This chapter describes the co-operation between researchers and a grassroots farmer organization in the Sine-Saloum region of Senegal. Government researchers from the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research are engaged in three programmes in Sine-Saloum: annual crops, livestock, and forestry and natural resource management. The Farmers' Association of Fatick Region (ARAF) has its headquarters in the small town of Gossas. ARAF's activities mainly centre on investments of a social nature, training, animating and monitoring groups, as well as income generation. Farmer organizations which are federations of groups constitute favoured partners for researchers in the complex world of non-governmental organizations in Senegal. Farmers and technicians alike see poor soil fertility as the main constraint on increasing agricultural production. Co-operation with ARAF has facilitated closer relationships with farmers, working through local animateurs. A study of the organization of support to producers, conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development in 1989, defined the main functions of development partners in the rural areas of Senegal.

CONTEXT: Farmers are increasingly recognized as the designers of their own production systems, and face challenges that call for context-specific innovations. Co-designing innovations with farmers is one way to tailor options to local constraints and resources. However, studies on how farmers implement agroecological practices after a co-design process are rare, especially at the farm level. OBJECTIVE: This study analyses how farmers' implementation of technical innovations co-designed during Farmer Field Schools (FFS), an adult education and rural development approach, brings farmers to change their practices at the farm level. We also explore whether the potential to induce changes at the farm level varies with the cropping system targeted by the FFS or with the gender of participants. METHODS: To study the outcomes at the farm level of the co-design process in FFS, we established an analytical framework based on four sub-systems identified within family farming systems in the cotton growing area in West Africa: vegetable gardening, rainy season cropping, livestock management and organic fertilizer produc-tion. We applied the framework to a case study in northern Togo on FFS promoting the agroecological transition of family farms. Four FFS were sampled; three covered two different cropping systems (vegetable gardening and rainy season crops) in separate sessions while the fourth FFS only covered vegetable gardening. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 farmers (19 men, 11 women) all former participants in either vegetable gardening FFS (n = 8), rainy season cropping FFS (n = 10) or both (n = 12). The interviews took place two years after the end of FFS activities and covered changes in practices in the four farm sub-systems identified. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the changes in practices were not limited to the cropping system addressed during the FFS attended by each farmer. Participation in the FFS triggered changes in practices at the farm level in livestock systems and organic fertilizer production among the farmers we surveyed. The vegetable gardening FFS had a distinct effect on the development of vegetable gardening activities, but the ef-fects of the rainy season crop FFS were less specific. Farmers who attended both FFS did not change more practices than farmers who attended only one FFS. The gender of the participants did not lead to more, less, or different changes in farm practices. SIGNIFICANCE: Our framework reveals the systemic nature of the changes in practices in family farms. This was made possible by the collaborative implementation of the sampled FFS and the agroecological principles covered in the FFS curricula. This study provides insights for the implementation of co-design processes to support farmers in their processes of change in practices and redesign of their farming systems, which are crucial to agroecological transitions.

In Guadeloupe, a French overseas region, civil society is calling for an agroecological transition (AET) to obtain access to healthy agricultural products following a major ecological scandal caused by a persistent pesticide that contaminated water and agricultural soils. To support such a transition, we tested a five-step methodological framework designed to enable farmers to describe and explore scenarios in farming systems, socio-technical systems, and social-ecological systems. This is one of the first operational methodological tools to build scenarios and action plans for an AET taking into account simultaneous changes in these three systems. We first surveyed 63 farmers and positioned their farming systems along an AET gradient using the Efficiency-Substitution-Redesign framework. In the second step, a sub-sample of 18 farmers, who represented diverse farming system types, individually defined AET scenarios at the level of their own farms. We then applied a farm simulation model to evaluate the technical and economic performance of each scenario. The third step involved analyzing the types of social networks used by 45 farmers to share information and promote technical, commercial, and social exchanges to implement agroecological practices in their territory. In the fourth step, we worked with a group of 15 farmers and 10 researchers in a participatory workshop to characterize the natural resources, their associated services and disservices, and the actors involved. In the last step, the farmers and researchers defined an action plan for the AET in their territory. Our results suggest that AET is understood by farmers to be a gradual and multiscale process involving the co-creation of knowledge, technical solutions, and organizational changes. An initial outcome of the process tested was a shift in the stance of researchers. Their focus shifted from experiments conducted on-station toward experiments managed by farmers to co-produce knowledge on the viability of agroecological practices under their own specific conditions, triggering discussions between stakeholders (such as advisers, policy makers, smallholders, and larger farmers) in the territory.

