Professional training and participatory research: Combined actions for developing organic rice farming in the Camargue region of France

In 2006 and 2007, INRA’s Joint Research Unit, Innovation, was a partner in a European professional training project within the framework of the Leonardo da Vinci programme. The objective of this project was to help develop organic rice farming in the major European rice-growing regions where rice is mainly cultivated in ecologically-sensitive areas. In France, the rate of conversion to organic production is much lower that what would be expected, since organic rice farming presents particular technical problems. The availability of expert support is critical to successful conversion and no structured training was available in the past. This is the reason why we developed a participatory training method that helps rice growers and stakeholders to convert to organic farming and to improve their organic rice production. Different training sessions were organised. The participants shared their thoughts about technical problems encountered and identified possible solutions. Some of the topics developed were weeds, soils and fertility, and varieties. At the end of these sessions, a motivated workgroup was set up. Some of its members even proposed to assess the efficiency of some of the techniques that were discussed during the work sessions in fields on their own farms. Furthermore, field visits were organised in the Camargue region of France and in Spain. Scientists and group members hope to be able to continue to work together after the O.R.P.E.S.A. project is over. In order to make this possible, we are now planning to initiate new research and development actions using the same approach