According to Costa et al, “Brazil was the first country in the world to implement a National Policy for Agroecology and Organic Production”. It is therefore worthy of notice that the Policy has been widely implemented in the country, succeeding as a good example of a multi-sectoral public policy, despite the challenges it still faces. Furthermore, PNAPO has served as inspiration for Brazilian States (such as Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Goiás, São Paulo and Amazonas), the Federal District and Municipalities to elaborate their own state and municipal policies, following the guidelines of the National Policy and adapting them to their own realities and necessities. Hence PNAPO is likely suitable to be transferred to other situations.

The National Policy (PNAPO) has been implemented in Brazil since 2012, aiming at fostering sustainable agricultural practices and healthy food consumption habits; empowering family farmers, traditional communities, women and youth; and promoting sustainable rural development through specific programs and financing for smallholder farming. It is a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder interdisciplinary policy on a federal level, whose initiatives have been implemented throughout the five Brazilian regions, with verifiable results.

Some programmes and initiatives currently included in the flagship of PNAPO already existed before its creation. Nonetheless, with the establishment of the policy and the creation of CNAPO, those programmes have been strategically articulated and integrated into PNAPO’s general objectives and working plan, guaranteeing more participative planning, implementation and monitoring processes.

One of the PNAPO’s main instruments is the National Plan for Agroecology and Organic Production (PLANAPO), which must always include at least the following elements: overview/diagnosis, strategies and goals, programmes, projects, actions, indicators, deadlines and a management structure (Article 5 of Federal Decree 7,794).

Conservation Agreements (CAs) are binding grant contracts created and agreed upon by specific communities and the ECF. CAs set out clear, attainable and realistic conservation objectives and determine the scope of conservation measures to be implemented within communities that demonstrate the have the organization, motivation and commitment to follow 10-year habitat management plans. Conservation objectives are determined by the ECF and the local community using expert and local knowledge. Each agreement is tailored to the identified needs in the target community and the local landscape. These contracts bind communities to protect ecosystems but also assist traditional land users to use the land in a sustainable way. 

The communities that sign Conservation Agreements have been selected to do so because they show initiative, community involvement and potential through the FPA process and establishment of a CBO. In order to ensure the sustainability of the projects, the compliance of Conservation Agreements is monitored. Each community must submit annual technical reports. In case they fail to perform the planned activities, the payments under the agreement may be suspended until they meet the requirements, or subsequently terminated if they don’t comply for more than a year.

To effectively carry out conservation measures, projects require dedicated, skilled and trained people in the field and the community. The establishment of a local ranger program called “Caretakers” was identified by ECF as an important step in ensuring conservation objectives were enforced in the field and understood in the village. Caretakers are local people with knowledge and understanding of their local environment, the ability to communicate with locals and visitors, and self-motivated to protect nature. They are identified through the FPA process and later employed by CBOs. They are trained in conservation methods, equipped with communication equipment, uniforms and sometimes means of transport but do not have the legal rights of (governmental) protected area staff or forest rangers. They may inform and educate people, and report infringements to the relevant authorities. Caretakers assist with the monitoring of biodiversity, educate/raise awareness and perform CA management tasks. They are responsible for data collection, ongoing wildlife monitoring and the submission of progress reports to the ECF. Caretakers are a key point of contact (trusted and respected) in the community, and act as an example of the socio-economic benefits of nature conservation. 

In order to develop good quality fruit yields and to enable the association of fruit growing with vegetable or fodder production in the long-run, optimal fruit tree formation is vital. From the beginning of their lifecycle, fruit trees should be formed by pruning, binding up and spreading branches. For building up stable and light-flooded trees, skeleton and fruit branches should be clearly differentiated. In the later stages of its lifecycle, maintenance pruning is used to remove superfluous fruit branches, shoots and deadwood. This allows sunlight to penetrate the inward of the tree, offering the conditions to produce bigger fruits that taste better. When fruit trees become very high and quality of fruit decline, they can be rejuvenated through rehabilitation pruning. Adequate pruning also can prevent pests and diseases, as is ensures that the trees are not too dense, and wind can pass through. The surface of leaves will consequently dry quickly after rain or dewfall and consequently spores of diseases as powdery mildew will not germinate.