Au début de la crise sanitaire due à la Covid-19, certains observateurs ont alerté les décideurs d’une possible crise alimentaire dans les mois à venir en Afrique de l’Ouest. En vue d’alimenter ce débat, nous avons mené une étude en nous entretenant avec 75 acteurs du secteur agricole dans deux régions du Burkina Faso − le Yatenga et les Hauts-Bassins. Dans les deux situations, les agriculteurs et les éleveurs ont pu continuer leurs activités mais certains ont eu des difficultés de commercialisation. Les maraîchers et les arboriculteurs ont été les plus touchés par cette crise du fait des difficultés à écouler leurs produits périssables sur les marchés ouest-africains. Les éleveurs ont été moins concernés par la baisse des prix mais les commerçants de bétail sur pied ont aussi rencontré des difficultés à exporter vers les pays côtiers. Enfin, les sociétés cotonnières ont dû faire face à une baisse du prix international du coton-fibre et les producteurs de coton ont dû faire face à une baisse du prix d’achat du coton-graine à la fin de 2020. Malgré cette crise, l’agriculture burkinabè a continué à jouer pleinement son rôle nourricier grâce à la mobilisation des agriculteurs, des commerçants et des transporteurs, même si elle montre des fragilités dues à sa forte dépendance aux marchés extérieurs pour entre autres les légumes, le bétail, le coton, les mangues, l’anacarde et les intrants agricoles et d’élevage. Cette crise permet de réfléchir à des axes d’intervention afin de rendre l’agriculture burkinabè moins dépendante des marchés extérieurs et des facteurs de production importés. Cela implique la substitution des produits alimentaires importés par des produits locaux et une transition agroécologique permettant de réduire l’importation d’intrants de synthèse.

Agricultural advisory services play a major role in supporting innovation processes, particularly in developing countries. However, innovation support requires a variety of forms of support, called innovation support services (ISS). Based on an exploratory analysis in Madagascar, this article examines the role of agricultural advisory services in relation to the diversity of organizations and activities to support innovation. We interviewed the main organizations acting as providers of ISS in four geographic regions of the Highlands of Madagascar and we characterized their ISS offer. Results show that the technical advice service remains the most common type of ISS offered, with a high degree of pluralism among the providers of advice and a diversity of combinations with other ISS. However, innovators need to benefit from other ISS, such as capacity building, networking, institutional support and access to finance, inputs and equipment necessary for innovation. These results call for a renewal of the postures of the agricultural advisors towards more support oriented toward capacity building. They question the strategy of the organizations with regard to their support for innovation: a specialization in advisory service, a combination with other ISS or a collaboration with other organizations. Those results renew insights into the pluralism of the offer of advisory services. When analyzed through the prism of ISS, those services are not only applied at the level of the advisor or the advisory organization, but also at the level of the supporting network, which may exhibit various configurations. Perspectives call for a better coordination of advisory systems with the other service providers in order to ensure greater efficiency in supporting innovators.

