pesticide risk management through farmer field schools in the senegal and niger river basins

Reducing pesticide risks to farming communities: adaptive management through farmer field schools in the Senegal and Niger River basins in West Africa

Reducing pesticide risks to farming communities: adaptive management through farmer field schools in the Senegal and Niger River basins in West Africa

William Settle* FAO /AGP RomeMohamed Soumaré FAOR MaliMakhfousse Sarr FAOR SenegalMohamed Hama Garba FAOR BurundiAnne-Sophie Poisot FAO/AGP Rome

ACHIEVING FOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY-NEW APPROACHES TO CLOSE THE GAPTHE ROYAL SOCIETY, DECEMBER 3-4, 2012

*UNFAO, Vialle delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, 00153, Italy william.settle@fao.org

Objectives of this talk

i) Provide some background on issues related to pesticide-use in programme countries

ii) A brief description of Farmer Field Schools

iii)A context for two other papers presented here today (Jepson and Sarr and Anderson and Seck)

FAO Integrated Production and Pest Management Programme in West Africa

(IPPM)2001 – 2012

Funding:

Governments of :The NetherlandsEUNorwaySpainCanadaGlobal Environment Facility (GEF/UNEP)

7 Countries, 2 Major River Basins

Senegal River Basin3.5 m people

Niger River Basin20 m people(outside Nigeria)

Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, MauritaniaNiger, Senegal

Data from Human Development Report 2011, UNEP

Expenditure on public health (% of GDP)

Hu

man D

evelo

pm

en

t In

dex (

HD

I)

Seven least developed countries

...but targeted by industry to reach 20% in next 10 years

Africa is only 2% of global market for pesticides

Pesticides in West Africa put at Risk Highly Fragile Aquatic Ecosystems

Ecosystem services

Drainage sump

40% of European migratory birds visitInland deltas of West Africa

...and the populations whose survival hinges on limited water resources

Water resources are directly consumed

1980 Senegal RiverBHC against Senegalese

grasshopper Odaleus senegalensis

Past history of pesticide use : still with us today?

PRESSURES:

STATES:

IMPACTS:

DRIVERS:

Reinforcing Feedback Loops Loss of Overall

Biodiversity

Increased Outbreaks of Plant Pests and Diseases;

Reduced Pollination

Loss of ConsumableAquatic Fauna

Damaged Aquatic Micro-

Fauna and Flora

Damaged Terrestrial

Biodiversity

Contaminated WATER Irrigation, Drainage,

Wells, and Rivers

Applicators in direct contact with toxic

chemicals

Contaminated Produce (fruits,

vegetables, cereals)

Reduced Human

Health

Reduced International

ExportsReduced Environmental

Social and Economic Well-Being

Reduced Agricultural

Productivity & Profits

Growing use of toxic Pesticides

Population Growth and Perceived threats to Global

Food Security

Commercial Influence of global

Agro-Chemical Industry

Lack of Awareness of Negative Externalities & Positive Alternatives

Lack of National Pesticide Monitoring and Enforcement

of Existing Regulations

RESPONSES

Building capacity in Regional Ecotoxicology labs

Monitoring Pesticide Use

Modeling impacts on biodiversity and human health

Monitoring impacts on yields and farm-level profits

Building capacity in local communities (Field Schools)

Monitoring Pesticide Concentrations in surface waters

Field Schools : building critical thinking skills throughsocial learning

> 90 countries

Farmer Field Schools

Field Schools and Adaptive Management

Building capacity for Adaptive Management

Three tenets (inspired by Norton 2005):

1. Promoting farmer experimentation

2. Building locally crafted strategies

3. Working with many partners at multiple scales"to help provide language, and habit

of mind and an adaptive experimental approach for action“ Norton 2005

Season-Long Training of Facilitators (ToF)

Comparing conventional and new practices

UnderstandingMechanisms

Farmer Field Schools

Awareness– exploration/experimentation—adaptation

Farmer Field Schools – Addressing Heterogeneity

… adoption

1. Begins with community participatory appraisal to establish farmer priorities

2. 20-25 Farmers meeting once per week for the full season

3. Curriculum based on crop calendar4. Explores issues and ideas through observation

experimentation, presentation, and discussion5. Promotes understanding mechanisms (economic,

ecological, social)6. Foundation for building groups 7. Continues in subsequent seasons to explore new topics

Farmer Field Schools (FFS)

Burkina Faso

Crop diversity: Incomes Nutrition

Building ecological and economic resilience

© FAO/William Settle

Building Groups (Social Capital)

