What do agricultural advisors need from a decision support tool to drive agroecological transitions? The case of Ntui Living Lab, Cameroon

Source Agritrop Cirad (agritrop.cirad.fr) * Autres projets (id;sigle;titre): 101083653;CANALLS;(EU) Driving agroecological transitions in the humid tropics of Central and Eastern Africa through transdisciplinary agroecology Living Labs// International audience Digital tools supporting advisory services have been deployed to facilitate the adoption of agroecological innovations. To increase the adaptation of those tools to the final user needs, user-oriented design is necessary. The purpose of this contribution is to illustrate the process of co-designing a decision support tool for agricultural extension agents that supports them in the dissemination of agro-ecological innovation processes. The development process of the Agroecology Decision Support Tool included five steps: i) identification of needs by end users (researchers, farm advisors, cooperatives); ii) a review of existing digital tools in similar contexts to identify potential existing alternatives that would suit the objectives of the tool; iv) the development of a concept iv) a requirements' elicitation process to define the expected functionalities and features and v) the first prototype assessed by extension agents in Ntui Living Lab, Cameroon in the context of the implementation of CANALLS project. The process. We identified a range of advisory organizations with different expectations and activities. Despite the multiple objectives observed, common needs identified were: the reporting of extension activities, the need for agreed understanding on how agroecology is implemented at the local level, and the access to offline-compatible tools to support daily advisory work. Additionally, the design of the tool should aim to improve the advisors' technical and methodological competencies and skills.