Naissance et développement de l’AFDI Maine-et-Loire (1975-2003)

Résumé Fr En

AFDI est une association née de la FNSEA (Fédération Nationale des Syndicats d’Exploitants Agricoles) en 1975, dans une période d’ouverture et de modernisation accélérée de l’agriculture française. Des premières initiatives, qui ressortaient plus de l’opération caritative, une réflexion plus approfondie s’est très vite engagée sur l’aide au développement dans les pays du Tiers-Monde et le rôle de l’agriculture au niveau international. AFDI entend aller au-delà de la simple aide au développement des pays du Tiers-Monde et affirme la réciprocité des échanges. AFDI met en avant l’organisation paysanne comme socle du développement : il ne s’agit pas uniquement d’effectuer des transferts de technologie mais de faciliter l’acquisition de moyens pour créer, animer, développer les organisations de paysans. L’action est basée sur l’échange d’expériences, qui doit servir aussi bien à l’émergence de structures professionnelles au Sud, qu’à la remise en cause des modèles de production au Nord.

AFDI (french farmers for international development) is an association created by the FNSEA (National trade union of farmers in France) in 1975, at a time of opening and accelerated modernization in French agriculture. After the first actions, which could be called “caritative” operations, the association began very quickly to think more deeply about its contribution to “development” in the Third World countries and the role of agriculture in the international exchanges. AFDI intends to go beyond the simple development aid in the Third World countries and affirms the reciprocity of the exchanges between North and South. AFDI proposes the organization of the farmers in their own professionnal structures as a base of the development: development is not only a question of technology transfers, but also means educate people for them to be able to create, animate, develop the organizations of peasants. The action is based on the experience sharing, which must be used as well for emergence of professional structures in the South, as to change the intensive way of producting goods in french agriculture. This text is based on the results of an academic research work in social sciences about the creation and the evolution of the association AFDI “Agriculteurs Français et Développement International”. The work was focused on the association AFDI Maine-et-Loire (which is an area in the west of France) through many interviews with its members. It deals with the question of the role of AFDI as an association of international development in the social life of the French area, where it as been created: the Maine-and-Loire. This question appears all the more obvious as AFDI Maine-et-Loire not only aims at the assistance to countries in their process of development but wants to create exchanges between farmers from both France and Burkina Faso. The idea of a mutual contribution, of reciprocity and of equality of the partners in the exchange, constitute the heart of the project of the association since its creation. The action of development, according to the objectives of AFDI, takes place as well in the Third World countries than in the French rural world. This concept of reciprocity rises up many questions: How these values constituent of the associative project were born? What organization has been set up to realize this finality? What are the types of commitment and the concepts of “development” which the members of association refer to?