The United Nations predicts that we need to increase food production globally by 70 percent to feed 9.6 billion people by 2050. But at the same time, given the climate crisis, we need to significantly reduce the use of energy, water, and land needed to produce food and lower its carbon footprint. In other words, we must figure out how to produce and distribute more food using fewer resources and emissions. We must learn to do farming better with less.
Food security is a critical challenge – the World Bank includes it among the eight global challenges to be addressed at scale in 2024. Climate shocks, economic instability and geopolitics have significantly impacted crop yields and food supply chains.
India's smallholding farmers face significant challenges. They struggle with erratic weather and the impacts of climate change, pest infestations, and declining yields. Financially constrained, many are trapped by high-interest loans from local lenders. Post-harvest, issues such as crop wastage, logistics, and market access can add their troubles, with up to 40 percent of produce lost. Market fluctuations and the inability to meet quality standards further exacerbate their struggles.
Chile es un país líder en la exportación de alimentos, en donde la apicultura juega un rol fundamental y cuenta con más de 1 300 000 colmenas para apoyar la producción de alimentos a través de la polinización. Las buenas prácticas deben ser abordadas de generación en generación de apicultores para favorecer el mantenimiento de colmenas sanas y activas para la presentación de servicios sistémicos de polinización.
Chile is a leading country in food exports, where beekeeping plays a fundamental role with more than 1 300 000 hives supporting food production through pollination. Good practices must be addressed from generation to generation of beekeepers to promote the healthy and active hives for the provision of systemic pollination services.
Water is scarce and pivotal for the Sahel, not only for increasing the productivity for millions of small-scale farmers but also for countering loss of arable land resulting from erosion and warming temperatures. A major barrier to the use of water in the Sahel is the lack of infrastructure and technologies – 45 percent of the population do not have access to water, and only 2 percent of arable land is irrigated (OECD, 2022).
There are many ways to help bring good ideas to life. Nesta works to uncover, develop and test, new ways of supporting innovation from across sectors and around the world. These techniques, tools and processes are collectively known as innovation methods.
Featured in this compendium are just some of the innovation methods we have explored over the last decade. Some, like seed accelerator programmes, we have invested in and studied. Others, like challenge prizes, standards of evidence or public sector labs, we have developed and helped to spread around the world.
This collection of posters from the TAP-AIS project illustrates key achievements of the project towards strengthening national agricultural innovation systems (AIS) in Africa (Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal), Latin America (Colombia), Asia and the Pacific (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Pakistan). For each of these nine countries, and for their respective regions, the posters provide: i) thematic focus and context; ii) constraints in the AIS; iii) capacity development interventions; iv) outcomes; v) the way forward.
Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) and short organic supply chains have emerged as promising solutions for smallholder farmers to provide organic produce to nearby consumers. PGS is an institutional innovation that builds trust among producers, traders and consumers through a low-cost transparent and participatory certification mechanism. They have particularly gained a foothold among smallholder farmers in middle- income countries, where third-party certification costs are often unaffordable.
Holding a vision of Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), and with a target of net-zero carbon emission by 2070, India plans to usher in a green industrial and economic transition through a movement with an environmentally conscious lifestyle. One of the credible options for a continuous, predictable, accessible and cost-free green energy source is solar power. In the agricultural sector, one of the key innovations in promoting solar irrigation was the initiation of the world's first ever Solar Cooperative - Dhundi Solar Energy Producers' Cooperative Society (DSEPCS) - in Gujarat, India.