Farmers from Mali, Benin, Senegal and Burkina Faso will have their say on the future of food and agriculture research during two forthcoming citizens’ juries in Mali.
The juries, organised by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and local partners, are an effort to democratise decision-making and ensure that research serves the needs of food producing communities who tend to be marginalised from such processes.
The jurors will focus on what kind of research is needed to achieve food sovereignty and the right to food in West Africa. They take place on January 11-16 and February 1-6 in the village of Nyeléni in Sélengué.
In each jury, a group of 45 men and women will hear from expert witnesses including agriculture specialists from universities in France, Mali and Switzerland and representatives of the Syngenta Foundation, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and Institut d'Economie Rurale du Mali (the Malian Institute for the Rural Economy).
Dr Michel Pimbert of IIED who is leading the project said: "The juries will listen to the expert testimony before deliberating and making recommendations about how they think food and agriculture research should be designed, governed and implemented to meet their needs.
"The recommendations will be presented in policy dialogues involving representatives of food producers, social movements, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and donors who fund agricultural research.
“Social movements will also use the recommendations to promote a citizen controlled and farmer-led agricultural research system for food sovereignty.”
Ousmane Sy, the former minister of Territorial Administration and Local Communities in the Malian government and champion of decentralization, chairs the independent oversight panel.
