Agroecology to fight world hunger

Published on 24 Aug. 2020, Updated on 8 Sep. 2026

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Definition
Practices
Examples
Agro-industry

What is agroecology?

Hunger is on the rise for the fifth year in a row. According to the 2026 Report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI), it currently affects 645 million people all over the world. Its causes are multiple: conflicts, economic and social inequalities, and the climate crisis.

Agroecology to fight world hunger and climate change

The consequences of climate change are increasingly visible and threaten more and more people every day. Climate phenomena such as droughts, torrential rain, floods and storms are getting worse and accentuating the dangers already faced by the most vulnerable populations, which Action Against Hunger assists.

In light of these successive crises, our initial emergency response is to detect, treat and prevent malnutrition, by ensuring access to food, water and health care while securing livelihoods in the countries where we work. In parallel, we offer solutions to boost the resilience of local populations and production systems. For example, within the framework of our food security and livelihoods work, one of the solutions we promote is the development and strengthening of agroecology and small-scale agriculture in the countries where we operate.

To fight hunger and provide responses to climate change, Action Against Hunger promotes agroecological development for the most vulnerable populations in the areas where it operates and advocates for it among governments, so that small-scale agroecology may be supported by public policies and development partners.

Definition of agroecology

What is agroecology?

Agroecology is defined as a scientific discipline, a set of agricultural and food practices, and a social movement. (FAO)

As a scientific discipline, agroecology is the application of ecology to the study, design and management of sustainable agricultural and food systems.
As a set of agricultural practices, agroecology consists of techniques and ways to improve agricultural systems by imitating biological processes and using natural solutions, thus creating beneficial biological interactions between the constituent parts of the agroecosystem.

In terms of its social dimension, agroecology is a major driver of social development and social cohesion (exchange between producers, consumers and all other parties involved in food systems; reduction of social inequalities within communities; mutual learning and sharing among producers, etc.).

As an overall approach, agroecology involves all spheres of social organisation – food security, nutrition and health and the environment – and fights climate change, as well as fostering economic and social development.

Organic farming, permaculture or agroecology? What is the difference between agroecology and organic farming?

Organic farming is a type of agriculture mainly characterised by an absence of chemical inputs on farms. It is a form of agriculture that prioritises respect for living things and natural cycles through production that is friendly both to the environment and to animal welfare. The organic production method fulfils certain clear-cut specifications. Organic farming is a component of agroecology.

As well as refraining from using pesticides, as called for by organic farming, agroecology seeks to integrate other parameters, such as the economic, social and environmental dimensions of farming.

Permaculture is an agricultural production model that aims to preserve the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is characterised by a harmonious integration of human activities and ecosystems with a view to producing food and energy, building housing and fulfilling people’s material and intangible needs sustainably. Permaculture is a similar concept to agroecology, but different in that it has remained relatively isolated from scientific research, while agroecology is a scientific discipline.

What are the goals of agroecology?

Agroecology is based on an integrated, sustainable agricultural development approach that brings together agriculture’s economic performance, environmental sustainability and social dimension.

It aims to mobilise and optimise interactions between plants, animals, humans and the environment while considering the social aspects that need to be taken into account in order to ensure that the agricultural and food system is sustainable and fair.

Cameroun agroecologie action contre la faim — © Christophe Da Silva pour Action contre la Faim

What are the main principles of agroecology?

Agroecology is based on ten foundations set out by the FAO and illustrated in the diagram below:¹

According to the FAO, the ten key elements of agroecology are as follows:

