A Cornell-led project is helping smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa engage in sustainable and equitable agricultural development through an innovative curriculum that literally puts farmers center stage.
A Cornell-led project is helping smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa engage in sustainable and equitable agricultural development through an innovative curriculum that literally puts farmers center stage.
Exploring the connections between agroecology (applying ecological principles to sustainable farming), nutrition, social equity and climate change, the curriculum is shared with the farmers through dramatic performances, experiential learning and small group discussions.
“I’ve been working in Malawi for about 20 years, doing collaborative participatory research with a local nonprofit organization run by farmers,” said Rachel Bezner Kerr, associate professor of development sociology and the project’s principal investigator. “Through various workshops and interviews and discussions, we saw there was a real gap in knowledge around the science of climate change and how it might connect to farming and other practices.”
Bezner Kerr teamed up with: Laurie Drinkwater, professor of horticulture; David Wolfe, professor of plant and soil ecology; and Sera Young, now an assistant professor of anthropology and global health at Northwestern University. Supported by an Academic Venture Fund grant from the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, the team developed an interactive curriculum to address links between agroecology, nutrition, issues of gender and other social inequalities, and climate change adaptation.
Read more at Cornell University
Image: Farmers participate in curriculum testing in Tanzania. (Credit: Marianne Santoso/Provided)
