Dear Aboubakar,

do not make any decision or much thinking  on the second step before you have worked out the 15-20 cases of the first step. Very likely you will think completely differently about that after you have fully done the first step.

Cheers, Kees

I agree with Kees- You may actually find that high-medium-low is not the relevant continuum. It would be better to let the "field" speak for itself (through your case studies). My question to you would be: How are you approaching the case studies? Do you have an ideal type agroecological model that you are comparing to the actual practices of the farmer groups or are you intending to engage in participant observation and elicitation techniques (or some other set of tecniques)? It is not possible to specify in advance what your typology may ultimately look like- that´s why we do fieldwork!

Dear Kees and Andrea,

Thanks very much for the reply. Totally true, things will completely change as I’m letting the field to speak (as Andrea said), but I was wondering if I can call the research design in my first also case study design (knowing that the number big a enough 20 cases).

I’m approaching different cases by listening to their discourses (agricultural practices that they are promoting together with their members) during their participation in international events (national peasant day, innovation’ fair,…) in the country + interviewing with resource personnes (peasant leaders, community based organizations, …). I’m thinking to compare the actual practices of farmer groups based on the dominant agricultural model in the country (conventional agriculture, GMOs, organic agriculture and agro-ecology). E.g: Some organizations might combine more than one model (hence the less agro-ecological type, if GMOs appear in their practices). I was talking about working on three case for step 2, to understand the process, i.e. why and how they are promoting specific practices? How their members learn? For this I will need an depth case studies with several farmers (20 or more)/FO.

Dear Aboubakar,

once you have done your 20 cases, it may be that you need less than three or more than three in depth cases to cover the models of agriculture frequently met in these 20 cases.  You may want to distinguish between methods of learning frequently met or you may want to distinguish between subsistence and market oriented farmers or between male and female farmers etc. etc. The theme of your in-depth. cases can only follow from your results with the 20 cases.

Cheers, Kees

Thanks for your constructive explanations dear Kees,

Best wishes, Aboubakar

Dear Aboubakar,

Thanks for your message. At first view, I believed that you wished to do this work in Côte d'Ivoire and worried a little bit for you, since the farmers' organizations are limited to 'cooperatives' which, in most cases, do not really deserve the name. In addition, all the innovation in terms of agro-ecological practices are precisely developed outside the coops.

In a paper co-written with my Ivorian team, we even suggest that an agro-ecological process such as the adoption of chicken manure in cocoa farms partially reflects the farmers' reject of the 'exporter/certification/cooperative' system.

In Burkina Faso, there is probably a wider range of farmers' organization, and certainly a more ancient and advanced adoption of agro-ecological practices, well suited to your research question.

But I would add an hypothesis inspired by the Côte d'Ivoire case: most cooperatives and farmers' organizations play a quite minor role in the innovation system in general and in agroecological trends in particular (With all my excuses if the hypothesis has alreay be proven wrong by colleagues in B. Faso. I did not read much about B. Faso yet)

Hope it can help. Best regards

François Ruf

NB Still any 'institutional links' with CIRAD?

Dear Aboubakar,

Thanks for your message. At first view, I believed that you wished to do this work in Côte d'Ivoire and worried a little bit for you, since the farmers' organizations are limited to 'cooperatives' which, in most cases, do not really deserve the name. In addition, all the innovation in terms of agro-ecological practices are precisely developed outside the coops.

In a paper co-written with my Ivorian team, we even suggest that an agro-ecological process such as the adoption of chicken manure in cocoa farms partially reflects the farmers' reject of the 'exporter/certification/cooperative' system.

In Burkina Faso, there is probably a wider range of farmers' organization, and certainly a more ancient and advanced adoption of agro-ecological practices, well suited to your research question.

But I would add an hypothesis inspired by the Côte d'Ivoire case: most cooperatives and farmers' organizations play a quite minor role in the innovation system in general and in agroecological trends in particular (With all my excuses if the hypothesis has alreay be proven wrong by colleagues in B. Faso. I did not read much about B. Faso yet)

Hope it can help. Best regards

François Ruf

NB Still any 'institutional links' with CIRAD?

Dear François,

Thanks very much for your constructive comments.

---My apologize for not précising the country where I’m having my fieldwork (Burkina Faso, this is because I mentioned it in my previous question, about agro-ecology and food security in Sahel).

---In Burkina, the situation is a little bit different to the one in Côte d’Ivoire, as we have several types of farmers’ organizations from structured value chain, (the case of cotton cooperatives) to community based organizations. The question of agro-ecological innovation varies according to the geographical location (sahel, sudano-sahel, sudan agro-ecological zones) and the type of FOs (cooperatives, community based organizations…),  some are very agro-ecological (mainly subsistence farmers in the northen part of the country,) and other are more/less agro-ecological (the case of niches, organic cotton farmers within the dominant conventional cotton farming in the cotton cooperatives), (see the above comments of Kees, about the difference in cases: subsistence farming/commercial farming…,).

