Seeds to reach Farmers in Specific Target Areas and Burkina Faso (Niger), WAf-CoP

E. Weltzien, M. Sidibe, B. Diallo, A. Diallo, F. Rattunde, K. Isaacs, B. Nebie Project Goal

Develop farmer-managed seed initiatives that lead to wide-scale awareness about and use of newly identified farmer preferred varieties in the areas where farmer-managed seed enterprises operate. Who are the project partners

Mali Burkina Niger Faso Research IER, Sorghum INERA, INRAN, Program Prgr. Prgr. Sorgho Sorgho/Mil

Farmer Union Local des UGCPA, Fuma Organisations Producteurs de AMSP Gaskya, Cereals de Dioila, Mooriben COPROSEM (AOPP)

Extension Service Service agricole de Dire reg --- Dioila agr. Short Overview: ULPC de Dioila

• ULPC: Union of cooperatives • 43 Cooperatives of cereal producers (COPC) • They are organized into groups by commune (smallest admin unit) of the Dioila District: , N’golobougou, Banco, , , Benkadi et Niantjilla • Total 1569 members (1253 men and 316 women) • Main organs are the General Assembly, Governing Board, (Officers), ‘Comite de Surveilllance’ • The Union has one technical staff for coordination with the researchers, and six farmers trained as commune level facilitators What key network activities?

technological institutional • Conducting______regular ______variety • Jointly evaluate experiences with ______(sorghum and ___ groundnut ___ ) seed sales and its organization ______trials, and selections jointly, • Adapt organizational structure and focus ‘food yield’ • ______specific responsibilities to lesson’s • _Strengthening ______capacities ______to learned ___analyse, ______present ___and ______discuss • Build capacity for cooperative ______results of trial management based on joint • Build______capacity ______for seed ___ analyses of experiences ____production, ______including hybrid • Enhance network of partners for seed • ______seed sales and other agricultural • ______Build capacity ______for __ activities _____communication, ______information sharing in the communites Milestones of the collaboration

1. Protocols established for collaborative initial variety testing for adaptation and productivity, including feedback to farmers 2. Procedures developed for processing and culinary evaluation on village basis 3. Flexible protocols developed for farmer managed variety evaluations under diverse growing conditions 4. Networks of variety testers, women and men 5. Diverse varieties and hybrids released for dissemination 6. Seed production procedures, manuals training programs and network of seed producers 7. Seed dissemination strategies tested based on local cultural values, and developing 8. Strategy developed for breeding for low fertility conditions (low phosphorus), priority for women’s fields Key Problems identified in 2014 during Phase 3 launch • Local sales directly to farmers who will sow the seeds not going up • The members of the coops not involved in pricing • Info on costs and benefit sharing between union, coops and vendors and seed producers not clear • Poor monitoring of vendors, and evolution of seed stocks in different markets • Difficulties to refuse seed supply on credit or as gift to known individuals • Difficulties to sell and ‘advertise’ seed as an idividual, including commune level facilitators Specific issue addressed with farmer union/coops • Jointly identifying options for local re- organization among members, coops the farmer union • Methods used: Collaborative analysis with individual coops, and individual members and union organs of organizational issues, decision making processes and options for changes, using developmental evaluation approach Documentation

• Minutes of individual meetings, and interactions between ‘actors’ and the ‘facilitator’ • Notes from individual interviews • Seed stocks maintained at different salespoints • Lists of seed buyers, recorded by seed sellers Old scheme of local seed commercialisation at ULPC, Dioila (2014)

Seed Shop at ULPC office at Dioila

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RD

AADD Animateurs

ADV ADD New organogram of ULPC breeding and seed activities

Service d’agiculture ULPC

Agro dealers

Recherche ( ICRISAT/IER) CCS

Commerç ants informels Radios locales Coopératives testseurs Coopératives productrices de semence Comité semence Comité central de semence Coopératives testeurs et productrice de semence Initial learnings about facilitating networking within larger Farmer Unions

• The description and self-evaluation of organisationnel specificities are effective tools to trigger organisationnel changes. • Understanding and writing the local language is necessary for the farmer organization(s) and the researchers to facilitate co-learning • Strengthening capacities of the organs at the base of the farmer organization (coops, committees, individuals) is essential for consolidating learnings, and for the sustainability of the collaboration between research and the farmer unions. • The personal relationship between seed sellers/producers seed buyers is essential to trigger seed purchases on the local level. It is important to use local seed sellers in many different places, to reach farmers in many villages. • Analysing and sharing experiences with several grups/committees strengthens the engagement of the groups and individuals and the opportunities for implemeting changes. • The packaging of seed in the village and the involvement of the local seed sellers in the process enhances the confidence of farmers who buy seed. • It is essential that everyone who contributes, and all the levels of the organization benefit from the seed sales. Evaluation of tools for communication advertizing from ‘fiches techniques’ aux ‘fiches promotionnelles’

Initially distribution of ‘fiches techniques’ to seed sellers KENIKE SI WOLOSO Open discussion on advantages and FADDA disadvantages for the sale.