At the beginning of the health crisis due to COVID-19 some observers alerted the decision makers of a possible food crisis in the coming months in West Africa. In order to feed this debate, we conducted a study by interviewing 75 actors of the agricultural sector in two regions of Burkina Faso - the Yatenga and the High Basins. In both situations, farmers and pastoralists were able to continue their activities, but some experienced marketing difficulties. Market gardeners and tree growers have been the most affected by this crisis because of difficulties in selling their perishable products on West African markets. Livestock farmers were less affected by the drop in prices, but traders of live livestock also encountered difficulties exporting to coastal countries. Finally, cotton companies have had to face a drop in the international price of cotton fiber and cotton producers will have to face a drop in the purchase price of seed cotton at the end of 2020. Despite this crisis, Burkina Faso's agriculture has continued to fully play its nurturing role thanks to the mobilization of farmers, traders and transporters, even though it is showing weaknesses due to its heavy dependence on external markets for, among other things, vegetables, livestock, cotton, mangoes, cashew nuts and agricultural and livestock inputs. This crisis is an opportunity to consider areas for intervention to make Burkina Faso's agriculture less dependent on external markets and imported factors of production. This implies the substitution of imported food products by local products and an agro-ecological transition to reduce the importation of synthetic inputs.

Le conseil agricole occupe une place prépondérante dans l’appui aux processus d’innovation, particulièrement dans les pays du Sud. Or, l’accompagnement de l’innovation nécessite une diversité de formes d’appuis, appelés services support à l’innovation (SSI). À partir d’une analyse exploratoire à Madagascar, cet article questionne la place du conseil agricole vis-à-vis de la diversité des organisations et des activités d’accompagnement de l’innovation. Les principales organisations fournissant des SSI ont été étudiées dans quatre régions des Hautes Terres de Madagascar et leur offre de SSI caractérisée. Les résultats montrent que le conseil technique reste prépondérant dans l’éventail de l’offre de SSI, avec un fort pluralisme des fournisseurs de conseil et une diversité de combinaisons avec les autres SSI. Or, les porteurs d’innovation doivent bénéficier d’autres SSI, tels que le renforcement de capacité, la mise en réseau, des appuis institutionnels, un accès au financement, intrants et équipements nécessaires à l’innovation. Ces résultats appellent à renouveler les postures du conseiller agricole vers davantage d’appui au renforcement de capacité et interrogent la stratégie des organisations vis-à-vis de leur appui à l’innovation : la spécialisation dans le conseil, la combinaison à d’autres SSI ou la collaboration avec d’autres organisations. Ces éléments renouvellent le constat du pluralisme de l’offre de conseil qui, analysé par le prisme des SSI, ne s’applique pas seulement à l’échelon de l’agent-conseiller ou de l’organisation, mais également dans des réseaux d’organisations aux configurations variables. Les perspectives de cette analyse sont d’assurer la coordination des dispositifs de conseil avec les autres fournisseurs de SSI pour une plus grande efficacité dans l’accompagnement des porteurs d’innovation.

Purpose Assessment of agricultural advisory services is crucial to improve their quality and effectiveness. Farmer Field Schools (FFS) have been adapted to meet context specific needs in crop or farm management. This article investigates whether the diversity of FFS interventions is reflected in the assessment methods used to evaluate them.Design/Methodology/Approach Through a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature we identified 180 articles and selected 34 that assessed FFS. Implementation was characterised based on farmers' participation and FFS topics. Assessment methods were analysed using a causal chain of inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impacts.Findings Our results showed three types of FFS: (1) technology transfer; (2) consultative participation at cropping system level; and, (3) consultative or collaborative participation at farm level. Fifteen studies did not describe FFS implementation at all. Out of the 34 assessments, 23 focused on inputs (knowledge) and outputs (changes in practices, agricultural or economic performance) for farmers. Only six studies assessed long-term impacts of FFS.Theoretical implications We found a paradox between the shift from a technology transfer to a participatory advisory services paradigm, and the implementation and assessment of FFS, which do not mirror this shift. Assessment methods remain based on assumed technology transfer, which is not suitable for the evaluation of participatory approaches and their results, including in terms of capacity to innovate.Practical implications Assessing FFS as a collective and farmer-centered experiential learning approach requires appropriate evaluation methods that account for the diversity of contexts, FFS implementation, and the changes they generate.Originality/Value The diversity of FFS has rarely been analysed to date. This article proposes a typology to go beyond FFS as a catch-all term and to guide their assessment.

