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_US
cg.contributor.affiliationCIRADen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationINRAEen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationCNRSen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversité Paul Valéryen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationWorld Agroforestry Centreen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Water Management Instituteen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationStatistics for Sustainable Developmenten_US
cg.contributor.crpForests, Trees and Agroforestryen_US
cg.contributor.donorCIRADen_US
cg.contributor.donorSustainable Development Department of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Afairsen_US
cg.contributor.donorGovernment of Franceen_US
cg.coverage.regionAfricaen_US
cg.creator.identifierWolde Mekuria: 0000-0001-5252-4795en_US
cg.creator.identifierRichard Coe: 0000-0002-9240-1463en_US
cg.creator.identifierCatherine Dembele: 0000-0002-9094-8529en_US
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-025-01010-9en_US
cg.identifier.iwmilibraryH053692en_US
cg.identifier.projectIWMI - D-0458en_US
cg.isijournalISI Journalen_US
cg.issn1773-0155en_US
cg.issue2en_US
cg.journalAgronomy for Sustainable Developmenten_US
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen_US
cg.volume45en_US
dc.contributor.authorAndrieu, N.en_US
dc.contributor.authorDedieu, B.en_US
dc.contributor.authorGirard, P.en_US
dc.contributor.authorScopel, E.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMagaju, C.en_US
dc.contributor.authorDembele, C.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMekuria, Woldeen_US
dc.contributor.authorCoe, R.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2025-03-20T04:39:14Zen_US
dc.date.available2025-03-20T04:39:14Zen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/173736en_US
dc.titleMethodological challenges in assessing the viability of agroecological practices: lessons from a multi-case study in Africaen_US
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_US
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen_US
dcterms.available2025-03-12en_US
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_US
dcterms.extent15.en_US
dcterms.issued2025-04en_US
dcterms.languageenen_US
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0en_US
dcterms.publisherSpringeren_US
dcterms.subjectagroecologyen_US
dcterms.subjectassessmenten_US
dcterms.subjectviabilityen_US
dcterms.subjectfarming systemsen_US
dcterms.subjectfarmersen_US
dcterms.subjectcase studiesen_US
dcterms.subjectmethodologyen_US
dcterms.typeJournal Articleen_US

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