvian cocoa supply chain. Jonathan Steinke, Yovita Ivanova, Sarah K. Jones, Thai Minh, Andrea Sánchez, José Sánchez-Choy, Jonathan Mockshell (2024) Through a grounded theory approach, this study explores the potential of digital traceability for sustainability monitoring in a case study in the Ucayali region of Peru.
A cross-continental assessment of landscape approaches. Estrada-Carmona et al., 2024 A study of 380 Landscape approaches (LA) from three continents via questionnaires with landscape managers (2012–2015 and 2021) and the identification of three LA types through cluster analysis
A consultative workshop on developing the National agroecology strategy. By Yodit Balcha, Degefie Tibebe, Zenebe Adimassu, Jonathan Mockshell and Endalkachew Wolde-Meskel
Understanding factors enabling the adoption of diversified farming systems. Andrea Cecilia Sánchez Bogado, Natalia Estrada-Carmona, Damien Beillouin, Cecile Chéron-Bessou, Bruno Rapidel, Sarah K. Jones (2024) This study presents a comprehensive global meta-analysis of 154 peer-reviewed studies analysing factors influencing adoption
Mosquera, L.; Blanco, M.; Abensur, G.I.; Araujo De Lima, S.; Mockshell, J. (2024) Manual para la elaboración de Bocashi elaborado en el marco del proyecto PSii para las transiciones agroecológicas, para el capacitamiento de los agricultores de las cooperativas de cacao sobre abonos orgánicos
This video – produced by the PSii project (Agroecological TRANSITIONS) in Ethiopia – explores the critical role of crop diversity in enhancing soil health, detailing the benefits of diverse cropping systems such as improved soil structure, nutrient cycling, and beneficial microbial activity.
Collaborative training for agroecological transition The “Co-Creation with FarMoRe: Collaborative Training for Agroecological Transition” curriculum is designed to empower rice farmers, agricultural field agents, and cooperatives in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta by integrating agroecological practices with innovative digital tools. Tran, N.B.; Dittmer, K.M.; Cuong, O.Q.; Trang, V.H.; Nelson, K. (2024)
Blum, H.; Tibebe, D.; Mockshell, J.; Bergamini, N. (2024) This study aims to map the AMSP landscape, examine their operational activities, and provide recommendations for strengthening private- and public-sector engagement to support long-term agricultural sustainability in Ethiopia
Tran, D.T.; Thai, T.M.; Dubois, M.; Blum, H.; Mockshell, J. (2024) This study aims to map the AMSP landscape, examine their operational activities, and provide recommendations for strengthening private- and public-sector engagement to support long-term agricultural sustainability in Vietnam.
A cross-continental assessment of landscape approaches This dataset describes 380 landscape approaches across three continents characterized with the same questionnaire. The data comes from three regional assessments Latin America and the Caribbean. Estrada-Carmona, Natalia, Hart, Abigail K.; Zanzanaini, Camilla, 2024
Presentation at the CGIAR Webinar on Advancing Agrobiodiversity: Metrics, Innovations, and Perspectives for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems on 18 September, 2024. By Mary Crossland.
Presentation showcasing the results from the systematic review of holistic assessments and the Metrics project and Agroecology TPP more broadly (4 October 2024), by Mary Crossland
Metrics, Innovations and Perspectives for sustainable agri-food systems (18 September 2024). Presented work under the Metrics domain of the Agroecology TPP, including the metrics project, by Matthias Geck
On 10 September 2024, the Agroecological TRANSITIONS program held a webinar to present their experience integrating digital resources and agroecology and explore how digital innovations can empower smallholder farmers and drive sustainable agroecological farming practices globally.
Expertos comparten avances sobre indicadores, herramientas digitales, incentivos e inversiones en apoyo de la agroecología. Blog escrito por Monica Evans
Dittmer, K.M.; Burns, S.; Shelton, S.; Wollenberg, E. (2024) This guide addresses concerns with the current digitalization of food systems by providing principles for developing socially inclusive digital tools with smallholder farmers.
