Danièle Clavel

After the extensive droughts of the mid70s in the Sahel, the construction of the Diama and Manantali dams materialized the will of the Senegalese State to develop the Senegal River Valley region. From 2010 the government accelerated the pace to economically valorize these investments by implementing an ambitious national program of rice self-sufficiency. However, that rapid irrigated rice expansion added to the drought and pushed back the natural floods, endangering the traditional culture system of flood recession in the main riverbed, the Waalo. But the traditional flood recession cropping system is low in inputs: not as labour-intensive as rice (direct planting) and rich in biodiversity, in particular for sorghum. The DIVA project, was conducted in Guédé-Chantier and 2 surrounding villages (Podor Department) and was carried out within the Halpulaar society, the majority in the middle valley. It aimed to comprehensively describe the consequences of these transformations for the agricultural, social, gender and nutritional dimensions. Considering that the convergence of academically distinguished research objects could be better achieved by associating research with various actors involved in local life, thanks to the mediation of the NGO Enda Pronat local peoples, the experimentation in the reality of transdisciplinary was also a scientific objective of the study discussed in this paper. So we applied a gendered transdisciplinary approach to consider three interconnected dimensions: social and family logics, agricultural management of biodiversity and diet quality. Results show that women's initiatives to improve and diversify their diet in response to rice pressure, essentially consisted of organic or non-organic collective irrigated gardeners, established with the help of NGOs but without any technical or financial support from the public policies. Nevertheless, we assessed that the current diet quality of the women was of concern, with an overconsumption of cereals (white rice) to the detriment of other plant-based foods and animal products. Simulations of the dietary changes that have occurred over the past 45 years showed that the diet quality has deteriorated with a significant decrease of nutrient intakes such as thiamin, vitamins B-6 and B-12, iron, potassium and zinc. We conclude that the rice intensification is increasing pressure on the flood recession system, which, by disappearing, increases food and environmental problems. Facing these deteriorations, the management of local agricultural biodiversity initiated by women is diverse and localized but limited and not so far supported by any governmental policy.

Cet article analyse un processus d’innovation dans la filière arachide au Sénégal entre 1999 et 2016. L’accent porte sur la mise en évidence des facteurs décisifs dans l’émergence d’un nouveau réseau de coopératives semencières au Sénégal sous l’impulsion de l’organisation de producteurs Asprodeb. L’analyse est basée sur la théorie du changement qui accorde une place importante aux relations entre les innovations techniques et leur contexte politique et social. Nous concluons que trois facteurs ont été déterminants dans les changements observés : (1) une opération pilote de recherche et développement réunissant la recherche, l’organisation de producteurs et les producteurs de la commune de Paoskoto, lieu initial de la traduction des résultats de recherche en réalisations concrètes, (2) le renforcement et la diversification du partenariat entre acteurs de la filière, en particulier du secteur semences et (3) le renforcement des capacités conduisant à une professionnalisation des producteurs et productrices adhérents des coopératives. Au-delà des succès obtenus, l’étude a permis d’identifier un risque de fragilisation du système coopératif si l’expertise semencière développée par l’Asprodeb n’est mobilisée qu’à des fins commerciales. Par ailleurs, cette analyse d’impact qualitative, participative et réflexive a permis un éclairage du rôle, souvent invisible, tenu par les chercheurs, qui, opérant en contexte, ont facilité les processus d’innovation et les connexions entre acteurs. This article reviews the process of implementing a series of innovations in the peanut sector in Senegal between 1999 and 2016. The emphasis is put on the decisive factors that enabled the establishment of a network of seed cooperatives under the impetus of the producer’s organization Asprodeb. The analysis is based on the theory of change, which gives importance to relations between technological innovations and their social and political context. We conclude that three factors were determinant in the observed changes: (1) a pilot research and development operation involving research, the farmer’s organization and the producers of the Paoskoto village, the initial place where research results moved into achievements, (2) strengthening and diversifying partnerships between groundnut stakeholders, especially those from seed sector and (3) capacity building leading to professionalization of producers. Beyond the successes obtained, a risk of weakening of the cooperative system has been identified if the seed expertise developed by Asprodeb is only mobilized for commercial interests. This qualitative, participatory and reflexive impact analysis also made it possible to shed light on the role, often invisible, held by researchers who, working in context, facilitated the processes of innovation and the connections between actors.