Rural producers who are implementing forest landscape restoration through agroforestry systems in order to improve deforested and degraded lands and ensure sustainable cacao supply chains in the Amazon now have an online application tool, AnaliSAFs, to assist in the financial and socio-environmental analysis of their restoration activities. The application aims to facilitate the collection of data in the field, which can be stored, processed and analysed, and assists users in improving and monitoring their techniques – maximising the social, economic and environmental benefits of their production systems.

The new online platform was created to support rural cocoa producers, extension technicians, researchers and managers by providing valuable socio-environmental and financial analyses of agroforestry systems and key indicators to improve sustainable production and decision-making.

"Doing analysis is pertinent because you are self-educated. You know what needs to be invested, how long it will take to profit, and what is not worth of investing in".  –Valcilene dos Santos Primo, rural producer

How it works?

AnaliSAFs works on two platforms: Android devices, such as phones and tablets, and computers. Data entry can be done directly in the field, even in locations without internet access. The application simply stores the data and, when access to the internet is possible, the information is sent to the system for analysis.

• Financial analysis allows the user to assess the inputs, the productive potential of the species, the cash flow over the years, cost and revenue summary, financial viability (Net Present Value, Cost Benefit Ratio, etc).  On the computer, the user has access to the collected data and can perform the financial analysis, using a companion methodology developed by researchers Marcelo Francia Arco Verde and George Correa Amaro from Embrapa Florestas.
• Socio-environmental analysis, based on an associated methodology by ICRAF, can be also conducted in the field. Relevant questions are classified into six categories: human, social, physical, financial and environmental, as well as a specific group on production systems, composition and management. From the results, the agroforestry producer can evaluate the existing system, needs for improvement and re-planning of their agroforestry production.

In support of the application, Rodrigo Mauro Freire, deputy coordinator of the TNC Brasil restoration strategy and coordinator of the Cacau Floresta project notes that, "an important aspect is that this application can be strongly linked to research and innovation, as it can and should contribute to the deepening of the analysis of agroforestry systems." This can lead to enhnaced management of natural resources and promote forest landscape restoration via agroforestry systems, making use of native species.

“Generating innovative, dynamic and accessible tools and knowledge on cocoa agroforestry models and associated financial and socio-environmental analysis are key to sustanable supply chain-friendly investments across the cocoa landscapes,” adds Salome Begeladze of IUCN. “By equipping actors with strong restoration knowledge and tools, and building local capacity, we are ensuring that the resilient and sustainable land-use practices being promoted among smallholder and small emerging commercial farmers, micro, small, and medium enterprises and agricultural/forest commodity businesses.”   

AnaliSAFs was built through a partnership between International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), and Embrapa and was developed by Terras App Solutions with methodologies from ICRAF’s Planning and Evaluation for Decision-Making in Agroforestry Systems for Restoration (PlantSAFs) and Embrapa’s (Brazilian Agricultural Research Company) AmazonSAF.

The AnaliSAFs was launched at the Brazilian Congress of Agroforestry Systems in Aracaju.

To read the original web story (Portuguese), click here.

For more information, please contact:

Salome Begeladze – salome.begeladze@iucn.org

Rodrigo Mauro Freire - rfreire@tnc.org