Combining on-farm innovation tracking and participatory prototyping trials to develop legume-based cropping systems in West Africa

International audienceIn the cotton-production zone of Burkina Faso, poor soil fertility and limited access to appropriate fertilizers call for alternative approaches to sustain productivity, such as the introduction of more legumes into the agroecosystem. Legumes have nearly disappeared from local cropping systems under the pressure of the cotton monocropping model. To develop new legume-based cropping systems using a bottom-up approach, this study was based on local farmers' agroecological innovations. In a first step, called on-farm innovation tracking, five innovative legume-based cropping systems were identified and characterized on farms located in the study area through interviews with "innovative farmers" who had designed and implemented these cropping systems: (i) Sorghum and legume (cowpea, soybean or peanut) intercropping in rotation with maize or cotton; (ii) Soybean as a cash crop in rotation with maize or cotton; (iii) Red cowpea intra-annual succession with a biomass crop; (iv) Mucuna in rotation with maize; and (v) Pigeon pea in rotation with maize. In a second step, these five "innovative cropping systems" (ICSs) were implemented in "participatory prototyping trials" (PPTs) in two communities located in the study area were they were evaluated during field days by local farmers ("field-day farmers") having no previous experience with ICSs. By comparing evaluations made by innovative farmers with those of field-day farmers, it was shown that (i) locally implemented ICSs adapted to local drivers of change are of great interest to other farmers, and (ii) the study's two-step participatory approach is an original and relevant way to co-design and introduce innovations

Which Innovative Cropping System for Which Farmer? Supporting Farmers' Choices Through Collective Activities

International audienceDesigning innovative cropping systems is an active field of agricultural research challenged by the agroecological transition. One of the challenges is to adapt cropping systems to the diversity of farms and contexts. For instance, in the cotton production zone of Burkina Faso differences between farm resources, agricultural situations and agronomic constraints have resulted in a wide range of farming systems. In this context, to break with the trend toward cotton production, we co-designed eight legume-based innovative cropping systems (ICS) likely to meet the objectives sought and the constraints faced by a wide range of local farmers, thus constituting a “basket of options”. Our approach was to enable each farmer to choose the option they considered best suited to their conditions. To that end, the ICSs were implemented and discussed with farmers in participatory prototyping trials. After one season of co-evaluating the different ICSs, the farmers taking part in the co-evaluation were able to test an ICS on their own farm, by choosing and adapting one of the options. Thirty-nine farmers out of seventy-three chose an ICS to test. They were asked the reasons for their choice. Their selection criteria were analyzed in relation to comments made during collective activities organized in the participatory prototyping trials. To complete this analysis, we built an expert-based farming system typology and a statistical typology based on data collected in a rural household multi-indicator survey (RHoMIS) of 63 farms participating in this study. The two farming system typologies were compared, and the relationships between farming system types and the ICS tested on the farm were analyzed. We found that farmers did not really base their choice on their farming system. Rather, they used a wide range of criteria that varied from farmer to farmer, and they were influenced by what they had learned during the collective activities organized in the participatory prototyping trials

Unravelling the step-by-step process for farming system design to support agroecological transition

International audienceGiven the huge challenges agriculture has to face, both in Northern and Southern countries, a radical change in farming practices towards agroecology is required. Most scientific literature on the design of new farming systems describes de novo approaches, which focus on disruption and novelty, without any concern for the way to move from the current system to the innovative one. In this study, we highlight, for the first time, the particular traits of what we will call the step-by-step design approach. In this aim, we disentangled 9 case studies of practice change in commercial or experimental farms through the lens of theoretical frameworks derived from three scientific fields: design sciences, farming system research, and change pathways analysis. From data collected in each case study, and collective interactions among the authors of this paper, we identified commonalities across cases, in the aim to produce guidelines for actors willing to engage, characterize or support such design processes in the future. We thus show that step-by-step design appears as (i) a situated design process fueled by action, (ii) structured by iterative loops diagnosis-exploration-implementationassessment, fostered by learning, (iii) progressively shaping a desirable unknown, (iv) supported by specific tools, and (v) intertwining individual and collective dimensions. This approach is well adapted to manage the agroecological transition: by its temporality, by its capacity to overcome knowledge gaps through learning, by its contribution to farmers' empowerment, and by its capacity to tailor solutions to local specificities. By doing so, it allows the progressive implementation of profound systemic changes. Finally, this article provides benchmarks to encourage increased Research & Development investment in this type of approach, contributing to open innovation, to enhance the agroecological transition