About the project
WAGRINNOVA proposes a methodology that leads to a sustainable intensification of smallholder water-managed agricultural systems in West Africa, through a participatory and systemic multi-scale approach (plot, farm, scheme/ watershed), taking into account the land and business environments and the opportunities for systems integration.
WAGRINNOVA focuses on the two most common water-managed agro-ecological systems for smallholders in West Africa: community-managed irrigation systems, and regulated or rain-fed lowlands valleys. Rice is the most common crop in both agro-ecosystems, but other diversification crops area also considered with a view to the sustainability of these systems.
Participatory research is carried out by WAGRINNOVA local Innovation Hubs, one per agro-ecosystem and African country (Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana): community irrigation systems (IRRI-SN, IRRI-BF, IRRI-GH) and developed lowlands (LLV-SN, LLV-BF, LLV-GH). In addition, a hub in irrigated rice systems in Spain (IRRI-SP) has been organized to develop eco-hydrology and environmental indicators for sustainable production.
The project is organized in 7 tasks led by a partner:
Establish baseline conditions through semi-structured interviews.
Develop or adapt tools for the sustainable intensification of water managed agriculture systems and of methodology guidelines to support action research in the hubs. Teams and stakeholders will be trained on their use in Task 7.
Multi-stakeholder collaboration to evaluate and improve innovations in the hubs at different scales (plot, scheme/watershed) based on findings in Task 2.
Global analysis of Task 2 and Task 4 for the identification of the best performing local strategies and elements that lead to successful SI, and for the appropriate dissemination of innovations.
Elaborate the Plan for knowledge sharing and research uptake and communication material, and to promote outscaling and effective dissemination of results, tools and guidelines.
Training of participants with particular interest in encouraging women and young researcher
Expected results
