Building resources for sustainable agriculture in West Africa
In September 1998, five non-governmental organisations (NGOs) began a collaborative project to establish documentation centres on pesticides and an outreach programme working with farmers, agricultural research and extension, the health services and decision makers to raise awareness of pesticide hazards and promote sustainable alternatives in three West African countries. A workshop held in Benin from 15-21 January 2000 brought the partners together to share experiences and developments. Barbara Dinham reports from Benin.
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‘There is a very powerful force towards
intensification of agriculture. Governments need the help of NGOs, who are
closer to farmers, to help them know what is happening in the field, and to
introduce organic agriculture.’ said Mr Georges Agbahoungba, of the
agricultural research institute and chair of the documentation centre of
Organisation Beninoise pour la Promotion de l’Agriculture Biologique (OBEPAB),
the host-partner in Benin. Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Africa in Senegal and
the Ghana Organic Agriculture Network (GOAN) reported similar positive support
for documentation centres on pesticides and alternatives at the workshop.
Drawing together the expertise of three NGOs in West Africa,
with the Pesticide Action Network UK and Powerful Information in the UK, the
‘Pesticide Hazards and Sustainable Livelihoods’ project aims to increase
both local and international knowledge of the pesticide problems in the field
and to contribute to appropriate strategies for agricultural production in small
scale farming systems. The African partners are establishing documentation
centres in each country to increase the access to information on pesticides and
appropriate alternatives and provide a sound basis for an outreach programme of
education and training. The three groups have carried out a needs assessment to
document the problems and requirements of farmers, agricultural extension,
health workers, and decision makers.
In opening the Benin workshop, Mme Yédomon
Philomène, adviser on agriculture and food in the Ministry of Rural
Development, said: ‘The quantity of pesticides used in Benin is growing, and
accidents from pesticide use are increasing, mainly due to a lack of
understanding of safe and effective application. Information dissemination will
help to reduce the impacts on human health, animals, and the environment. In our
country, cheaper alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides are available and
more information on these will help farmers to use them.’
Both Senegal and Benin are dependent on
cotton exports, largely produced under conventional systems and requiring small
scale farmers to use hazardous pesticides under unsafe conditions.
‘Cotton-producing countries are under pressures from the many pesticide
companies, particularly those based in Europe and Japan, and they do not have
the information and resources to investigate the best approach. So many
interests are involved it is impossible for a poor farmer to make decisions,’
said Georges Agbahoungba.
Farmers need information
Kitchè Dénis grows groundnuts, cotton, maize and
cowpeas in Mangassa village in the Dan region of Benin, where many in his
village have become disenchanted with conventional agriculture, finding that the
costs can outweigh the benefits. During a field visit of the workshop, he
explained: ‘When using chemicals on our crops, sickness was common. When we
grew conventional cotton, we had higher yields, but after paying for our inputs
we were using all the extra money on drugs to heal ourselves.’
Small-scale farmers often find
themselves trapped in a cycle of dependency, where the crops they grow for cash
are locked into production systems using inputs of chemical fertilisers and
pesticides. Breaking out of this cycle requires assistance at both a technical
level, working with farmers to develop organic or other ecological production
strategies, and at a marketing level. Solid information is essential. New market
links may need to be established to obtain an organic premium for the crop, to
ensure the farmers get a fair price, or simply because growing organic crops may
put farmers outside the State marketing structures and alternative collection
and payment systems need to be established.
OBEPAB has played a key role in
introducing organic agriculture to Beninese farmers. Its programme began in the
1996/97 season in two areas, Dan and Aklampa. It facilitated the conversion from
conventional to organic cotton of about 100 farmers, and in the present season
has expanded to 125 farmers and 105 ha. of cotton. Its outreach work in this
project will help to strengthen the programme. Consolidation is timely, as the
organic cotton developments have received a boost from the Benin-Netherlands
governments cooperation programme, which is providing resources to investigate
how to scale up the organic approach.
‘At present,’ Kitchè Dénis
explained, ‘If OBEPAB withdrew its support and stopped buying our cotton we
would have some difficulty as there is no-one else to buy it. But the system is
transparent, and lack of transparency is one of the things that we most dislike
in conventional cotton production. We don’t know when we are being cheated.
This was one of the things that first led us to get involved in growing organic
cotton.’
Pesticides concern women
The partners are committed to ensuring that women and
men benefit equally from the project. This means taking account of their
different agricultural roles and responsibilities, ensuring good coverage of
social and gender aspects in the documentation centres, developing appropriate
training strategies, and targeting resources. Impacts on both women and men will
be documented.
Women are often particularly concerned
with the health impacts of pesticides, as one farmer in Mangassa village,
explained during the field visit: ‘I work with my husband in our cotton field.