---Thanks for highlighting paper on chicken manure in cocoa farming (that is very innovative, from my perspective, and would be happy having a soft copy of it).

---as far as the case of Burkina, it well suited for my studies and research questions as you said.  My focus on the innovation system (sometimes called advisory services), is mainly on how farmers learn from their FOs sustainable practices (there is a difference in the learning processes according to the degree of involvement in sustainable farming, see the above comment of Kees again).  FOs are considered as an innovation intermediaries (or systemic intermediaries, because they are active in the process), connecting farmers to external partners (NGOs involved in agro-ecology, niches market of organic products, development partners,).

-The Pierre Rabhy school of thought on agro-ecology (managing soil fertility, e.g with zaï and compost, using organic pesticides (from neem oil,…), is also well developed in Burkina, mainly the northen part, and this is scaled-up via FOs (mainly community based organizations)).

-I had a first field work in the northern part of the country for the first stage (observations, interviews of FOs, and participated in several training sessions of the agro-ecological advisors). Now I’m planning to go to the southern part (cotton belt) in January, to meet and exchange with those working on organic agriculture (cotton, sesame, hibiscus), as the reality is  a little bit different to the northen part (where the issues restoring the soil fertility of highly degraded soils, called Zipellé in mooré, the local language).

Best wishes for 2016.

PS: Yeah, still based in UMR Innovation, CIRAD, as part of the agtrain project, and also another link with Wageningen Univ (Innovation and knowledge group) + Prolinnova (Amsterdam, Royal Tropical Institute).

So, we are in the same UMR ! Great !

Let's keep in touch.  I always wished to study connexions and transfers of innovation between the home villages and cocoa villages of Burkinabé migrants in Côte d'Ivoire, including on agro-ecological issues. I am studying this only marginally for the time being, and from Côte d'Ivoire only.

The 'chicken manure' paper has been publsihed on the Inter-reseaux web site but I also put the English version on Research Gate'.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285055054

Best wishes     François

Article Chicken manure in the cocoa plantations of Côte d’Ivoire. An...

Thanks for sending the paper.

Yeah, it will be nice to keep in touch and continue exchanges.

Great your research topic on cocoa farming system comparison between Burkinabe’s and nationals of Cote d’Ivoire (and the sustainability position). I had a little experience on cocoa farming (mainly about IPM) under the project to IITA/SCTP (2010-2011), and here in Burkina, I met many  cocoa farmers (Burkinabe’s, living in Cote d’Ivoire) in Bobo-Dioulasso (they used to come for short stay to visit relatives).

Best wishes,

Abou

Dear Imran, 

I think some innovations are also developed inside the coops, or in this case community based organizations (CBO) (where farmers proposed or exchange and discuss their practices with the members of the organizations and some might be also discussed with researchers to co-construct the best practices adapted to different farming system), because coops is mainly about the bargaining approaches for collective marketing.

In Burkina, some farmers helped to develop soil restoration practices using their traditional knowledge (digging holes and putting compost, animal manure inside the each, then sowing in them, and waiting for few months of rains to water the crop-cereals, cowpeas…), and now the practice is diffused in all regions having the same agro-ecological characteristics, mainly via their CBO; hence the active role of FOs as an intermediary organizations (in between their members and external partners-NGOs, Public services, …).

Dear Aboubakar,

I think that this last issue is the core. In our work in Indonesia, as attached, the absence of farmer led FOs was the difficulty that we had. It was solved in our case by establishing a non-political FO, the Indramayu Rainfall Observers Club, that became these intermediaries for external parties like ourselves from a University and the farmers.

Cheers, Kees

Dear Aboubakar, Kees, Imran

Interesting debate. and I am quite interested to see that Imran's experience in India and mine in Côte d'Ivoire and indonesia come to the same conclusion:

Agroecological (but not ony agroecological ) innovations are developped by farmers outside coops.

The role and effciency of coops are often a myth, often embedded in politics, killing innovations rather than promoting them.

In the case of the rainfall club, this is something different?. in that case, if I understand well, a FO is not at all a coop, and is here useful as an intermediary between framers and University people.  Will read the paper !

Happy new year

 Francois

Dear Kees,

Happy 2016!

Thanks for sharing this very interesting paper on exchanges on traditional + scientific knowledge between farmers, extension intermediaries and scientists in Indonesia.

Cheers,

Dear François,

Happy 2016.

Thanks for appreciating the debates, and hoping to have more examples (in this 2016) across the globe (Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire, India, Burkina,…).

Cheers,

Dear Aboubakar, Francois et al.

Happy New Year indeed.

If you liked that paper, here is its sequel.

Cheers, Kees