Diversity: Diversification is essential to the agroecology transition, as it improves food security and nutrition while preserving, protecting and valuing natural resources.
Synergies: Creating synergies improves the essential functions within food systems, as it contributes towards production and multiple ecosystemic services.
Recycling: Recycling reduces the economic and environmental costs of agricultural production.
Human and social values: Protecting and improving rural livelihoods, equity and social well-being is crucial in any sustainable food or agricultural system.
Responsible governance: Sustainable food and agriculture systems require responsible, efficient governance mechanisms at different levels (local, national and global).
Resilience: Resilience among people, communities and ecosystems is key in order to ensure sustainable food and agricultural systems.
Efficiency: Innovative agroecological practices help to produce more using fewer external resources.
Co-creation and knowledge exchange: Agricultural innovations are more equipped to solve local problems when they are thought up jointly within participatory processes.
Food culture and traditions: By encouraging a healthy, diversified, culturally adapted diet, agroecology promotes food security and nutrition while preserving the health of ecosystems.
Circular and solidarity economy: The circular and solidarity economy reconnects producers and consumers, and provides innovative solutions for living within the limits of our planet while establishing the social foundations of inclusive, sustainable development.

With these 10 elements of agroecology as a starting point, the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) has proposed 13 principles of agroecology,² which complement these elements by taking soil and animal health into account. They also provide clarification on the diversity component, by distinguishing between biodiversity and economic diversification.

Recycling: Preferentially use local renewable resources and close as far as possible resource cycles of nutrients and biomass.
Input Reduction: Reduce or eliminate dependency on purchased inputs, especially synthetic inputs, which are to be replaced by organic inputs and ecological management methods.
Soil Health: Secure and enhance soil health and functioning for improved plant growth, particularly by managing organic matter and enhancing soil biological activity.
Animal Health: Ensure animal health and welfare.
Biodiversity: Maintain and enhance diversity of species, functional diversity and genetic resources and thereby maintain overall agroecosystem biodiversity in time and space at field, farm and landscape scales.
Synergy: Enhance positive ecological interaction, synergy, integration and complementarity among the elements of agroecosystems (animals, crops, trees, soil and water).
Economic diversification: Diversify on-farm incomes by ensuring that small-scale farmers have greater financial independence and value addition opportunities while enabling them to respond to demand from consumers.
Co-creation of knowledge: Enhance co-creation and horizontal sharing of knowledge including local and scientific innovation, especially through exchange between farmers, researchers and experts.
Social values and diets: Build food systems based on culture, identity, tradition, and social and gender equity that provide healthy, diversified, seasonally and culturally appropriate diets.
Fairness: Support dignified and robust livelihoods for all actors engaged in food systems, especially small-scale food producers, based on fair trade, fair employment and fair treatment of intellectual property rights.
Connectivity: Ensure proximity and confidence between producers and consumers through promotion of fair and short distribution networks and by re-embedding food systems into local economies.
Land and natural resource Governance: Strengthen institutional arrangements to improve, including the recognition and support of family farmers, smallholders and peasant food producers as sustainable managers of natural and genetic resources. Institutional structures and policy measures to be strengthened for governance of land and natural resources side by side with farmers.
Participation: Encourage social organisation and greater participation in decision-making by food producers and consumers and strengthen forms of social organisation at different levels of the food system to support decentralised governance and local adaptive management of agricultural and food systems.

Agroecology invites us to rethink our agricultural production and food systems by focusing on agriculture’s economic, environmental and social performance.

Agroecology and food security

Several parties and organisations involved in agriculture – agronomists, experts, NGOs, producers, consumers, etc. – are in agreement that agroecology can sustainably provide responses to global food insecurity.

There is a solid theoretical basis and empirical data that show that results of agroecological systems in all four dimensions of food security (availability, access, use, stability) are just as good as or even better than those of conventional alternatives.³ Agroecology therefore contributes greatly to solving the problem of world hunger sustainably, by providing alternative, local solutions to food insecurity, particularly in regions of the world where households’ food security depends exclusively on their own production.

It is important to note at this point that world hunger is not solely linked to issues of crop yield and food availability. Beyond the yields valued by conventional agriculture, agroecology provides solutions to the other limitations of industrial agriculture, such as the creation of inequalities affecting the most vulnerable populations’ access to food, worsening poverty and malnutrition across the world and the deterioration of the environment, especially in regions where these challenges constitute profound causes of hunger and act as an obstacle to its eradication. This is particularly the case in various countries where Action Against Hunger carries out its agricultural initiatives.