Concluded that they were not very Si cogoya: Danni f\l\w ni k\saw bq wolo x\gonfq useful, impact was limited, style not wagatikelen na appropriate A Wolo wagati : Sqtanburu kalo laban y\r\ S\r\ cikqy\r\w la : a bq se ka b\r\ 35 di f\ ka d\ da o Developed ‘fiche promotionnelles‘ kan ; a s\r\ ka bon ni ladalasiw ta ye dugukolo based on farmer recommendations n\g\manw ni n\g\tanw bqq la To cogoya : A to kadi k\sqbq , mana fana b’ala and discussions kos\bq

Evaluation of effects at the diffferent M\ni cogoya: A m\ni kaxi, a kadi mana b’ala

levels is positive Kisq kolo gqlqya : A kisq kolo ka gqlqn kos\bq

Kisq marali: A kisq bq mara ka mqn

Bakan dumuni : Bagan dumuni xuman b’ala, a bulu ka ca, a bq se ka buluw kqnq to.

Sqgq kunli : A tq sqgq kun dugukolojalan kan Frequency of purchase of seed by gender (client) and the type of variety - hybrid or OPV in 2014

Commune de Wacoro Commune de Nangola Femme: N= 56 Homme: N=74 Femme: N=96 Homme:N=144

9%

36% 35% 49% 51% 64% 65% 91%

Hybride Variété améliorée Hybride Variété améliorée Hybride Variété améliorée Hybride Variété améliorée

Very diverse behaviours (Exploitation des listes de vente pour des analyses , présentations des résultats et discussions conjointes pour tirer les leçons Qu’est ce qui fait la différence? , quelles sont les opportunités d’amélioration) Evolution de la vente locale de semence de 2013 et 2014

Dandougou Total=3079 Kg 0% Totale=1057.5 Kg 0% Dièdougou Dandougou 1% 2014 1% 3% 0% 2013 Guégnéka 1% Djêdougou Guégnéka 12% 31% 28% Kaladougou 27% Massigui

Massigui Nangola

Nangola N'Garadoug 1% ou 6% N'golobougo 0% 46% N'garadougou 7% 0% u 6% 13% Wacoro N'golobougou 0% 17% Degnekoro Wakoro Guendo

What has changed? The organisation of the sale: in 2013 focus on ‘animateurs’, in 2014 focus on seed committees on commune level, using more personal relationships for the sale, more lively organisations, more transparency. Key question for the self-evaluation

• How are we organized for specific tasks and issues? (description) • What has worked well with this way of organizing it? What did not work so well? • Following the analysis and the orientation of the results, what did we learn from the other groups/committees? • Which improvements could we make? Facilitating self – evaluation and information sharing

Example of the synthesis of the seed comite of Ngolobugu, Dioila, Mali (2014). Translated from Bambara via French into English Success Opportunities - We held a seed fair at teh weekly market of - Human resources available t Ngologubu (good salesn and much train seed vendors ; communication); - Possibility to involve more - Held a assmembly of coops at teh commune members in onformation level and created a team of seed sellers and sharing communicators. - Seed storage facilities - Seed was conditioned at the village level available for rent in - Involvement of women the seed sales N’golobugu market. - The advertsig by the Radio « Jamako » ; - Fixing the seed prices so they are adapted to the farmers’ conditions.

Weaknesses Obstacles - Some seed vendors do not know the varieties well - Many farmers think that hybrids enough; are GMOs’ - the coops do not have storage facilities for grain or seed. ; - The seeds sold were not treated, for fear of not selling. - Communiation about seed sales were insufficient Des qués: comment sommes nous organisés pour des aspect /activité spécifiques? (Description) Qu’est ce qui a bien marché dans cette organisation ? Qu’est ce qui n’a pas bien marché? Après analyse et présentation des résultats , qu’avons-nous tiré de leçon chez les autres groupe/comités? Quelle amélioration pouvons nous apporter ? Conclusions and Lessons Learned

• Building capacity of individual farmers to take responsability for key collaborative activities: e.g. coordinating variety trials, seed production, and certification • Networking among farmers who conduct trials or produce seed • Involving women farmers and coops in trials, seed production and seed sales is critical • Importance of the Union of cooperatives for facilitating organizational change • Creating a monetary benefits and sharing them at all levels is essential for organizational dynamics Thank you