Leveraging Private Sector Incentives to Drive Agroecological Wheat Production. By Yodit Balcha, Degefie Tibebe, Mohammed Ebrahim, Viviane Filippi and Jonathan Mockshell
Barnard, J., Cuong, O. Q., Nguyen K. D., Vu, H.T., Nelson, K.M., 2023 This report summarizes findings from the project “Agroecological transitions for building resilient and inclusive agricultural and food systems (TRANSITIONS)”
el camino hacia la agroecología Blog by Elizabeth further Ramirez to fieldwork performed in November 2023 during co-learning events and Agroecological Roadshow (14-15 Nov. 2023). ENG Version
This blog explores how Peruvian cacao farmers naturally integrate agroecological principles into their production, shedding light on the path towards resilient food systems. By: Diego Crisostomo, Maria Blanco, Leslie E. Mosquera, Thea Ritter, and Jonathan Mockshell
This study aims at mapping the AMSP landscape, examining operational activities, and providing recommendations for strengthening greater private and public sectors engagement to support long-term sustainability in Peru. Blum, H.; Mockshell, J.; Ivanova, Y.; Bergamini, N.; Remans, R. (2023)
A global meta-analysis (tropentag.de) Poster presented by Andrea Sanchez at the annual interdisciplinary conference on research in tropical and subtropical agriculture, natural resource management and rural development (Tropentag) on 22 September 2023 during the session “Social dynamics of food systems transformation”
A closer look at Peruvian cocoa Policy Brief produced by Component 2 team of Psii project. Steinke, J.; Ivanova, Y.; Jones, S.; Minh, T.T.; Sanchez Bogado, A.C.; Sanchez Choy Sanchez, J.G.; Mockshell, J. (2023)
A review of incentives for adoption of agroecological practices and outcomes. This scoping review examines incentive mechanisms in agroecology practice adoption and outcomes using a general survey of the literature and a specific case study of incentives in wheat value chains in Ethiopia. Mockshell, J.; Ogutu, S.; Alvarez, D.; Nielsen, T.; Steinke, J.; Remans, R.;…
Barnard, J.; Cuong, O.Q.: Vu, H.T.: Nelson, K.M. (2023) This report summarizes findings from a study on digital tool use among rice farmers in Vietnam for
Heissler, G.H.; Lazzari, H.E.; Barbosa de Souza, P.; Costa, A.C.; Silveira, R.F.; Dittmer, K.M.; Ciniro Costa, J. (2023) This document contains a review of digital resources relevant to climate-informed agroecological transitions for the beef cattle sector in Brazil.
Barnard, J., Vu, H.T. and Nelson, K. (2022) This report summarizes findings from the review of digital resources for climate-informed agroecological transitions in rice in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
Dittmer, K.M.; Burns, S.; Shelton, S.; Wollenberg, E. (2022) .This guide seeks to address concerns with the current digitalization of food systems with a set of principles to instruct development and implementation of socially inclusive digital tools with smallholder farmers.
Burns, S.; Dittmer, K.M.; Shelton, S.; Wollenberg, E. (2022) This report summarizes a global review of digital resources relevant to climate change-informed agroecological transitions. The goal of the review was to identify exemplary features of digital tools for socially inclusive and climate-informed agroecological transitions.
Freixêdas, V.M.; Moraes, F.C.; Costa, C. Jr.; Suber, M.; Dittmer, K.M. (2022) This brief presents results of a stakeholder consultation carried out in October and November 2022 with the objective of understanding key areas, principles and priority actions to guide the development of inclusive digital resources for smallholder cattle ranchers in Brazil.
In this informal expert workshop, the TRANSITIONS Inclusive Digital Tools (ATDT) project reviewed and received feedback from stakeholders and experts on proposed guidance for smallholder farmer’s inclusion and co-creation of farm practices for agroecology and climate change action
Barnard, J.; Vu, H.T.; Nelson, K.M. (2022) To provide a platform for dialogue among the stakeholders on the challenges of reaching Vietnamese smallholder farmers with digital tools, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) organized a webinar titled ‘Improving Rice Sustainability through Digital Tools’
In the webinar, Farmer co-design of climate change solutions, researchers highlighted examples of digital resources that could enable farmers to co-design practices and support more bottom-up approaches to climate change mitigation and agroecology. More on the webinar
Challenges and opportunities for using digital tools to scale agroecology by smallholders Shelton, S.W.; Gehan, C.; Wollenberg, E.; Costa Jr, C.; Burns, S.; Rowland, B. (2022)
Brazil baseline assessment in the region of Novo Repartimento (Pará State, Brazil). Costa Jr., C.; Suber, M.; Dittmer, K.; Miccolis, A.; Terra, M.; Oliveira, D.; Lima, P.; Laurens, V. (2022) This report presents a study on major livestock practices, the use of digital tools, and the flow of information that have been carried out among…
Nelson, K.M.; Barnard, J.; Vu, H.T. (2022) This brief summarizes findings of the project “Agroecological transitions for building resilient and inclusive agricultural and food systems” (Transitions)
Dittmer, K.M.; Shelton, S.W.; Burns, S.; Wollenberg, E. (2022) This database contains a sample of global digital resources relevant to climate-informed agroecological transitions. Its purpose was to catalog relevant digital resources and assess their role in inclusive knowledge development, with special attention to farmers’ co-creation of knowledge for on-the-ground practices.
How can innovations in digital agriculture ensure inclusion and equity for all actors in the value chain? Side Event of FAO Science and Innovation Forum 2022, organised by #DigitAg and CGIAR, held on 13 October 2022.
On 20 October 2022, the Agroecology TPP together with Alliance Bioversity International – CIAT, CIFOR-ICRAF, and the Gund Institute – University of Vermont, held a webinar on ‘Driving the Agroecological Transition’, which marked the launch of the four-year CGIAR’s Agroecological Transitions research programme.
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