Methodological challenges in assessing the viability of agroecological practices: lessons from a multi-case study in Africa

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cg.contributor.affiliationUniversité de Montpellieren
cg.contributor.affiliationCIRADen
cg.contributor.affiliationINRAEen
cg.contributor.affiliationCNRSen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversité Paul Valéryen
cg.contributor.affiliationWorld Agroforestry Centreen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Water Management Instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationStatistics for Sustainable Developmenten
cg.contributor.crpForests, Trees and Agroforestry
cg.contributor.donorCIRADen
cg.contributor.donorSustainable Development Department of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Afairsen
cg.contributor.donorGovernment of Franceen
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.creator.identifierWolde Mekuria: 0000-0001-5252-4795
cg.creator.identifierRichard Coe: 0000-0002-9240-1463
cg.creator.identifierCatherine Dembele: 0000-0002-9094-8529
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-025-01010-9en
cg.identifier.iwmilibraryH053692
cg.identifier.projectIWMI - D-0458
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn1773-0155en
cg.issue2en
cg.journalAgronomy for Sustainable Developmenten
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.volume45en
dc.contributor.authorAndrieu, N.en
dc.contributor.authorDedieu, B.en
dc.contributor.authorGirard, P.en
dc.contributor.authorScopel, E.en
dc.contributor.authorMagaju, C.en
dc.contributor.authorDembele, C.en
dc.contributor.authorMekuria, Woldeen
dc.contributor.authorCoe, R.en
dc.date.accessioned2025-03-20T04:39:14Zen
dc.date.available2025-03-20T04:39:14Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/173736
dc.titleMethodological challenges in assessing the viability of agroecological practices: lessons from a multi-case study in Africaen
dcterms.abstractDespite a growing literature highlighting the benefits of agroecology in Africa, policy makers, donors, and scientists are still debating the “viability” of agroecological practices. However, assessing the viability of agroecological practices poses challenges, and so far, no studies have clearly documented them and options for addressing them. The aim of this paper is to describe the main methodological challenges we faced in assessing the viability of agroecology in 11 case studies in Africa so that others planning assessments can benefit from what we learned. Seven methodological challenges discussed are (i) defining an object of study through a list of practices or agroecological principles, (ii) having a practice-based assessment versus a systemic assessment at field or farm scales, (iii) having a subjective assessment of the viability of agroecological practices based on farmers’ perspective or an “objective” assessment, (iv) having a qualitative or quantitative assessment, (v) having a diachronic versus synchronic assessment, (vi) having a multisite approach versus a single-site study, and (vii) having a context-specific assessment method or a unitary assessment method. We conclude that the assessment of the viability of agroecological practices needs to be multicriteria, systemic, and based on farmers’ perspectives and not practice-based using a single simple metric. This is a change from the conventional way such systems are evaluated based on quantitative metrics. We recommend using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative assessments that highlight farmers’ perceptions of practices embedded into their farming systems, using transversal and context-specific data.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.available2025-03-12
dcterms.bibliographicCitationAndrieu, N.; Dedieu, B.; Girard, P.; Scopel, E.; Magaju, C.; Dembele, C.; Mekuria, Wolde; Coe, R. 2025. Methodological challenges in assessing the viability of agroecological practices: lessons from a multi-case study in Africa. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 45(2):15. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-025-01010-9]en
dcterms.extent15.en
dcterms.issued2025-04
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherSpringeren
dcterms.subjectagroecologyen
dcterms.subjectassessmenten
dcterms.subjectviabilityen
dcterms.subjectfarming systemsen
dcterms.subjectfarmersen
dcterms.subjectcase studiesen
dcterms.subjectmethodologyen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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