I was pregnant two years ago when we started growing organic. I had been very
frightened that the spray would affect my health and my baby, because of my
experience of growing conventional cotton. In fact, when we were spraying I did
not get ill, but was all the time expecting it. Now we can work together and are
not afraid of the effect on our health.’
Mme Omolora Adjadi, who works in
agricultural extension to promote employment in agriculture for young people in
Benin and is also a member of the national steering committee of the
documentation centre of OBEPAB, stated: ‘Women don’t generally use
pesticides directly, but use bottles for storage of food and water and are not
aware of the dangers. When weeding in the field, women are often sprayed and get
pesticides on their body and clothes. Children are in the field with them, and
babies breast feeding will be exposed. We are all guilty if we do not ensure
that women in this situation are not aware of the problems.’
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‘One of the main concerns,’ said Mme Ajdadi, ‘is that extension workers mainly work with men. Women are the main actors in the field: ploughing, weeding and harvesting. Women make up more than 50% of the population, but they are not addressed. In Benin, it is important to attract more women to work in rural areas.’
Poisoning incident data base
Compared to some countries, Benin uses only a small quantity of pesticides, but
in 1999 about 60 people died from pesticide incidents involving food
contamination with endosulfan (see page 12). The World Health Organisation (WHO)
estimates that there could be 20,000 unintentional deaths as a result of
pesticides poisoning every year. For a farming population the size of Benin,
this would mean about 16 deaths: well below the known number in 1999. In
Senegal, a PAN Africa survey uncovered 30 recent serious poisonings, including
12 deaths. Under the project the partners have developed a pesticide incident
data base as a prototype to collect information on poisonings.
Achievements
A little over a year into the project, partners in
Senegal, Benin and Ghana have made good progress. The project officers have
carried out a needs assessment and established the documentation centre. Books
and other resources have been identified, and the first deliveries have arrived.
The information gathered in the needs
assessments was shared by partners in a meeting in Ghana in March 1999: in all
countries it demonstrated a grave concern with pesticide problems and an intense
interest in alternatives. Each African partner has established contacts with key
targets; rural radio programmes have been broadcast; incident data collection
has begun. Work is just beginning on research into indigenous pest control
methods which farmers have traditionally used in each country.
The project is strengthening other work
in each group. In Ghana, for example, GOAN found that farmers wanted information
on pesticide use and misuse, and the effect of pesticides on the environment.
But they also wanted to know how to reduce their use of pesticides, how to farm
organically and manage soil fertility naturally, and how to market organic
produce. Many agriculture extension workers also wanted training in organic
production.
Outreach and training
The priority at the Benin workshop was to develop an
outreach programme for training and taking resources out to those who need the
information. Cotton growing areas have been targeted for information and by the
resource centres of OBEPAB and PAN Africa because cotton is the main crop using
pesticides in both countries. In addition, all three countries are focusing on
pesticides on vegetable production in urban and peri-urban areas, where chemical
inputs are high, and increasing dramatically.
As an organic agriculture network, GOAN
has established support systems for farmers wishing to convert. The focus is on
learning by doing, including practical skills in compost-making to improve the
health of the soil. GOAN has organised five training workshops using IPM
trainers. Each lasts four months and involves 20 farmers and five extension
workers and NGOs. A one week Farmer Field School within walking distance of the
farmers fields is followed up by two days a month training, and between times
the trainees complete exercises, including collection of pesticide data. Joint
training with extension officers has increased farmers’ confidence that the
organic techniques will work.
The conditions are different in each
country, but partners agreed that for some aspects of interviewing and training
with the target groups, separate sessions with women will be needed. A
challenging range of educational material needs to be developed for work with
women and men farmers who cannot read in countries where there are many
different languages spoken. The workshop enabled the partners to exchange ideas
on field demonstrations, developing ‘wordless books’, use of artists, video,
radio, flip charts, graphic manuals and other tools.
Conclusion
The hazards of pesticide use in developing countries are not in dispute, and
governments and inter-governmental agencies are working internationally to help.
In 1998, governments agreed the Rotterdam Convention, which will increase
awareness and action against banned and severely restricted pesticides, and
introduces the concept of ‘Prior Informed Consent’ to help countries
prohibit imports of certain hazardous pesticides. The FAO International Code of
Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides, now being revised in the
light of 15 years experience, calls for vigilance in recording and preventing
pesticide poisoning and pollution.
NGOs play an important role in
documenting what happens on the ground, working with poor communities to improve
practices, and in contributing to improved monitoring and regulation. It is
vital to strengthen the capacity in developing countries to carry out these
activities, as well as to share experiences and build collaboration between
groups in the North and the South. Efforts such as this project bring together
common interests. In the UK, for example, consumers are increasingly concerned
not only with residues of pesticides in their food and fibre, but also with the
way agricultural products are produced, the need to protect the environment and
develop fairer trade practices for the growers.