Boost-AE, a platform to speed up the agroecological transition

 Multiple solutions tailored to context that make effective use of local resources and are based on a broad range of knowledge... these are some of the characteristics of agroecology, but their very variety can make them difficult for most producers to implement. To remedy this, the Boost-AE platform was recently set up, instigated by CIRAD. It centres on inventorying and sharing knowledge, and is primarily intended to serve as a multi-partner forum. Its steering committee also includes AFD, IRD, INRAE, FAO and GTAE (Agrisud International, AVSF, CARI and GRET).

Bringing together players, and relational mapping

Boost-AE is backed by an interactive, collaborative website that allows public- and private-sector players in the agroecological transition to make themselves known. They can present their skills and fields of action, and find future partners.
Relational mapping is used to visualize and understand who is doing what, where and since when. "This is really useful for targeting the right players quickly for any new cooperation or development projects in a given geographical zone", says Éric Scopel, agronomist and co-leader of a key thematic field for CIRAD: "Agroecological transitions".

Building on knowledge

A document base, which is also collaborative, contains the outputs of scientific or development projects and many other resources: reports, books, practical guides, videos, etc. Boost-AE's advantage is its powerful search engine, which can scan that core content to provide relevant results for a vast range of searches. Éric Scopel hopes that "Boost-AE will be capable of providing a “photo” of the possibilities offered by a technique or agroecological approach, and of their impact depending on the local context".

Advocating for agroecology

While agroecology is attracting growing interest in the political and institutional sphere, some countries are still banking on conventional agricultural intensification. Éric Scopel is willing to bet that "the resources compiled by Boost-AE will give local players in the agroecological transition the arguments they need to steadily make things happen".