La transdisciplinarite comme approche innovante de recherche action; le cas du projet syprobio

L’agriculture biologique et le commerce équitable en Afrique de l’Ouest centrés autour du coton, introduits depuis 1999, ont démontré un vrai potentiel d’augmenter les revenus et d'améliorer la sécurité alimentaire des petits productrices et producteurs. Actuellement, plus de 16'000 producteurs produisent le coton et d’autres cultures vivrières dans leurs systèmes de production en bio dans la sous-région. La diversification de ces cultures biologiques dans la rotation ou la combinaison de ces cultures avec celles d'arbres (agroforesterie) et de l’élevage visent à protéger la productivité en dépit des changements anticipés des conditions climatiques. A travers l'amélioration de la fertilité des sols et la diversification des systèmes de production, l'agriculture biologique a également un potentiel reconnu de contribuer à l'adaptation au changement climatique

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

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

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

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