1. SMALL FARM HOLDER MOBILIZATION AND BGBD PROJET ADOPTION IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE
Jonas G. IBO1, Aubin AGNISSAN1, Barry MODDY1, Benoit K. OGNI1, Pascal K.T. ANGUI2,
Jérôme E. TONDOH2 , Yao TANO1
1Université de Cocody, 22 BP 582 Abidjan, 22 Côte d’Ivoire
²Université d’Abobo-Adjamé, 02 BP 801 Abidjan 02, Côte d’Ivoire
Corresponding author: ibojonas@yahoo.fr
1. CONTEXTE
Soil degradation, low crop productivity, along with of land ressources scarcety and conflicts between the different stakeholders in the sociological
arena, the gradual impoverishment of the different population groups, constitute key issues facing populations in the Oumé area, mid-west Côte
d’Ivoire.
2. THE NATURE OF THE SOLUTION PROPOSED BY THE PROJET
3. RECOMMANDED APPROACH TO PROMOTE THE INNOVATION
The project strives to promote conservation agriculture through the
A mobilisation approach of the rural communities was adopted in
introduction of a new technology, based on the introduction of soil
order to promote new farming technology in the Goulikao area.
organisms, notably earthworms in sustainable agricultural
management in order to increase crop productivity.
4.3. Group meeting with local farmers and formation of the local BGBD
4. STEPS IN FARMER MOBILIZATION committee
4.1. Socio-economical characteristics: A strongly stratified multi ethnic • Four statutary group meetings and several public awarness meetings
society. were held, that facilitated the implantation of the Project in the area
The indigenous Gban tribe lives alongside the allochtonous settlers, (Fig. 1).
notably, the Baoule, Bete, Gouro, Malinke, as well as foreign •The formation of a local BGBD group was done as a necessary link
immigrants coming from other african countries (Burkinabe, Malians, between the steering committee (researchers) and farmers for a
Guineans, Nigerians, etc.). smooth implementation of the Project.
The indigenous Gban hold custom rights to land within the community. •Team composition was based on the existing ethnocultural
The other ethnic groups exploit land as usufructuary. The autochtonous characteristics of the site; the president of the committee is an
Gban are both economically an numerically weak. The allochtonous allochtonous settler well integrated wthin the Gban community (his wife
Baoule and the foreign Burkinabe play a key role in the local economy. is a Gban and is fluent in the Gban language, etc.) (Fig. 2).
Overall, the indigenous Gban hold the decision power, while the other The ultimate aim of the formation of the local farmer committee was to
groups of settlers controle local economy. allow the populations to come to a complete grasp of the different
steps involved in project implementation, in order help to pass on the
4.2. Project implementation in the area
innovation to other members of the community, notably at project end.
The project was installed in the autochtonous village of Goulikao. The
village chief was considered as the moral garant for a peaceful
implementation of the Project. Public awarness meetings were held
within the village, in order to reinforce the authiority of the chief and, at
the same time, a harmonious integration of the BGBD project steering
committee within the existing social contexte of the area.
Figure 2: Some key members of the local farmer
committee proudly posing with their project-attrbuted
bicycles. Center : Pierre Koffi (President), to the left :
Figure 1: Public awarness meetings in
Trazié Baudelaire (Secretary), to the right : Zéli Marcel
Goulikao (deputy-secretary)
5. RESULTS OF SOCIAL MOBILISATION
• Plot were obtained from the populations, free of charge
Figure 3: Family photo (researchers and • The youth of the village of Goulikao was trained which helped them to
technicians) posing after a day of hard work Figure 4: Project technicians busy
participating in plot trials set up acquire a good experience in plot lay-out and care (Fig. 3 & 4)
• Farmers adopted the recommended techniques
• The socio-political contradictions, that were apparent, at the start of
the Project (the dual power situation) was quelled, owing to the advent
of the BGBD project.