Cobenefits of agroforestry systems for family farming - a participatory construction with the COPRIR and COOPAFASB cooperatives and a group of agroforesters from the Sepé Tiaraju settlement.

• Grant number: 24/16662-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Industrial Design
• Principal Investigator: Denise Dantas
• Grantee: Suzana Marques Rodrigues Alvares
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/11969-4 - Designing for Biodiversity: Codesign as a participatory tool for establishing/consolidating agroforestry systems in the State of São Paulo., AP.BTA.R

Abstract

This research proposal is part of the project "Designing for Biodiversity: Codesign as a participatory tool for establishing/consolidating agroforestry systems in the State of São Paulo", approved and funded by the Biota/Fapesp-2023 Programme. This is a broad and interdisciplinary project involving public authorities, researchers and farmers in creating a communication strategy to establish an identity for Agroforestry Systems (AFS) products that reflects their value for biodiversity, promoting their appreciation and efficient commercialization. Agricultural production is currently facing a number of challenges, including climate change and the depletion of natural resources, and one multifunctional approach is agroforestry systems (AFS). However, the challenges of maintaining and scaling up of AFS production are significant, particularly in generating information on their socio-environmental and economic impacts. To address this, the co-benefits approach can be used to measure the socio-environmental gains of AFS and to express farmers' multiple perspectives, thereby supporting the co-construction of endogenous strategies to communicate these co-benefits to producers and consumers. In this project, using co-design process tools with family farmers from three communities in the state of São Paulo who practice AFS, we propose the participatory construction os a protocol for identifying and monitoring the socio-environmental co-benefits of agroforestry systems (AFS) that can be directly applied by farmers through an easy-to-use digital design solution.