The way farmers perceive the concept of sustainability as applied to their own farms must be better understood in order to help them evolve towards more sustainable production systems. Based on extensive discussions with 36 farmers on the Saïs plain (Morocco), this article explores farmers’ perceptions of sustainability and the strategies they are implementing for their farms to endure. Although these farmers are not formally aware of the concept of sustainability, they have several perceptions expressed through seven sustainability-related themes. The most frequently mentioned is the profitability of their agricultural activities (31% of responses). Three groups of perception were identified through a multiple component analysis (MCA) and an ascending hierarchical cluster (AHC) analysis: A combination of economic profitability and maintenance of the farm’s natural resources (Environment); a combination of economic profitability and a capacity to seize opportunities (Profitability); and setting up a modern agricultural model (Modernism). Additionally, farmers implement three types of strategies to endure also identified through MCA and AHC analysis: (1) Income security and farm survival with low-intensity practices involving farmers with low levels of investment (Security); (2) adaptation and valorization of the flexibility of the farm, bringing together farmers who intensify their practices according to economic opportunities (Adaptation); and (3) quest for productivity and income maximization for farmers with high levels of capital (Entrepreneurship). A certain coherence emerges between these two ways of grouping farms: Environment and Security linked to threats related to the degradation of soil fertility or water scarcity; Profitability and Adaptation in relation to land and economic opportunities; and Modernism and Entrepreneurship, which links economic sustainability, a modern production model, and capital accumulation.

Farms are evolving in a political and social environment concerned with the three dimensions - environmental, social, and economic - of sustainable farming. This study analyses the key factors determining the sustainability of 36 farms reflecting the diverse farming systems found on the Sais Plain in Morocco, where an intensification dynamic encouraged by the government is combined with increasingly constrained access to irrigation water and fluctuating agricultural commodity prices. The sustainability of each farm was assessed using the Indicateurs de Durabilite des Exploitations Agricoles/Farm Sustainability Indicators method. A multivariate statistical analysis was conducted to analyze and group the case farms and assess the scores of each component of sustainability. Results show that agroecological sustainability of a farm depends on its autonomy in using resources and the extent to which its production system is diversified. Farm structure and the choice of production system affect economic sustainability. The farmers' preferences and social values influence socio-territorial sustainability. No farm is able to obtain a high total sustainability value (max 55/100), with the economic dimension varying in opposite directions to the agroecological and socio-territorial dimensions. The implications of the choice of the assessment method on the sustainability results are discussed, as are the consequences of agricultural policies on the farms' sustainability.

Au Maroc, l’exploitation individuelle des eaux souterraines a permis le développement rapide d’une agriculture irriguée intensive. Dans la plaine de Berrechid, la ressource est limitée et surexploitée. L’agence de bassin tente depuis une dizaine d’années de mettre en place une contractualisation avec différents acteurs pour réguler les prélèvements en eau souterraine à usage agricole. L’objectif de l’étude est d’analyser en quoi la catégorisation des agriculteurs, se distinguant par leur accès à l’eau et au foncier, et les interactions entre ces catégories d’agriculteurs, sont utiles pour penser la gouvernance de la nappe. Une fois la dynamique de l’agriculture irriguée retracée, des enquêtes ont permis d’établir une typologie d’agriculteurs, puis les arrangements et rivalités entre les différents types d’agriculteurs ont été caractérisés. Les résultats montrent que l’utilisation accrue des eaux souterraines a déclenché des rivalités pour l’accès à l’eau, ainsi que l’exclusion de certains agriculteurs dans un contexte de baisse de la nappe. Pour dépasser ces problèmes d’accès, certains agriculteurs mettent en place des arrangements coopératifs autour des différents facteurs de production (eau, terre, capital, savoir-faire, main-d’œuvre). Cependant, ces arrangements accentuent, paradoxalement, la surexploitation de la nappe et les rivalités, et entraînent la poursuite et l’évolution des formes d’arrangements coopératifs. La compréhension fine de la nature des relations entre différents types d’agriculteurs peut permettre d’inclure une réflexion sur l’équité sociale dans le projet de concession aux associations de producteurs, qui pour le moment semble ignorer ces relations.

