Project presentation

Financed by the European Regional Cooperation Fund Interreg Caraïbes V, the "Caribbean and Amazonian Bioeconomic Network" -CambioNet- consortium has been formed around INRAE Antilles-Guyane, bringing together leading R&D, extension and agricultural advisory organizations from 10 countries. The aim of the project is to promote agro-ecological and bio-economic transition and agri-food and economic performance in the Caribbean/Amazon region, as well as the economic and social integration of small farms and small family farming on the Caribbean islands, which account for over 70% of the agricultural fabric but are the most marginalized. To achieve this, several measures will be put in place, such as the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to facilitate trade and the exchange of knowledge.

Shared challenges for all regions:

Farmers play a major role in the stability and economic and social development of the countries and territories of the Amazon and Caribbean zone. Mainly made up of small farms, this sector is nevertheless faced with challenges that are at the heart of the major issues of the coming decades, including one that influences all levels: adaptation to climate change.

The challenges we have been able to identify, and which led to the creation of the CambioNet project, are shared by the territories of the Caribbean/Amazon region. One of these challenges is to overcome the region's dependence on food imports from other countries, despite the availability of resources. The aim is to remedy the problems of quantity, quality and diversity of fresh and processed food products. At the same time, it is necessary and even essential to work on the valorization of biomass for non-food purposes (life chemistry): pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, energy, materials, etc.

Among the other issues that CambioNet has observed and has set itself the goal of resolving or, more humbly, working to improve in these areas in its partner territories, we can name support for the agro-ecological transition (UN): getting out of the pesticide trap, as well as the climate transition (Green Deal): resilience of agricultural production units and the bio-economic transition: circular economies and links between agriculture and industry, all while ensuring that the rural fabric is maintained: jobs and territorial dynamics.

CambioNet defined clear objectives to work on in various fields:

While the challenges are now well known, three objectives had to be set.

- Firstly, CambioNet is working to promote the emergence of innovative agricultural and food models in the Caribbean and Amazon.
In an environment where knowledge exists but is scattered across different territories, and where communication between territories is not always easy due to a lack of infrastructure and/or tools, an inventory and benchmark of expert knowledge with innovative technical and organizational potential needs to be created. In other words, to create a common base supported by an Information System. In this inventory, for example, resources on high-potential bioresources (protein and starch, but not only), agro-ecological cultivation practices and agro-processing; plant chemistry or even on the valorization of co-products, and on circular economies or even diagnoses of the expectations of producers/agro-processors, consumers and civil society: economic, technical, digital, ...
In addition, a digital library accessible to all CambioNet partner farmers.

- Secondly, the CambioNet project aims to boost the capacity for bio-inspired innovation in the regions in question.
Promoting a new production and processing system capable of keeping pace with trends and transition is essential if farms, operations and others are to adapt to the transitions taking place and to these new challenges. That's why workshops, meetings and other means of accentuating the transition, its effectiveness and sustainability, are essential. For example, CambioNet has set up Living Labs networks (living laboratories) strategically positioned, oriented and connected for the development of innovations in order to work on a precise aspect of the transition in connection with the issues of the territory in which the Living Lab is located. This full-scale research is also an opportunity to create an environment conducive to the incubation and creation of innovative ideas and start-ups.

- And finally, it's essential to propose a new sustainable governance scheme adapted to transitions.
When we find out about small-scale farming, smallholdings and family farms, we quickly realize that this type of operation is subject to very little legal and political regulation, if any at all. This is why working on the homogenization and constitution of sustainable public policies adapted to transitions will enable us to perpetuate the innovations put in place. This involves creating a governance model based on the EGTC (European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation).  To achieve this, CambioNet aims to provide support to public players and help them develop appropriate policies and tools, as well as better grasp the needs of project beneficiaries and encourage them to be taken into account in the schemes and tools proposed at the level of public policies and legal frameworks.

How does the project work in order to produce results? 

CambioNet brings together an overall budget of around 6 million euros to support regional cooperation in the Caribbean/Amazon region. The fundamental principle of this project is participatory innovation, backed by an information system that shares knowledge between, with and between farmers and processors in the Caribbean-Amazon region. This knowledge will then be consolidated in a digital library. This approach will strengthen the links between agriculture, processing and industrialization. To bring this project to fruition, a set of mechanisms bringing together the regional innovation ecosystem around living labs, start-ups, an observatory of best practices and an information system, will be deployed and administered by a regional governance body.

In order to work on the different objectives and better delimit the tasks of each, CambioNet is working in Work Packages (WP) according to the categories of deliverables that follow. Here's how the tasks are segmented: