A/HRC/16/49 Figure 2 25000 Number of farmers 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Y e a rs Number of farmers using the push-pull system in western Kenya (1997–2009)65 36. This report focuses on the vertical dimension of scaling up agroecology, namely, the establishment of an enabling framework – although this is both a condition and a driver of horizontal scaling up. Governments have a key role to play in this regard, beyond supporting access to land, water and seeds for small-scale farmers.66 This section identifies a number of principles that could support the scaling up of agroecological practices. Encouraging a shift towards sustainable agriculture may be a delicate process associated with transition costs, since farmers must learn new techniques that move away from the current systems, which are more specialized, less adaptive, and have a lower innovation capacity.67 Therefore, the following principles should be applied with flexibility. The incentive structures which such policies create to encourage the shift towards sustainable farming should be regularly tested and re-evaluated with the participation of the beneficiaries, transforming policy into a mode of “social learning rather than an exercise of political authority.”68 The move towards agroecology should be based on the farmers themselves - its main beneficiaries. Agroecological techniques are best spread from farmer to farmer, since they are often specific to an agroecological zone. A. Prioritizing public goods 37. Agroecological practices require the supply of public goods such as extension services, storage facilities, rural infrastructure (roads, electricity, information and communication technologies) and therefore access to regional and local markets, access to credit and insurance against weather-related risks, agricultural research and development, education, and support to farmer's organizations and cooperatives. While this requires funding, the investment can be significantly more sustainable than the provision of private goods, such as fertilizers or pesticides that farmers can only afford so long as they are 65 66 67 68 16 Taken from Z. Khan et al., “Push-pull technology: a conservation agriculture approach for integrated management of insect pests, weeds and soil health in Africa,” Foresight Food and Farming Futures project of the UK government, 2010, p. 6. The Special Rapporteur explored these dimensions in previous reports (A/64/170 and A/65/281). J. Pretty et al., “Sustainable intensification in African agriculture,” International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 9:1, forthcoming in 2011. A.M. Diop, “Management of Organic Inputs to Increase Food Production in Senegal,” in Agroecological innovations. Increasing food production with participatory development, N. Uphoff (ed.), London, Earthscan Publications, 2001, p. 252.