Antoine Lemaitre, Agriculture and Resilience Specialist (FAO NSL/OIN), and Hervé Lévite (FAO OCBD) traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland, from 3 to 5 October to participate in the Agroecology Science Days organized by the Origin, Diversity, and Territories (ODT) Forum. The purpose of their visit was to present the work done within the framework of the Green Cities Initiative in Kaffrine, Sénégal, where the survey-based WAW methodology was used to inform on the diversity of farms in the urban and peri-urban areas of the city and to assess differences in terms of production systems and agroecological practices across these different environments compared to the rural territories.

The ODT Forum is a global community that brings together a diverse array of actors (territory actors, academics, policy makers, researchers, etc.), focused on the link between cultural and biological diversity, territorial dynamics, and origin-linked products to foster inclusive development and knowledge exchange. 

Kaffrine is a secondary city in central Senegal, significantly impacted by land degradation and deforestation alongside recurring floodings. FAO identified Kaffrine as a focus area for its climate change impact research to test solutions that support sustainable agricultural activities, given its status as a rapidly expanding city. Within this context, the VIVRE action-research project, part of FAO's Green Cities initiative, planned to involve the University of Sine Saloum (USSEIN) in promoting sustainable urban development.

A collaborative effort was undertaken between the Green Cities Initiative and the WAW from FAO, and USSEIN, in which master's students from USSEIN conducted a survey of 374 farmers using the WAW methodology. The survey frame was developed with local stakeholders to identify different types of farms based on their environment (urban, peri-urban, or rural), understand the challenges they face, such as integrating young people, empowering women, modernizing production tools, processing and storing agricultural products, accessing water and markets, and describe the level of involvement in agroecological practices. Furthermore, to help qualify this diversity, a typology of farms was created using the WAW methodology.

This forum provided a valuable opportunity to share the findings from this survey and to discuss the results with experts working on sustainable food systems and agroecology, as well as to explore potential collaboration to apply the WAW methodology in different contexts as part of future projects.