This review of the agroecology debate in South Africa is part of the research project Transitions to Agroecological Food Systems: a case for policy support (TAFS) launched in 2020. TAFS is a multi-country project coordinated by the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), with five partnership research platforms in three continents: ISA (Information pour la Sécurité Alimentaire), PP&G-GovInn (Public Policies and Governance), and SPAD (Systèmes de Production d’Altitude et Durabilité à Madagascar) in Africa; Malica (Markets and Agriculture Linkages for Cities) in South-East Asia; and PP-AL (Red Políticas Publicas and Desarrollo Rural) in Latin America.
TAFS collaborates with the Transformative Partnership Platform on agroecology (TPP) initiated by France and the CGIAR (Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centres) where it contributes to the policy component. The project is implemented in nine countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, Madagascar and South Africa; Laos and Vietnam; Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia. In South Africa, TAFS’ partner is the DSI (Department of Science and Innovation)-NRF (National Research Foundation) Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS). The project is coordinated by Julian May (CoE-FS, University of the Western Cape) and Bruno Losch (CoE-FS, University of the Western Cape, and CIRAD).
The first stage of the project is implemented in collaboration with the Southern Africa Food Lab (SAFL) with the contribution of Scott Drimie and Stephen Greenberg. This report on The state of the debate on agroecology in South Africa was drafted by Stephen Greenberg and Scott Drimie. The authors acknowledge the contributions of Bruno Losch and Julian May on earlier drafts, and Raymond Auerbach (South African Organic Sector Organisation – SAOSO, Nelson Mandela University) for his review and comments. They also thank the contributions of those who participated in the NetMap sessions facilitated by Luke Metelerkamp.
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