Blog Digital Solutions to Accelerate the Transition towards Agroecological Livestock Systems in the Amazon Basin
Focusing on livestock farmers in the Brazilian region of ‘Transamazônica Pará’, the Solidaridad network as developed a new digital tool called Solis to disseminate information and promote the exchange of experiences.
By: Jéssica Gaise from Solidaridad Network
In March 2023, The 'Solidaridad Network' joined the ‘Inclusive Digital Tools’ project (ATDT) – a CGIAR project led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. The initiative encourages the development of digital tools to facilitate farmers’ adoption of agroecological practices, which in turn promote social inclusion, climate change mitigation, and resilience building.
The Solidaridad Network has over a decade of experience in developing digital solutions for technical assistance and rural extension services for farming families in the Amazon, encouraging them to adopt practices that increase productivity and resilience – valuable experience that Solidaridad is bringing to this partnership with the Alliance and other ATDT stakeholders.
“We carried out a review of the main organizations that work in the Amazon with small-scale livestock farmers and realized that Solidaridad is the organization that has the best infrastructure and technical capacity to carry out this type of work. This combination is unique among institutions working on the topic in Brazil”, explains Ciniro Costa Jr., Climate and Food Systems Specialist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.
Ciniro Costa Jr
ScientistThis project focuses on improving Solis, one of the digital tools that Solidaridad has been developing for rural producers. Solis is designed for families to follow tasks to be carried out for land improvement, as well as facilitating communication with extension technicians.
To be inclusive and effective, solutions aimed at sustainable livestock farming need to consider the reality of farming families. Photo: Solidaridad Network
Another function of the digital tool is to generate information on agroecological practices in different formats, based on agricultural knowledge that is culturally sensitive, socially fair, economically viable and that preserves natural resources. Furthermore, Solis allows users to share content, enabling the exchange of experiences.
For the app to be aligned with the needs of the local community, six co-creation workshops were held in June 2023 in the municipalities of Pacajá and Novo Repartimento. With the facilitation of the Conectividades consultancy, the meetings brought together more than 80 extension technicians, producers of different ages and profiles, and IT developers, sharing inputs for the development of Solis: the communication channels that producers use to inform themselves, the way they contact technicians and the agroecological practices they believe to be most effective. For greater representation, women and young people actively participated in the process.
“With good public participation thanks to our consolidated presence in the region, the workshops not only reflected the project’s participatory process, but also allowed producers, developers and extension technicians to discuss and bring their ideas and needs to the project: access to information and sharing of knowledge among peers”, reports Denis Oliveira, Manager of the Digital Solutions Unit at Solidaridad.
During the six workshops, several producers had the chance to talk about their challenges and needs. Photo: Solidaridad Network
Check out more news about Solidaridad’s work in digital solutions and livestock farming:
- Paths of Change: Study highlights the experiences and lessons learned from the sugarcane program
- Solidaridad, Agrifirm and the Embassy of the Netherlands unite in favor of sustainable agriculture in the Amazon (Portuguese)
- Digital solutions enable partnership with Raízen in the production of sustainable sugarcane (Portuguese)
- Occupying the spaces of an ATER for family farming (Portuguese, English report)
- Study reveals the sustainable potential of small livestock farmers in the Amazon (Portuguese)
