CANALLS

CANALLS aims to drive agroecological transitions in the humid tropics of Central and Eastern Africa via multi-actor transdisciplinary Agroecology Living Labs (ALLs). Eight ALLs will be set up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Cameroon and Rwanda, working alongside and enabling over 20,000 farmers and value chain actors to co-create and benefit from optimal combinations of agroecological practices focusing on crops that are vital for subsistence and economic development (cocoa, coffee, cassava, rice, maize). CANALLS’s vision is to create a growing network of ALLs that leverages EU-AU cooperation to conduct transdisciplinary research, offer scientific support and drive coordinated actions for delivering holistic solutions that help shape enabling conditions for agroecological transitions.

The main objectives of the CANALLS project are:

• Establish ALLs engaging multi-actor stakeholder communities in transdisciplinary research to identify and co-create the conditions and tools to support agroecological transitions
• Co-develop practical tools to identify combinations of agroecological practices tailored to the humid tropics of Africa as well as to monitor and measure their socio-economic and environmental performance
• Co-design services and marketing tools to enhance demand for agroecological food products as well as fair value propositions and business models to ensure financial viability and facilitate access to markets
• Co-create, test and evaluate agroecological strategies suitable for the humid tropics of Africa, tackling complex socio-economic and environmental challenges of food systems in line with policy priorities
• Support and build capacity for the adoption of agroecological practices, leveraging knowledge exchange, policy dialogues and coordination with key networks for dissemination, exploitation and replication

The consortium of CANALLS led by CIRAD consists of 16 partners and 2 associated partners across African and European countries.