In ‘Agroecology is the Solution to World Hunger’ published in the Scientific America journal,⁴ Raj Patel states that ending hunger requires more than producing more food; the power hierarchies that govern global food systems must also be tackled.

For example, he mentions that in the last decade, global food production has generally exceeded demand, but due to global and regional social inequalities, levels of hunger in the world have remained high. This supports the argument that world hunger persists because populations are deprived of food not because of its scarcity, but because they do not have the power to access it.

What are agroecological practices?

Mixed farming and diversification of agricultural production

One of the agricultural practices prioritised by agroecology is the integration of agriculture and livestock farming, or mixed farming. Mixed farming is a set of practices that involve responsible production resource management and recycling of natural resources through the creation of beneficial synergies between plant and animal production, such as the use of outputs from the plant production system as inputs for the animal production system. For example, some crops and crop residue can be used as fodder for animals, while the outputs and residues from livestock farming can serve as organic fertilisers for plant production.

Crop diversification is therefore one of the pillars of agroecology.

On top of that, it is important to consider the financial flows in both directions, especially for small-scale farmers: revenue from the sale of crops can be used to buy more animals, while the sale of animals can be invested into crop production.

Agroecological practices such as intercropping, crop rotation and agroforestry bring about a host of advantages. Unlike monoculture systems, which damage soil fertility and reduce biodiversity, intercropping and crop rotation are beneficial in several ways. They contribute across the board to promoting various agroecology principles, especially in connection to soil fertility, soil water retention capacity, improvement of biodiversity, phytosanitary pressure management and the fight against climate change. Globally, they foster beneficial biological interactions and synergies among different crops, trees, the soil, animals and the environment.

Sustainable management of natural resources and biodiversity

One of the key goals of agroecology is to use natural resources in a sensible, optimised way. This involves better soil health management, optimised use of agricultural water, and sustainable biodiversity management and preservation. It therefore plays a key role in preserving the phreatic zone.

Agroecology is a way of tackling the problem of dwindling natural resources, thus contributing to the preservation of our environment. Further, it offers a certain number of benefits to the ecosystem, including the protection of wildlife habitats, greater plant diversity, preservation of genetic diversity and optimised management of agricultural water resources.

It also protects the environment by fertilising the soil naturally, regenerating soil and fighting against desertification.

Recycling on the farm is another pillar of agroecology, as it helps to reduce the financial, social and environmental costs of farming.

Promotion of exchanges and development on a local scale

Human and social values are an essential part of agroecology. Protecting and improving rural populations’ livelihoods, while ensuring equity and social well-being, are crucial in any sustainable food or agricultural system. Agroecology can therefore be a major driver of development in rural areas and strengthen social cohesion.

On an economic level, agroecology practices represent potential employment opportunities in rural areas, as agroecology work can diversify income, put a stop to the rural exodus and kickstart economic development in these areas.

The circular and solidarity economy fostered by agroecology could re-establish the relationship between producers and consumers. Short supply chains make consumers less vulnerable to fluctuations in the price of food on the market because they provide nutritious, high-quality foods made locally. This strengthens local food systems.

For example, agroecological farms create social cohesion in their area and even help to improve a region’s economic fabric, by creating jobs directly or indirectly and promoting small, local businesses.

Improving small-scale family farms’ autonomy and resilience

Agroecology allows small-scale farmers to become more autonomous and self-sufficient in terms of agricultural inputs. Indeed, agroecology encourages recycling and usage of all the resources the field has to offer, rather than using external chemical inputs that tend to be costly. Ultimately, this strengthens farming households’ buying power, autonomy and resilience.

Resilience among people, communities and ecosystems is key in order to ensure sustainable food and agricultural systems. Agroecology provides local solutions – adapted to the local context and climate – to the issues of food security, nutrition and climate change.

A new science, but ancient expertise

Agroecological practices are based on traditional expertise and scientific foundations. Agroecology is a science of ecosystems that values knowledge of the land and local farmers’ expertise.

Agricultural research into agroecology seeks to bring efficient farming techniques up to date by validating them through scientific study; this way, traditional farming expertise can combine with scientific knowledge.

