Contribution of the stewardship programs to a more rational use of pesticides in the Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad)

The technical assistance known as "Stewardship programs" was initiated by the donors in Rwanda in 1998, with the assistance of the IPHYTROP Consortium, in accordance with the "Guidelines on the Aid and the Environment N°6" (OECD, 1995). It aims to accompany the purchases of pesticides and to responsabilise all the actors and in priority the producers. For the first time during the program 1999/2000, in Mali, in Burkina Faso and Chad, a complete stewardship program designed for the users of pesticides has been carried out within the framework of the invitations to tender for the purchase of pesticides. This program, funded by SENCHIM-AG, was proposed on one hand, in order to give a additional training on plant protection and on the other hand, to communicate to local trainers and to farmers the essential elements on the delivered products and particularly about the risks linked to the use of pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides). It is the interest of all the actors to accompany systematically in the future the deliveries of plant health of products with such training programs. The article proposes to give an idea on the program carried out, the constraints met and the lesson drawn from these first three experiments. (Résumé d'auteur