Rural extension plays a significant and irreplaceable role in an innovation system that creates, designs, validates, and promotes new ideas, solutions, technologies, and forms of management focused on the resolution of problems and satisfaction of the needs of farmers and rural inhabitants and the organizations that represent them. In view of the above, this document presents proposals for making rural extension a key part of innovation systems focused on rural territorial development.
Colombia produces more sugar per month on one hectare of land than any other country. This privilege is due to the productivity of sugar cane grown in the Cauca River valley, where 14 processing plants operate nearly year-round to produce sugar, honey, bioethanol, and electrical energy. The cane is supplied by 2750 growers, owners of 75 percent of the 240 000 hecatres planted, and by the sugar mills themselves (25 percent of the area). The sugar cane chain provides more than 286 000 direct and indirect jobs.
The problems of family businesses transcend borders, scales, environments, and areas. Within the agricultural sector, family businesses represent 80 percent of the productive units that contribute to the economic development of Argentina and Uruguay. This initiative forms a virtual community where the target audience is the owners, partners, founders, advisors, managers, potential successors, and anyone interested in issues related to the family businesses, without distinction of gender or age, in the agricultural sector of these countries.
Mexico is considered the geographic center of origin of the Agave genus. The "maquey pulquero" (Agave mapisaga and A. salmiana) is produced and used in central mexico to make a traditional fermented beverage known as pulque, which has been made and consumed since pre-Hispanic times and is still a form of subsistence for rural families.
Food and Nutritional Security (FNS), understood as the availability and access to quality food, is fundamental for human development. The sustainability and progress of the agricultural sector are essential to maintain a food supply in quantity and quality. In the department of Córdoba, multidimensional poverty is twice as high for rural areas (51.9 percent) as compared to urban areas (23.3 percent). Thus, rural producers' role in boosting the local economy, contributing to generating jobs and FNS is essential.
Chile is a leading country in food exports, where beekeeping plays a fundamental role with more than 1 300 000 hives supporting food production through pollination. Good practices must be addressed from generation to generation of beekeepers to promote the healthy and active hives for the provision of systemic pollination services.
Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America, and agriculture is one of the engines of economic and social development. The agricultural sector contributes 16.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 33 percent of formal employment and the food security of the population. There are 260 000 producers involved in agricultural production.
Local stakeholders and agricultural producers in Latin America have limited access to agroclimatic information and, when they do gain access to it, they have difficulty translating it into understandable and actionable knowledge. While climate services are recognized as contributing to bridging the gap between the generation of climate information and its use by stakeholders, their provision and use in Latin America still represents critical challenge.
In this article is presented an emergent capacity development approach that the authors have developed through participatory action research in Peru and Ecuador, which they call ‘systemic theories of change’ (STOC), for organisational capacity development. They argue that capacity development should be understood as systemic learning. The STOC approach promotes reflection about how we as individuals, organisations, and broader social groups and societal configurations, understand how change occurs.
This book reports on the Papa Andina Partnership Program, which has been an especially innovative and productive regional initiative, bringing together researchers, small farmers, diverse market actors, and dozens of organizations in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru to spur innovation in public policies, potato products, and value market chains.