Agricultural innovations are more equipped to solve local problems when they are thought up jointly within participatory processes.

RDC Kasai — © Christophe Da Silva pour Action contre la Faim

rca confluences — © Barbara Debout pour Action contre la Faim

kenya 2022 — © Peter Caton pour Action contre la Faim

protection sociale — © R'Santatr' Andria pour Action contre la Faim

Small-scale and family farming: the first victim of climate change

With the intensification of climate phenomena, already vulnerable populations are more exposed than ever to food insecurity. The effects of climate change on hunger are undeniable: desertification, crop flooding, food shortages, crop loss, emergence of pests and plant diseases… all of which force millions of people into displacement to survive.

Farmers and small producers in developing countries are the first to suffer the consequences of climate change. Apart from their livelihood, farmers also lose their ability to feed everyone else.

In fact, on a global scale, family farms account for 80% of all food production.⁵ Thanks to their diversified production, smallholders contribute significantly to global food security. Therefore, an agroecological transition seems essential in order to provide them with solutions both to adapt to climate change and to reduce its impact.

Promoting agroecology in the countries where we operate

Agroecology is at the heart of our strategy for agricultural interventions. This strategy seeks to improve populations’ resilience to food crises as well as preventing malnutrition during and after emergency interventions. The four main goals established as part of this strategy are as follows:

To ensure agricultural recovery after acute crises
To improve the resilience of smallholders and agriculture, livestock farming and forestry systems
To promote access to diversified food consumption
To advocate for family agriculture

This strategy has been made operational through the development and implementation of agricultural projects focusing on agroecology in several countries where Action Against Hunger works.

Training and practices for Iraq’s agriculture to adapt to the water crisis

In southern Iraq, farmers are facing an unprecedented water crisis linked to the drop in river flow, soil salinisation and climate change. These conditions make it increasingly difficult to grow crops and render rural communities’ livelihoods even more fragile.

To respond to this challenge, Action Against Hunger is supporting farmers in their adoption of adapted agroecological practices, including better water management and more resilient agricultural techniques. These approaches help to maintain production while preserving natural resources in a context of water scarcity.

Action Against Hunger helps to restore rural populations’ livelihoods on a sustainable basis by encouraging more environmentally friendly agriculture.

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Agroecology as a driver of equality for women in Kenya

In Kenya, Action Against Hunger supports agroecological practices that contribute towards both improving agricultural production and strengthening women’s autonomy. Often on the front line of agricultural activity, these women undergo training and gain greater access to resources.

Thanks to these initiatives, women farmers can diversify their crops, improve their diet and generate income. Agroecology thus proves to be a driver of both environmental and social change, encouraging more sustainable agriculture and better equality within rural communities.

These actions seek to improve local production and increase access to a diverse diet, which is essential in the fight against malnutrition.

Better crop resilience in Zambia thanks to adapted seeds

In western Zambia, Action Against Hunger helps farmers to adopt more resistant crops, like some varieties of beans suited to the local conditions. These crops, which are more robust to climate events, can improve both food security and families’ incomes.
Through a combination of appropriate seed selection, sustainable agricultural practices and technical support, communities’ resilience to climate shocks is strengthened.

These agroecological approaches ensure sustainable production while securing livelihoods.

Small-scale agroecology has agronomic, economic, social and political facets. It offers solutions to a great number of the challenges faced by our food systems (inequalities, climate crisis, nutrition and health) and provides alternatives to the dominant industrial food systems. All over the world, we promote agroecology in order to help to limit the effects of the climate crisis and to make the populations we support more resilient to these effects, thus ensuring their long-term food security.

In this sense, agroecology constitutes a real alternative to the current agro-industrial model.

Blowing the whistle on industrial agriculture

Currently, global agriculture is at a crossroads between two agricultural models, and agricultural systems belong to one or the other or both, with a combination of techniques and approaches.

The first is industrial agriculture. This model is generally characterised by widespread use of synthetic inputs (fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides), reliance on private investments, a high degree of specialisation based on monoculture, long global production chains and highly competitive markets.

