Research units

Innovation and Development in Agriculture and the Agrifoods Sector

Contact

Scientific contact:
Nicole Sibelet, E-mail

Press officer:
Florence Vigier, E-mail

Agroforestry and human sciences: living in harmony!

02/10/2009 - Press release

From 5 to 17 October 2009, a thematic course entitled "Training in human science methods applied to agroforestry" will be taking place, at CIRAD Montpellier to begin with, and then on the causses of the Cévennes.

The course, funded by Agropolis Fondation and CIRAD, is being run by Nicole Sibelet, a CIRAD researcher*: "we will be receiving 20 researchers or teacher-researchers from universities and research centres in Africa, South America, India, and even Norway. There will be agronomists, ecologists, sociologists and foresters. The aim is to enable discussions, and comparisons of our practices in terms of human sciences and socioeconomics within the framework of agroforestry research ".
The 2009 session will be following on from a tradition of training in participatory research. It is the fourth of its type, after the 2003 session on cocoa in Togo, the 2005 session on the PRASAC project in Cameroon, and the 2007 session on the Foreaim project in Madagascar, and will be showcasing both researchers and farmers on their farms on the causses (limestone plateaux) of the Gard and Hérault départements .

Guided tour

The first week of the course, at CIRAD in Montpellier, will have enabled participants to "analyse the order " placed by the CPIE des Causses Méridionaux, in other words to work with CIRAD researchers Michel Dulcire and Régis Pelletier** to establish the technical, economic and legal aspects of the topic of agropastoralism and its future in the Cévennes.
This will be followed by visits and surveys on the vast causse plateau. "This is a revelation for some African researchers, who have never seen a haystore ", says Nicole Sibelet. Supported by a group of trainers, the participants will be able to meet local players going about their daily work, listen to them, identify their needs and determine the issues. This collective work will be reported on orally and in a written report at the end of the course.
The report will subsequently be sent to all the people met during and involved in the thematic course.

* researcher with the Joint Research Unit on Innovation and Development in Agriculture and the Agrifood Sector (UMR Innovation)

** Michel Dulcire (UMR Innovation)
Régis Peltier (Forest Resources Internal Research Unit)