The main aim of IPM is to reduce the infestation of any pest below the threshold of damage. Purchasing chemical pesticides is often too expensive for subsistence farmers. Nevertheless, some form of pest control is still vital, since a serious infestation can lead to a total loss of harvest. In this regard, the project promotes applying IPM, which requires permanent monitoring of the fields’ phytosanitary status, so that adequate measures are taken timely. For ensuring a resilient orchard in the first place, phytosanitary measures and biological pest control should be applied.  Phytosanitary measures imply using certified seedlings, free from pests and diseases. Adequate pruning is important, for removing branches infested by die-back, and for prevention of diseases like mildew, as the leaves dry soon after rainfall or dew. During a pest outbreak, homemade insecticides can be prepared by mixing spices (chilli, garlic, onion, etc.) or toxic plants (walnut, tobacco, etc.) with soap, alcohol or oil. They can be applied for controlling insects, like aphids, thrips, and mites. Another measure for controlling pests consists of providing sources of fodder and hideouts for their natural enemies.

Vegetables or fodder crops can be planted between rows of fruit trees facilitating income from the orchard from the very beginning when fruit trees have not yet entered production. Associating fruit trees with vegetables or fodder crops is especially important in Tajikistan as farmer families have only little irrigated land and thus have to use it intensively. Vegetables can be used for subsistence or sold at market, whilst fodder crops as alfalfa and sainfoin can be planted for producing hay. Other advantages of cultivating fodder plants are that these create habitats and feed pollinators and beneficial insects. Most of the species flower after fruit trees have already blossomed, thereby extending the fodder supply for pollinators and improving conditions for beekeeping. Moreover, fodder plants protect the soil from erosion.

It is cheaper to establish a traditional or semi-intensive orchard with local varieties than an intensive one based on imported seedlings since locally produced plants are cheaper and fewer plants/ha (approximately 500-600 vs 2,600-3,125) are required.

Furthermore, a semi-intensive orchard system based on local varieties allows for better vegetable growing and fodder planting between the trees. This outweighs the disadvantage that orchards established with local varieties and grafted on local rootstocks enter production later than intensive ones (5-6 years vs 2-4 years).

Traditional varieties of fruit trees are normally better adapted to local climate conditions and are more resistant or tolerant to pests and diseases. That implies economic benefits as costs for applying pesticides are reduced considerably, production levels are stable, and less irrigation water is needed.

In addition, local varieties bear fruits much longer (30-50 years vs. 10-12 years). It is recommended to involve specialists and consult with local nurseries before beginning reproduction of fruit trees seedlings since grafting requires some experience. Local nurseries can establish collections of varieties for cutting scions and hand them over to interested fruit growers.

One and a half billion people live in fragile, conflict-affected areas. As food and nutrition insecurity become increasingly concentrated in such areas, Kauswagan is a unique example that shows how is possible to solve an on-going conflict by tackling underlying socioeconomic and political issues. The decades-long war between the forces of the government and groups like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) left a huge part of Mindanao in poverty.

Other municipalities and regions in the Philippines are now very interested in Kauswagan’s approach and they visit the municipality to study how it managed to break the links between food insecurity and conflict and build a resilient economy, based on agroecological practices and organic farming.

The From Arms to Farms programme received a number of awards, including an international recognition in 2016, when it won the first edition of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) Peace Prize. On that occasion, regional authorities from Guatemala, Colombia and Brazil all expressed interest in replicating Kauswagan’s experience.

Over the last decade, the development of Organic Action Plans (OAPs) has gained momentum as a mechanism for achieving a more integrated approach to organic policy-making at the European level. However, the effectiveness and continuity of OAPs can vary significantly from country to country. Denmark is a leading example and a source of inspiration worldwide, both in the scope and innovative approach of its organic policy. Beyond its holistic set of measures, a highly transferable aspect is definitely also the intensive policy development process that especially saw the involvement of all stakeholders, including NGOs. Denmark is exemplary by strengthening the principles of organic farming and further incorporating them into everyday farming practices.