*4.1.2. Building trust*

The approach used in the project was to help the various stakeholders identify strategies for successful CRM using seasonal forecasting. The project sought to build the trust of farmers, while working with all relevant local organizations. In West African's culture, trust is the most important requirement in order to be effective in a viable partnership. A common saying states, "the manner to give is better than what is given". In order to build trust with farmers and foster a sustained relationship, a workshop that included 30 farmers from 6 villages around Kaffrine was planned. Since ANACIM does not have the legal mandate to implement any agricultural strategy, partnership with the local agriculture department representative (SDDR) was ensured. The SDDR has the mandate to monitor activities related to the farming system, and also has arbitration authority in case of conflicts over issues such as farm allocation, fertilizer subsidizing, buying harvest products. SDDR was a natural contact point with farmers, since they had already developed a long time partnership and has their trust. It was very important that the project team not appear as a stranger in the system, but work through a known entity. Association was developed with other local technical services including agricultural advisers from the national agency for agricultural and rural advice (ANCAR), which has a presence nationwide at district level and a mandate to advise farmers in term of agricultural strategies. Volunteers from World Vision, a Christian charity that assists children and invests a lot in agriculture in the district of Kaffrine, also participated. Participants included individual farmers, and members of farmer organizations such as JAPPANDO. Women represented about 30 per cent of those participating.

#### *4.1.3. Training*

Consistent with the strong oral tradition, time was reserved during the workshop to allow farmers to interact with the experts team. On the first day of the workshop, the floor was given to farmers to describe their experiences with forecasting the weather and climate. The technical experts started with differentiating the concepts of weather (imminent) and climate (longer term), as these concepts are interchangeable in the local language.

## *4.1.4. Connecting with farmers' indigenous knowledge*

A challenge for the CRM approach was to enable farmers to trust and use scientific information. There was a clear need for a common ground, where farmers would use the new scientific seasonal forecasting approach proposed to them without feeling that their indigenous approaches to seasonal forecasting were being rejected. In this culture, the scientists would lose credibility if the farmers were to think the scientists were saying that their elders were wrong and only the scientists were right. The strategy was to listen to them and understand the aspects of their traditional knowledge that might be climate related. The farmers were welcomed as guardians of knowledge passed from generation to generation, and invited as experts to share their indigenous climate knowledge. According to their tradition, being elder means possessing wisdom. The farmers were asked to specify whether each indicator was for immediate weather, or for climate conditions for the upcoming season. Some of the indicators were clearly just coincidental events with no apparent link to the climate, but many were very much related to climate and specifically with the high humidity and high temperature associated with the monsoon system (Table 2). After carefully listening, the scientists acknowledged the farmer's memories and explanations.


**Table 2.** Quotes from farmers on their perceived climate variability indicators
