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SYPROBIO: Driving farmer-led innovation platforms to address food security, poverty alleviation and resilience to climate change in West African cotton communities

Gian, Nicolay; Dabire, Rémy; Fliessbach, Andreas; Glin, Laurent and Sissoko, Fagaye (2013) SYPROBIO: Driving farmer-led innovation platforms to address food security, poverty alleviation and resilience to climate change in West African cotton communities. In: Proceedings AISA Workshop on Agricultural Innovation Systemsin Africa, Nairobi, 29–31 May 2013, pp. 156-161.

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Summary

The social problem of food insecurity and the challenge for farmers in adapting successfully to climate change in West African societies build the framework and scope of our research for development (R4D). It is addressed through a project called Syprobio, operating in Mali, Burkina Faso and Benin. Elected farmers, representing 2000–3000 organic farmers, are conducting on-farm research and cooperating with 40–50 researchers and technicians in testing 27 innovative practices by forming innovation platforms. Soil fertility, seed improvement, pest management, agronomy and socio-economics are the main themes. The innovations being tested are meant to improve food security and climate change adaptation. The main R4D methods used are transdisciplinarity, actor-network theory (Latour 2005), focus-group discussions and decentralised action-research hubs. The innovation, the testing farmers and the researcher build an actor network. After two years, all ten circles of concerted actors (CAC) are productive and, in 2013, they started the second round of testing their selected innovations. The main concern of the farmers is the low soil fertility. Both farmers and researchers learn mutually, as well as the technicians from the farmer organisations. The creativity, determination and curiosity of the self-organised farmer groups, embedded in a supportive research network and exciting value chains, allow fast and effective identification of innovations to be tested and implemented. It is recommended to further invest in better alignment at national level of farmer needs, research methods of national agricultural research institutes and universities, and policies in order to create functional institutions.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Other
Keywords:farmer-driven research, transdisciplinary research, decentralised processes, organic cotton systems, West Africa, Department of Internationel Cooperation, Policy and Sector Development, FiBL65082, SYPROBIO
Subjects: Knowledge management > Research methodology and philosophy > Systems research and participatory research
Knowledge management > Research methodology and philosophy
"Organics" in general > Countries and regions > Africa
Research affiliation:Other countries
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > International
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Soil
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Sustainability > Climate
Related Links:http://www.fibl.org/en/projectdatabase/projectitem/project/407.html, http://www.syprobio.net/fr/spb-home.html
Deposited By: Nicolay, Gian L.
ID Code:25747
Deposited On:02 Jan 2017 12:55
Last Modified:12 Jan 2021 15:32
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

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