Resilient and productive landscapes

In sustainable agri-food systems, food should not be produced at the expense of the environment and climate. This means that agriculture-based economies must shift rapidly from degradation to regeneration and trajectories of inclusive, sustainable, resilient food systems. This will require transformations not only at the individual farm, enterprise, and supply chain but also holistically at a landscape scale to restore and sustain ecosystem integrity, boost agricultural productivity and sustainable rural development, and increase the climate resilience of our food systems.

The Resilient and Productive Landscapes approach applies a food systems lens. It offers a market-based approach for the agri-food sector to address the problems of smallholders, suppliers, processing companies, retailers, and traders. We increase the efficiency of agriculture and livestock supply chains, improve food safety and reduce food and animal losses while expanding business opportunities. We adopt a landscape approach to balance competing land use goals, achieve synergies across multiple sectors, and develop an adequate response to changing climate.

How we achieve our goals

To address these challenges, our work involves four key components that are mutually reinforcing:

• Sustainable intensification and regenerative agriculture: this component increases crop yields while using fewer inputs (fertilisers, seeds, pesticides, energy, water) therefore improving food safety and crop diversification without adverse environmental or social impacts and expanding land use. SNV works with local institutions, private and public extension services, and farmer organisations to promote sustainable intensification and regenerative agriculture.

• Sustainable pastoralism and climate-positive livestock and dairy: this component integrates agro-pastoral systems and climate-positive livestock production by supporting smallholder farmers to halt land encroachment on pastures and grassland degradation while at the same time increasing the sustainability and productivity of existing silvopastoral production systems, reducing animal loss and damages to the field, and securing pastoral mobility.

• Climate adaptation services for small-scale farmers: this component offers climate adaptation services to build the resilience of small-scale producers and pastoralists in the face of climate change. SNV promotes inclusive dialogue to identify and prioritise digital climate-smart approaches, supports agricultural innovations to address climate change, and builds the capacity of target users and complementary farmer’s service providers (e.g., financing, input supply, market access, insurance) to participate and engage in the uptake and scaling of best practices in climate adaptation services.

• Integrated management and food landscapes restoration: this component promotes sustainable resource management and ecosystem restoration to provide substantial, wide-reaching, long-term benefits. Integrated landscape management seeks to protect, sustainably manage, increase climate resilience, and restore natural and modified ecosystems important for production and human health. SNV takes measures to improve landscape governance, and reduce gender disparities, particularly related to access and control over land and water resources.

Connecting the dots: the interconnectivity of SNV's agri-food approaches

Transforming food systems requires addressing multiple interconnected aspects simultaneously and cannot be achieved through a single approach alone.

Promoting sustainable intensification and regenerative agriculture practices supports the production of healthy crops and animals. It ensures nutritious food availability and dietary diversity through improved climate resilience, crop diversification, productivity, and reduced food loss. The approach also aims to create inclusive market systems by promoting the adoption of sustainable technologies and practices by agribusinesses and entrepreneurs including innovative climate adaptation services and nature-based solutions which can generate new green jobs for youth.