To address sustainability challenges of agro-ecosystems located in Mediterranean urban regions, this paper focuses on the multidisciplinary subject of urban agricultural systems. To better understand the diversity and dynamics of peri-urban agro-ecosystems and the main drivers of their sustainability, we compare six case studies located in Southern Europe (Montpellier, France; Pisa, Italy; Lisbon, Portugal; Athens, Greece) and the Maghreb (Constantine, Algeria; Meknes, Morocco). The research is based on fieldwork in each urban region (qualitative analysis) and literature analysis aimed to position each case study in its national and Mediterranean contexts. The comparison between local contexts indicates large discrepancies in the integration of environmental focus among the respective urban planning objectives. Generally, urbanization tends to accentuate agricultural diversity. The different forms of peri-urban agriculture evolve despite their persistent decline, and they also show a capacity to resist and even new growth in response to urban demand.

There is a substantial body of literature addressing urban agriculture (UA) and its diversity. But the reasons for this diversity and the perseverance of UA in today's cities are complex, and few studies have been conducted on a regional scale that focuses on the UA dynamics involved. We took this approach in a multi-scale and space-time analysis of UA in the African city of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). In order to identify determinants of the transformations in agriculture within the city and its urban fringe we analyzed interactions from two main perspectives: (i) between urban and agricultural dynamics in both the city and on a regional scale, and (ii) between land status and actor strategies at the intra-urban scale. The analysis is centered on three areas of urban fringe that have been subjected to various land use changes over time and illustrate the different ways that farmers have adapted to urbanization. On a regional scale, results show how agricultural and regional market dynamics foment UA development by providing commercial outlets and producing agricultural inputs. At the local (city) scale, results show how and why different forms of UA have emerged in specific locations that reflect the socio-economic profile of farmers (ranging from autochthonous urban farmers to relatively wealthy urban dwellers), their access to resources, the possibility of intensifying farming activities, and the formal or informal land negotiations and transactions between the various categories of actors. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical implications of this research and its relevance to public policy. Our analysis underlines the pertinence of comprehensive and qualitative approaches for analyzing the complexity of UA dynamics and enhancing the position of agriculture in land planning for geographically-specific urban contexts.

Le developpement de la filiere maraichere au Senegal s'est appuye sur des innovations techniques comme le motopompage, l'usage d'intrants, l'ombriere-filet, … Une enquete aupres de 22 maraichers de l'agriculture familiale au sud des Niayes a montre la diversite des processus d'innovation et leurs determinants. L'adoption de l'irrigation localisee (goutte a goutte) a ete permise par les echanges entre des ouvriers des entreprises exportatrices de legumes et des maraichers de la meme region. La promotion de l'usage d'intrants naturels (biopesticide, repulsif, fumure organique) repondant a un cahier des charges « agro-ecologie » est assuree par une ONG. Enfin, differentes associations de cultures legumieres ont ete concues et adoptees par des maraichers innovateurs isoles pour repondre a la reduction de surface mais n'ont pas encore « diffusees ». Ces exemples mettent en evidence les capacites d'innovation et d'adaptation des producteurs ouest-africains. Ils nous interrogent sur le type de methodes et d'outils a mettre au point pour accompagner ces processus sans limiter la creativite des agriculteurs ni la flexibilite et les performances des systemes d'innovation locaux qu'ils ont pu creer.

