CO-cartography and information systems Development of a methodology for cartography and information systems on local stocks in Niger
For several decades, Oxfam has supported a significant number of organizations working with smallholder farmers in West Africa and is actively promoting initiatives thathave helped build local stocks in several countries in the region. It emphasizes the special value of proximity stocks as communityinitiatives. Community stocks (defined as formal or informal collective initiatives run by small producers to improve availability and access to food or increase incomes) are an instrument with great potential to strengthen food security strategies in the Sahel. They contribute to food security in many ways (from mitigating the effects of soaring prices and protecting livelihoods to support for overcoming geographic isolation or empowering people, especially women) . Despite their potential, evidence shows that local stocks remain fragile because of their vulnerabilities (especially price and climate risk) and the challenges associated with their promotion, planning and design, as well as their management and organization in all the countries of the Sahel.
Located in West Africa, Niger is a vast country Sahel (41 times the Kingdom of Belgium) characterized by difficult climatic conditions marked by chronic droughts. Over the past 50 years, Niger has recorded cereal and forage deficits on average of one year out of two. This situation has led the State to set up institutions to prevent and fight against food insecurity such as the Office des Produits Vivriers du Niger (OPVN), the Food Crisis Cell (CCA) or recently the Initiative " Nigerians feed Nigeriens "(I3N).
In 2009, the State adopted a national strategy of cereal banks (BC) to better coordinate the fight against food insecurity from the community level to the central level. In addition to CBs, several other community stocks have been set up at the village level, including cattle feed banks (BAB) in pastoral or transit zones. CBs and BABs, which are initiatives of farmers' groups or herders, formal or informal, thus constitute localstocks facilitating access to food and feed for the most vulnerable households. They are also a source of income for women and are able to absorb a food or pastoral crisis when they operate in a network.
However, despite these benefits, studies have shown that these stocks remain fragile due to persistent food and feed deficits, mismanagement, coordination failures and a critical lack of information and information. followed by these stores.
It is for all these reasons and to reinvigorate stocks of safety that the national strategy of BC has planned, since 2009, the establishment of a dynamic national directory for the monitoring and management of these stocks to allow a better decision-making during food or pastoral crises. After several attempts (2011 by the CCA, 2015 by the DAC/ POR, this directory is still not operational.) Oxfam in Niger has tried 2016 an innovative approach for the implementation of this dynamic directoryand accessible online but the methodology used has proved to be very expensive and difficult for peasant organizations to use, which are limited in financial human resources (to pay the VIAMO license) and quality human resources.
The present project aimsto develop a new methodology more suitable for mapping and monitoring of local stocks in order to produce and share qualityinformation in a sustainable and accessible way to all stakeholders. It is a methodological adaptation of an innovation project executed by Oxfam in 2016 in partnership with the Federation of Farmers 'Unions and Farmers' Groups of Niger (FUGPN-Mooriben) with the support of Oxfam Intermon and the Commission of the States of the West Africa (ECOWAS) through the AGRHYMET Regional Center.