In Search of the Resilient Sahelian : Reflections on a Fashionable Notion
the same time , without resources being spread too thinly or goals coming into contradiction with each other . Finally , asking them to link emergency and development in their activities requires them to rethink their internal organization , while remaining subject to the vagaries of funding , obtained on a case-by-case basis , and without predictability . Many aid workers , within NGOs , already doubt the possibility of implementing an integrated approach in practice .
Agricultural Development for Resilience ?
The resilience approach is not simply about responding to food crises but also about trying to prevent them , based on development policies . But , which agricultural policies can promote resilience ? Part of the answer lies in the fact that not all technical approaches are equally effective in fostering the resilience of family farmers . It is increasingly agreed that the agroindustrial model disseminated during the “ green revolutions ”, based on the artificialization of agroecosystems , systematic chemicalization and the simplification of cultural practices , is reaching its ecological , social , and even economic limits . The systemic approaches taken by agronomists reveal that resilience is , on the contrary , a result of complexity , diversity , flexibility , and autonomy ( Cabell and Oelofse 2012 ). Agroecological practices , which are based on such
6 Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa . 7 African Agricultural Technological Foundation . 8 GACSA : Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture .
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complexity , local adaptation , and agroforestry , represent potential vectors for agricultural advances favorable to resilience . This is what a very large number of studies now show ( Altieri and Nicholls 2012 ).
The idea of resilience based on agroecology is certainly making inroads at the FAO and , more generally , the United Nations , and in many NGOs . However , it does not play a dominant role in the funds mobilized . The approaches recommended by the “ New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition ”, which brings together a number of public and private funding bodies , particularly in West Africa , tend to perpetuate the dominant technical model , supported by the agricultural supply and genetic engineering industries . In Sub-Saharan Africa , AGRA 6 and even more AATF 7 relay this model , supported by private foundations ( Oxfam 2013 ). Their aim is to show , on the one hand , that the increasing dependence of peasants on input suppliers does not pose a threat to these small-scale farmers and , on the other hand , that only “ new modernisation ”, based on a technical pack including genetically modified seeds and widespread access to chemical inputs , will enable them to meet the demand for food in a climate change context . The climate-smart agriculture promoted by the FAO and the GACSA 8 points , more or less , in the same direction ( FAO 2013 ).