Various factors such as relocation of poor populations policies, promotion of land rights privatization, and, more generally, economic growth fostered urban sprawl in main Maghreb cities, including Meknès, Morocco. This urbanization increases at the expense of high potential agricultural land, despite preservation laws for agricultural land. In Meknes, family farmers settled in city outskirts provided most of building land. This article presents the diversity of land tenure strategies adopted by these farmers. It shows that they take into account the new actors game, as well as actors’ resistance or negotiation skills. For a majority of farmers who owned their plots, selling land allowed to invest in various sectors (transport, trade, etc.); sometimes they have invested in agriculture too, in situ or through purchasing of land away from the city. A minority preferred to keep their land to avoid sale to intermediaries and adopt a speculative strategy. Instead, farmers using collective land without private property rights, have only defense or conflict strategies; they are in a context where their ability to negotiate prices or refuse the transfer is virtually nil. More generally, these speculative processes favor land purchase throughout the plain by investors and neo-farmers in both peri-urban and rural areas. Increase of fertile land price in the periurban zone induces a similar increase for similar land in rural areas; thus it weakens family farming in Morocco as this category of farmers cannot oppose investors and large landowners.

A growing population, urbanisation, and the economics of agricultural development are among the principal issues that Morocco faces. These issues come with important consequences, such as a strong demand for housing and changes in land tenure. National public policies address these issues sectorally through regional and local actions. This research project examines the relationships between questions of environment, urban development, sustainable agriculture, and local and national logics. We studied these relationships through a systemic representation aimed at a better understanding of the operative elements, as well as the state of individual and collective action in Meknes. As the sixth largest urban centre in Morocco, Meknes illustrates the difficulties of merging growth in agricultural production and urbanisation. Urban planning in the region has favoured the development of real estate and the application of a law designed to convert collective lands to private ownership, creating significant changes in land use, often at the expense of agriculture. A systemic approach helps us identify the externalities that influence public policies and local actions, and underlines the need for a multi-level examination of the relationships between cities and agriculture.

In North Africa, the development of groundwater-based irrigation enabled agricultural intensification and market-oriented production. Groundwater use was also often said to alleviate smallholder poverty. However, there is growing evidence linking the expansion of groundwater-based agriculture with increasing socioeconomic inequalities in a context of declining water tables and rapid agrarian change. This paper analyzes the contrasted fortunes of different categories of farmers participating in the groundwater economy, depending on access to other resources including land, capital and labor. The study was conducted in a 3910 ha area in the Saiss plain (Morocco), where rapid agrarian transformations took place with the arrival of investors attracted by state subsidies and the possibility to carry out intensive groundwater-based agriculture. The study began with interviews with key informants to determine the role of groundwater use in farm trajectories. Then, an inventory was undertaken of all farms and of all wells and tube-wells in the study area. Next, the groundwater use per farm type was determined on a sample of 24 farms. Finally, the socioeconomic differentiation of farms was determined, based on the inequalities in access to groundwater, land, labor and financial capital. The results revealed contrasted fortunes of farmers involved in the groundwater economy. The boom in the groundwater economy benefitted entrepreneurial and well-endowed farmers who made intensive use of groundwater, while the effects of their overexploitation of groundwater fed the marginalization of family farmers. The results show that capital has replaced landownership as the dominant production factor, thereby re-qualifying what is a 'small' farmer. Capital is not only required to obtain access to groundwater, but also to deal with the more risky agriculture frequently conducted in the groundwater economy. This leads to the exclusion of small family farmers who may quit the groundwater economy poorer than they entered it. The urgent need to control access to and use of groundwater in the face of declining water tables has little chance of producing results if socioeconomic inequalities remain unaddressed. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

En Afrique, la sécurité alimentaire a longtemps été considérée à l’aune des quantités d’aliments disponibles pour les différentes couches de la population. L’atteinte de cet objectif se raisonne en fonction des quantités produites et mises en marché, des capacités des marchés à importer et de la constitution par les Etats de stocks de sécurité. Plus récemment divers travaux ont montré l’importance de l’accessibilité des consommateurs à une alimentation saine et diversifiée pour atteindre la sécurité alimentaire pour tous. De même la qualité sanitaire et nutritionnelle des aliments apparait de plus en plus comme une condition de la sécurité alimentaire et plus globalement de l’atteinte de l’objectif de développement durable. Pour la première fois l’ONU et plus précisément son conseil des droits de l’Homme (2017) a soulevé la question des effets des pesticides sur la qualité des aliments et du droit à une alimentation saine pour tous les citoyens.