Adaptation rather than adoption: a case study of cropping system change in West Africa

Perinelle Anne, Scopel Eric, Adam Myriam, Meynard Jean-Marc. 2024. Adaptation rather than adoption: a case study of cropping system change in West Africa. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 44:43, 17 p.

Résumé : The top-down approach, whereby scientists design “ready-to-use” packages to be adopted as they are by farmers, is being increasingly called into question. In reality, farmers often do not just adopt new systems that interest them, but adapt proposed systems to their own situation. Yet, these adaptations are seldom encouraged by agronomists and are even less so a focus of research. In this study, we designed and tested a new collective and individual learning-based approach to support farmers' adaptation of innovative cropping systems, and applied this approach to increasing legume cultivation in cropping systems in a region of Burkina Faso where legumes have been neglected in favor of cotton. The approach is based on a sequence of three steps. First, collective exchanges during “farmers' field days” were organized in each village around prototyping trials comparing different legume-based cropping system options proposed by agronomists. Second, farmers could choose the cropping system option that most interests them for implementation. Third, farmers progressively adapted this cropping system, in dedicated adaptation plots. Various degrees of adjustments and adaptations were observed between the options displayed in the prototyping trials and the adaptations made in the plots over a 2-year period. We classified these adaptations into five types of dynamics of change. We found that (i) farmers adapted the cropping system options differently depending on the flexibility as well as the farmer's knowledge of the system, and (ii) the adaptations made by farmers were influenced by the discussions (both peer-to-peers and with the agronomists) that took place during field days. We thus show that col- lective exchanges on prototyping trials could contribute to support farmers embarking on a trajectory of change through step-by-step design.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : système de culture, agriculteur, adaptation, pratique culturale, Sorghum bicolor, prototype, participation des agriculteurs, adoption de l'innovation, participation, agroécosystème, innovation, recherche participative, culture intercalaire

Mots-clés géographiques Agrovoc : Burkina Faso

Mots-clés libres : Co-design, On-farm experiments, Participatory approach, Step-by-step design, Burkina Faso

Classification Agris : E90 - Structure agraire
F08 - Systèmes et modes de culture

Champ stratégique Cirad : CTS 2 (2019-) - Transitions agroécologiques

Agences de financement hors UE : Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement

Projets sur financement : (FRA) Sécurité Alimentaire et Nutritionnelle et Transition agro-écologique, (FRA) GloFoodS

Auteurs et affiliations

• Perinelle Anne, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR AIDA (MDG) ORCID: 0000-0002-2984-8764 - auteur correspondant
• Scopel Eric, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR AIDA (BRA) ORCID: 0000-0003-2938-6587
• Adam Myriam, CIRAD-BIOS-UMR AGAP (KHM) ORCID: 0000-0002-8873-6762
• Meynard Jean-Marc, INRAE (FRA)

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/610962/)

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