Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
board of the GIE Provania, a small farmers' association in Pikine founded in
1993.
This association is a politically motivated body which was originally
founded by farmers to address issues of land-tenure security. Its core mission
has been to develop the cultivation and marketing of local agricultural
products by building commercial networks. The association also works to
create partnerships with aid agencies and other organizations and takes part
in lobbying activities to promote the institutionalization of UA (IDRC, 2006).
The association has 115 male and female members and is led by a president,
secretary general, treasurer and financial ocer. There is also a general
assembly as well as regular meetings, which give it a legal structure that
enables it to apply for funding and carry out projects.
Several institutions have been active in the zone such as the University of
Dakar, ENDA Rup (an environmental and development NGO), Agence
Nationale de Conseils Agricoles Rurale (ANCAR) and the Institut Africain de
Gestion Urbaine (IAGU). They have been particularly involved in wastewater
treatment, effective irrigation practices, composting and in the overall
improvement of farming practices. Partnership with these institutions was
essential for the PEAR process, as these organizations provided initial training
and access as well as interpretation of the research context.
Other factors affected the research. For example, because the researcher
was unable to speak the local language, Wolof, it was impossible to converse
with the most marginalized, illiterate farmers. Moreover, the researcher's only
interaction was with men. Despite women's crucial roles in marketing
produce and notwithstanding their direct exposure to pesticides and
wastewater, the researcher was unable to work with women. It may have been
possible to work with these two core groups had she been able to work in
small groups with the help of a translator.
There were four distinct phases of the PEAR process which consisted of
onsite and offsite planning and development. Six field trips were made
between 2004 and 2006, where a variety of interventions were developed
including focus groups, questionnaires, workshops, mapping exercises,
scenario drawings and the identification of risk practices. Ongoing contact via
e-mail and telephone enabled continued planning and development over the
entire process. The four phases of PEAR were:
1 During 2004-2005, information was gathered and disseminated by way of
meetings, focus groups, in-depth interviews, mapping exercises, seasonal
calendar exercises and questionnaires on UA, wastewater and pesticides.
The researcher worked in collaboration with experts to design and develop
materials for workshops which were given on such topics as UA,
pesticides, key environment and health issues and wastewater. I then
integrated this work and redesigned workshops with farmers which
subsequently were conducted in the fields.
2
In 2005, questionnaire and focus group data were analysed in several ways:
by door-to-door visits made by farmers, where they asked questions of
