Multi-actors networks are increasingly used by farmers to link between them and to be interactively connected with other partners, such as advisory organizations, local governments, universities, and non-farm organizations. Given the importance assigned to the agricultural innovation by EU resorting to the networking between the research chain actors and the farmers, a strong focus on enhancing the creation of learning and innovation networks is expected.

In this paper,  presented at the 12th European IFSA Symposium (Workshop: "Generating spaces for innovation in agricultural and rural development") in 2016, the authors assess the integration of new entrants to small-scale farming into agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS), in four study sites located on Europe’s periphery (Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom).

The report synthesises the research conducted under the PRO AKIS project for the topic "Designing, implementing and maintaining agricultural/rural networks to enhance farmers’ ability to innovate in cooperation with other rural actors".

This report has the aim of contributing to the PRO AKIS overall goal of exploring and identifying the possibilities, conditions and requirements of rural networks to enhance the farmers’ ability to create, test, implement and evaluate innovation in cooperation with other actors.In particular, the report presents two cases: the Small Fruit Cluster (SFC) and the Drosophila Suzukii Monitoring (DSM) network. The SFC is a nationwide, multi-actor network composed of several actors, interacting in the small fruit sector in Portugal.

Due to political conflict, hundreds of thousands of people had to leave their homes in northern Mali in the last decade. Many have since returned to their home but struggle to regain their livelihoods. In the Timbuktu region, food insecurity is very high and 15 percent of children under 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition. Goundam, one of the administrative districts of the Timbuktu region, is populated by livestock farmers. Among the previously displaced people, many have lost all their livestock, and with that their traditional means of livelihood.

Feeding the world’s steadily growing population while respecting the planetary boundaries will be a key challenge for humanity in the future. Prevailing production and consumption patterns are leading to a loss of natural resources and destroying ecosystems and their functions. More than 820 million people were affected by malnutrition in 2017. Climate change is exacerbating this development and pushing natural ecosystems to their limits, something that is having far-reaching consequences for the environment, the economy and humanity.

Sustainability is GIZ’s guiding principle and forms the basis for our contributions to shaping a society that is fit for the future. We compile and analyse all the most important climate and environmental data every year to gain a better understanding of our environmental sustainability and continuously improve our performance. Externally validated information about our activities in Germany is provided by the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).

The project’s overall objective is to improve the rural population’s resilience to food insecurity by increasing their income through Castor oil plant, Honey, Beans and Goat value chains. GIZ is contributing to the Androy, Anosy and Atsimo- Antsinanana regions’ economic development and aims to integrate mainly vulnerable households in these chains, especially households run by a woman. GIZ has selected high potential sectors and wants to make sure that they can adapt to climate change.