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nRead IIED’s blog on the event at:
www.iied.org/agricultural-developmentbusiness-usual-not-option
nRead more on the Food We Want website:
http://tinyurl.com/fww-launch
Full URL:
www.foodwewant.org/eng/News/FoodWe-Want-Sustainable-Local-Fair-colourfullylaunched-in-the-UK
nFor information on PENHA see:
www.penhanetwork.org
Democratising agricultural research
IIED and its partners have been facilitating
an inclusive process of farmer deliberation
on what kind of agricultural research
small-scale farmers and food processors
want (www.excludedvoices.org). This is
being carried out in the Andean Altiplano
of South America, South Asia, West Asia
and West Africa. As part of this multiregional process, a series of citizens’ juries
was held in Mali over the last six years.
Their aim was to allow ordinary farmers
and other food producers, both men and
women, to present and discuss their
priorities on the governance of agricultural
research in West Africa, and make policy
recommendations. The farmer jurors made
over 100 recommendations after crossexamining expert witnesses. It was
recognised that there was a need for
diversity and an inclusive agenda that puts
Farmer specialists at the citizens’ juries on
Democratising agricultural research, Mali
small farmers at the centre. In the followup to this unique and deliberative process,
West African farmers asked to have an
open High Level Policy Dialogue with the
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
(AGRA) and its main donors. This took
place in Accra, Ghana in February this
year, chaired by the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Professor
Olivier de Schutter. There were about 100
people present – among them 22
participants from AGRA, including its
President, the President of ROPPA, 26
West African farmers (men and women),
about 20 farmers from other regions
affected by the first Green Revolution, and
three indigenous peoples from Thailand.2
There was a video link up with the All
Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on
Agroecology at the UK Houses of
Parliament, which enabled the participants
in Accra to dialogue with staff from the UK
Department for International
Development, MPs and civil society
members. Despite some technical hitches
with the sound, the participants felt that
the policy dialogue set an important
precedent for policy-making on the
governance of agricultural research for
development in West Africa, bringing
hitherto marginalised views of farmers to
the table.
nDownload the photo story at
http://pubs.iied.org/G03349.html. See also:
Democratising agricultural research for food
Photos: Khanh Tran-Thanh
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2 Le Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest
(Network of Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers).