Grain de sel
The subjects of upcoming special reports to be published by Grain de sel (GDS) in 2011 have been selected by the Board of Directors according to the suggestions made by the editorial committee. The topics covered will be:
– grains (June);
– land tenure (September).
Readers are encouraged to make their own suggestions and propose articles on these topics (see the back cover for details on submitting articles). The results of the survey of GDS readers carried out in 2010 will be presented in GDS No. 52.
Newsletters, Summary Papers and Website
The most recent newsletters published in 2010 were devoted to the following subjects:
– rural land policy
– analysing and documenting international development experience
– Nigeria.
They can be found online. Subscriptions are also available through the website http://www.interreseaux.org. E-newsletters will continue to be distributed on a twicemonthly basis in 2011.
New newsletter categories have been launched or will soon be added to the publication roster. The topics covered include:
– special newsletters on Farmers’ Organizations (FOs), covering documents that are directly useful to these organizations (2 issues were published in late 2010 and 4 are forthcoming in 2011)
– six- to eight-page summary papers that present specific topics; in 2011, they covered:
a. FOs’ involvement in decision-making processes,
b. grain in West Africa,
c. land tenure,
d. agriculture financing.
We would also like to inform our readers that special sections on Nigeria and Mauritania are available on the Inter-Reseaux website.
Working Groups
Inter-réseaux and its partners have produced four factsheets on agricultural policy issues in West Africa, with funding from the Comité Français pour la Solidarité Internationale (CFSI) and the Fondation de France. The first of these, written by Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale (Senegal) discusses instruments used to finance agricultural policies. The three other titles, written by Daouda Diagne, make up a series entitled “Les organisations paysannes dans la négociation des politiques agricoles en Afrique de l’Ouest et au Sénégal: connaître, comprendre, agir”: http://www.inter-reseaux.org/ressourcesthematiques/ politiques-agricoles/article/les-organisations- paysannes-dans
In the second half of 2010, Inter-réseaux joined with the Groupe de Recherche et d’Échange sur les Marchés Agricoles (GREMA) to lead a seminar on market regulation held at the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs on 1 December 2010. In connection with this seminar, Inter-réseaux drew up a summary of field surveys conducted in Burkina Faso, dealing with the strategies adopted by the actors in Burkinabe value chains when confronted with volatile prices. This document can be consulted on the Inter-réseaux website at: http:// http://www.inter-reseaux.org/ressources-thematiques/ article/note-de-synthese_impact-de-la
Capacity Building in Agricultural Organizations: The PAAR Network (Projet de Renforcement des Capacités des Réseaux d’Organisations Agricoles en Matière de Politiques Agricoles, Alimentaires et Rurales)
The PAAR network issued a call for capitalisation projects in early 2010. Eight subjects have been selected and will be published on the Inter-réseaux website in French and in English. Three dossiers are currently available:
– Niger’s Rural Code (Association pour l’Amélioration de la Gouvernance de la Terre, de l’Eau et des Ressources Naturelles, E-Sud Développement, Association pour la Redynamisation de l’Élevage au Niger, LandNet West Africa);
– Grain Prices in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from 2001 to 2010 (Afrique Verte International network);
– Productivity of Family Farms in Senegal (Fédération des ONG du Sénégal, FONGS).
Inter-réseaux was invited to participate in the international forum on the theme “How can family farms feed Senegal?” that was organised by FONGS and CNCR in Dakar in late November, building on, among other things, the information gathered for this document.
Executive Secretariat and Association Affairs
Nathalie Boquien finished her contract with Inter-réseaux at the end of December and went to work for Terre de Liens, a non-profit group that focuses on farmers and land issues in France. She has been replaced by Vital Pelon (vital.pelon@interreseaux. org). Trained in political science, Vital worked for Agriculteurs Français et Développement International (AFDI) in Madagascar for four years (2005-2009). An important part of his work involved support for the SOA network, a national FO that is one of AFDI’s partners. In 2010, he continued his career in a consulting firm.
In the first months of 2011, an evaluation of Inter-réseaux Développement Rural will be carried out to assess the progress made and establish a strategic direction for 2012-2016. The team of evaluators will contact selected members of the network for this survey.
