See the CCAFS photo story of the fair under https://ccafs.cgiar.org/blog/photo-story-fair-promotes-farmer-innovations-west-africa
The West African workshop on approaches to farmer-led research and the West Africa Farmer Innovation Fair (FIPAO in French: Foire de l’Innovation Paysanne en l’Afrique de luest) was held on 12–16 May 2015 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Continuing in the spirit of the International Year of Family Farming (2014), the workshop and fair in 2015 put the spotlight on farmers’ creativity and their roles in participatory research. It aimed to intensify linkages and learning among all actors involved in agricultural research and development related to smallholder family farming. The FIPAO followed the example of the Eastern Africa Farmer Innovation Fair held in Nairobi, Kenya, in May 2013 and provided a showcase for about 50 West African farmer innovators to exhibit their achievements.
The learning-and-sharing workshop on farmer-led research approaches (12–14 May) involved primarily staff from field-based organisations that are facilitating such approaches in francophone West Africa. From their various experiences, the workshop distilled key messages about supporting research and development by smallholders and shared these messages with farmer innovators, development practitioners, formal scientists, policymakers and the general public visiting the fair (15–16 May).
To see and learn more about the workshop and fair (one-pager), go to the FIPAO website (in French): http://fipao.faso-dev.net.
Next to these two events, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) sponsored a special contest for video documentation of farmer innovation in the face of climate change, in addition to the many other farmer innovations being exhibited at the fair. Video-makers from Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso discussed video scenarios together with farmer innovators, community-based organisations, policymakers and other stakeholders and prepared video films with them. These films were screened at the fair to show the added value of farmers’ innovativeness to cope with climate change.
Countries involved
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Niger, north Benin, north Togo and north Cameroon
Dates and venue of events
Workshop: 12–14 May 2015 / Fair: 15–16 May 2015
Venue for workshop: Pacific Hotel, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Venue for fair: Salon International de l’Artisanat de Ouagadougou (SIAO), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Partners and donors
AgriProFocus (APF) Netherlands
CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)
McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) Community of Practice (CoP) in West Africa
Misereor, Germany
Prolinnova/PROFEIS
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA)
International Secretariat
Prolinnova International Secretariat
ETC Foundation, PO Box 64, 3830 AB Leusden, Netherlands
T +31 33 432 6000 F +31 33 494 0791
W www.prolinnova.net
Contact persons at international level
Prolinnova/ETC Foundation:
Gabriela Quiroga Gilardoni (g.quiroga@etcnl.nl)
Laurens van Veldhuizen (l.van.veldhuizen@etcnl.nl)
Ingrid Flink (i.flink@etcnl.nl)
Contact persons at regional level
INADES-Formation Burkina Faso:
Zongo Aline (aline.zongo@inadesfo.net)
Konaté Arsène (arsene.konate@inadesfo.net)
Réseau MARP:
Ouédraogo Mathieu (patemathieu@yahoo.fr )
Focal points at national level
Benin: Marcel Djihoun (mdjihoun@snvworld.org
Burkina Faso: Benoit Ouédraogo (benoit.ouedraogo@gmail.com)
Cameroon: Jean Bosco Etoa (etoa_ngbwa@hotmail.com) / Alain Beko’o Abondo (alain.abondo@yahoo.com)
Ghana: Zimi Pius (zimip554@gmail.com)
Mali: Bourama Diakité (diakitbourama@yahoo.fr)
Niger: Zeinabou Hamani (zhamani@agriprofocus.com)
Togo: Sélome Houetognon (selome30@yahoo.fr)
Senegal: Djibril Thiam (thiamdjibril@yahoo.fr)