Those that support this model argue that it is the best one for solving the problem of food insecurity and malnutrition across the world. Though it is the dominant model, it is increasingly being questioned and highlighted by numerous publications, which are drawing the international community’s attention to its indirect health, social and environmental consequences and its negative impacts on food security and nutrition worldwide.

As well as entailing a concentration of power among a small number of entities to the detriment of the majority of small-scale farmers, these agricultural systems exacerbate the climate crisis as they emit a lot of greenhouse gases.

Industrial agriculture and increasing consumption of meat are directly criticised by the last IPCC reports. Industrial agricultural practices, use of pesticides and chemical inputs, and even monocultures contribute to increased greenhouse gas emissions and to soil depletion and degradation. Soil is considered a vast carbon sink that can store CO₂ from the atmosphere. Degradation reduces soil’s storage capacity, thus exacerbating climate change.

According to the FAO, industrial agriculture and livestock farming make up 1/5 of total greenhouse gas emissions, most of which comes from turning forests into agricultural land and from animal and plant production.

Given the consequences of industrial agriculture, the international community is calling more and more for a transition to sustainable agricultural and food models.

The agricultural development model most able to provide this transition is agroecology. Indeed, the agroecological model has emerged as an alternative to conventional agriculture, offering sustainable agricultural development that adopts a development approach centred around valuing natural resources (soil, water, biodiversity) and managing them sustainably, in a way based on existing farming knowledge that makes the most of local capacities.

This model is particularly suitable for most smallholders, especially in regions where families’ food security largely depends on their production.

France must mobilise and (really) promote agroecology to accelerate the transition.

For ten years now, France has been one of few countries to present themselves as champions of agroecology and the climate. With the ‘success’ of COP21 in Paris in 2016 and the slogan ‘Make Our Planet Great Again’ used by President Emmanuel Macron in 2017 following the decision made by Donald Trump’s USA to leave the Paris Climate Accords, France has emerged as a leading country in terms of climate issues.

Though France may be an ‘agroecology champion’ on paper, French funding tells another story: only 13.3% of agricultural funding is actually allocated to the agroecological transition, and even less is spent on ‘transformative’ agroecology (~9%) according to the NGO OXFAM France.

Worse yet is the fact that France devotes at least twice as much funding to agro-industry, a highly mechanised, intensive agricultural model based on widespread use of chemical inputs.

In the Action Against Hunger report ‘Une Pincée d’agroécologie pour une louche d’agro–industrie’ (A pinch of agroecology for a ladleful of agro-industry), CCFD and Oxfam point to France’s hypocrisy and the incoherence of its international agricultural and climate policy.

Agroecology offers a comprehensive response to the challenges of food security, nutrition and the climate crisis. It prioritises local, environmentally friendly production through minimised product transformation and the use of farming expertise. Agroecology also contributes to reducing the effects of climate change, as it involves storing carbon in the soil and maintaining biodiversity.

France must support agroecology, especially through financial support. There are a number of projects in effect on a local level, but they must be expanded to become national and international projects.

Action Against Hunger is committed to supporting and promoting agroecology in the areas where it operates.

In our eyes, there is no question that our food systems must be transformed to make them more sustainable and fairer and to feed the world population a healthy diet. Small-scale agroecology must be at the heart of this agricultural transformation and recognised as a sustainable, effective agricultural development model.

As well as promoting agroecology, Action Against Hunger recognises that the adoption of the agroecological model must be accompanied by support measures to minimise smallholders’ vulnerability during the transition phase.

Because of this, Action Against Hunger offers the necessary support to ensure effective change, through the creation of partnerships with local and/or international organisations working on agroecology.

In addition, for agroecology to have the space needed for its development, Action Against Hunger calls for it to be promoted through advocacy based on evidence and arguments that highlight its benefits and potential.

These advocacy efforts are intended to influence public policy–makers and donors so that family farms and agroecology are included as a key part of national food security and nutritional policies and strategies.

For this reason, agroecology requires assistance and decisive action from politicians in order to accelerate food systems’ agroecological transition.