Farmer Field Schools

Netting protects seedbeds from birds and insects

Farmer Field Schools

Post FFS : “Champs d’application”

Not just one season

Crop % Women

Vegetables 54,512 48%

Rice 42,293 18%

Cotton 44,624 5%

Mango 988 3%

Cow peas 1,821 57%

Sesame 1,534 27%

Millet / Sorghum 930 5%

Jatropha 300 0%

Karité 1,200 95%

Phase II Total 148,202 mean = 26%

Growing diversity of crops(2002-2012)

A “demand-driven” philosophy full system approach

Rice

Vegetables

Cotton Minor Crops

Cotton-Cereals-Livestock

Semi-Arid SavannasMillet-Sorghum-Livestock

Agro-forestry Systems

•Sesame•Cowpea•Jatropha•Karite•Mango

•Forage•Legumes•Cover Crops

2001 2006 2009

Cro

ppin

g S

yst

em

s

2010

IPMSoil Fertility

Management

OrchardManagement

IntegratedSoil Fertility

ManagementMarketing Agro-

Forestry

Water-ConservingMethods

Climate Change Adaptation

Metho

ds

Seed Multiplication

Environmental Monitoring for Pesticides & Human Health Risk AssessmentNursery and

Transplanting

2011 2012

Nu

mb

er

of

Farm

ers

Tra

ined

IPPM West Africa`

Number of Farmers Trained by CountryJune 2012

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

NigerMauritanieGuinéeSenegalMaliBurkinaBenin

Phase I

148,202

Phase II

Phase III

Cotton production is responsible for the highest consumption of pesticides in West Africa

3.7m cotton farmers in Mali

Field Schools for cotton

Cotton – an “open door” for highly toxic pesticides brought into other systems

© FAO/William Settle

© FAO/William Settle

4,346 cotton households56 villages

Mali Cotton :

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Year

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Pe

rce

nt

of

pe

sti

cid

es p

urc

ha

sed

BengueneBlaNialaSamabogoSomassoTiemen

4,324 households : 1,461 farmers trained (34%)

Percent households trained

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Pe

rce

nt

pes

tici

de

s p

urc

ha

se

d

0 2010 30 40 50 60

Mali IPM training: diffusion?

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

Gro

ss in

com

e pe

r com

mun

e US

D

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Percent households trained

Mali IPM training: economic benefits?

Mali Cotton :

47,000 litres synthetic insecticides not sprayed = $470,000 savings

Cost to train farmers : $146,000

… what about the non-economic benefits?

• Clear benefits: economic and health-related

• Effective IPM technologies (neem-based with option to use synthetic insecticides if needed)

• Effective training methods (FFS)—pragmatic “discovery learning”

• Enhanced communication among farmers and between farmers and technicians (social capital)—facilitator/pest scouts

• High proportion trained (34% overall across the sector).

Mali Cotton : why diffusion might take place

• 400 Ha rice polder 793 farmer plots: • Yields from 2.1 T/ha to 5.0 T/ha in two seasons • 66% reduction in fertilizer use• 80% reduction in seed use• Economic benefit approx. $400k• Annual cost of entire programme Benin: approx. $340k

Benin Farmer 2008-9

Each country has potential for “big wins”

From Settle and Garba 2010

pre post pre post

Groups by period

0

10

20

30

40

Inse

ctic

ide e

xp

en

dit

ure

s p

er

farm

er

US

D

FFS Control

N = 136

Senegal Vegetable Production

pesticide use reduced

93%

Senegal Vegetable Production PracticesPre and Post FFS

0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0A. Commercial Pesticide L/ha

Pre-FFS Post-FFS

0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0D. Neem Extract L/ha

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2 C. Bio-Pesticide L/han = 68

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000B. Crop Net Value USD/ha **

Pre-FFS Post-FFS

Pre-FFS Post-FFS Pre-FFS Post-FFS

No differenceWith controlgroup

CONCLUSIONS

1. The time is long past due to get the most toxic pesticides out of the hands and homes of farmers and to get use down to a level that is appropriate:

education—legislation—monitoring

2. Heterogeneity of ecological, social and economic systems obliges investment in educating small farmers to be proactive participants in adaptive research

3. Partnerships within and across multiple scales: Embed promising social processes within, and empower the “mosaic” of social and administrative structures at decentralized (subdistrict-levels). Exchange lessons learned and people across neighbouring countries.