Des modèles pour analyser ensemble les dynamiques variétales du sorgho dans un village malien

Abstract

This study deals with the local management and biodiversity preservation of cereal varieties in Mali. The State is unable to provide adequate seeds to the farmers who rely mainly on seed exchanges within existing social networks. This informal seed system operates a collective management of many traditional varieties. Our research aims at improving the knowledge of this traditional seed system. We are particularly interested in identifying the potential and existing roles of the different stakeholders in preserving biodiversity. We use a methodology based on the concept of companion modeling. On the basis of initial hypotheses extracted from an extensive set of surveys, we have produced several successive models using Role-Playing Games and Agent-Based Systems. The process has evolved through the rendering and questioning of these models in specific workshops. As a result, these models have proven useful in formalizing knowledge, in testing hypotheses with the stakeholders and building a shared representation of their system with them. In the future, this representation will be used as a basis for prospective simulation of new rules for the collective management of cereal biodiversity.