Retour sur deux projets de développement en aquaculture outre-mer: Leçons pour l'avenir

Abstract

Numerous research and development projects have been launched since the seventies in the French overseas territories. Their aim was to foster new activities in agriculture based on local productions for local markets, notably in the French West Indies (FWI). In this paper we analyze two development projects on the rearing of giant freshwater prawn, one in the FWI and the other in French Guyana, over twenty years after their launching. The purpose of these compared studies is twofold: first to try to understand why a set of relevant technical innovations ended in failure 15 years later; second to identify recommendations in terms of methodology in order to diminish risks of mistakes or failure for future projects. To reach this goal we followed two approaches. A first analysis is based on a set of three criteria: social acceptability, legitimacy and time planning. The second analysis, justified by the subjective need for an explanatory tool, is based on the actor-network theory. The results show that beyond the levels of political support and financial investment and support the three key criteria for success are: (i) reactivity of the decision-makers, notably when markets change, (ii) quality of leadership transfer between the launching phase and the stabilized phase, and (iii) capacity of the decision-makers to take into account the concrete consequences of the various scenarios. Regarding this third criterion, our analysis suggests that the scenario of full technical success needs to be explored, notably in terms of economic sustainability. The integration of these two types of analyses into an ex-ante frame should contribute to reducing risks of failure in similar development projects. © NSS-Dialogues, EDP Sciences 2014.