Syprobio: Farmer-led innovation platforms to address food security, poverty alleviation and resilience to climate change in West African cotton-growing communities

Summary

The social problem of food insecurity and the challenge for farmers on adapting successfully to climate change in West African societies build the framework and scope of our research for development. It is addressed through a project called Syprobio and operating in the three countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Benin. Elected farmers, representing 2 – 3,000 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 to be tested shall improve food security and climate change adaptation. The main research for development methods used are transdisciplinarity, actor-network theory (Latour, 2005), focus group discussions and decentralized action-research hubs. The innovation, the testing farmers and the researcher built an actor-network. After 2 years, all 10 circles of concerted actors (CAC) are productive and started in 2013 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 organizations. The creativity, determination and curiosity of the self-organized farmer groups, embedded in a supportive research network and exiting 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 NARS and universities and policies in order to create functional institutions.