Orientation on

Agro-ecosystem
analysis (AEA)
Pradip K. Neog
 Agro-ecosystem
Land used for crops, pasture, and
livestock; the adjacent uncultivated land
that supports other vegetation and wildlife;
and the associated atmosphere, the
underlying soils, groundwater, and
drainage networks.
An agroecosystem is the basic unit of
study for an agro-ecologist. It is
somewhat arbitrarily defined as a
spatially and functionally coherent unit
of agricultural activity, and includes the
living and nonliving components involved
in that unit as well as their interactions.

As the name implies, at the core of an

agro-ecosystem lies the human activity
of agriculture.
• Agroecosystem analysis is a thorough
analysis of an agricultural environment
which considers aspects from ecology
, sociology, economics, and politics with
equal weight.
 Agro-ecosystem analysis
(AEA) is a methodology for
zoning and analysing
agricultural systems in order to
plan and prioritise research and
development activities in the
fields of agriculture and natural
resource management.

.
AEA uses a holistic or systems
approach to gather bio-physical
and socio-economic information
within the ecosystem along with
key issues, strengths, weaknesses,
limitations, problems and
prospects/opportunities that are
useful for rural development,
extension and research
programmes
• AEA can be conducted at any level:
province, zone, district, AES
depending on particular needs.

• AEA is usually undertaken by multi-

disciplinary teams which bring to the
exercise a range of different skills.

• AES relies heavily on both Primary

and Secondary data/information
relating to bio-physical and socio-
economic parameters in the system.
Information is gathered in AES
through:
• Document analysis
• Workshops
• Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
• Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
 PRA METHODS
• MAPPING
• TRANSACT WALK
• CHANGING TRENDS
• SEASONALITY
• ACTIVITY PROFILE
• ACTIVITY CALENDAR
• ACCESS RATING
• RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM
• FLOW DIAGRAM
• WEALTH RANKING
• MATRIX RANKING
• VENN DIAGRAMM
 BASIC FEATURES OF PRA
METHODS
1. Use of Intermixing terms
2. Diagrammatic
3. Simple
4. Flexible procedure
5. Optimal accuracy
6. Requires objectivity
 Steps in PRA
SHARING
GATHERING/
RAPPORT PURPOSES,
DOCUMENTATION
BUILDING PROGRAMME
INFORMATION ETC
ETC.

FINALIZATION OF FACILITATING
PLANS, DECISIONS
STRATEGIES

PARTICIPATORY TRIANGULATION
ANALYSIS
PLANNING
 STEPS in AEA
1. Setting Aim

2. Determining jurisdiction

3. Sub-dividing jurisdiction

4. Identifying needed information with sources and ways

• a) Secondary
• b) Primary
• 5. Determining sampling plan
• 6. Data and information collection
• 7. Analyzing
• 8. Drawing conclusions
• a) Lessons
• b) Strategies
• c) Policies
• d) Projections