More than 25 years after the first implementation of Farmer Field Schools (FFS), there is a rich corpus of evidence that participation in FFS improves farmers’ knowledge, skills, and competencies. On the other hand, several studies converge to show that FFS, by strengthening group action, have the potential to build-up social capital among participants and, thereafter, within local communities.
The privatization of agricultural research and extension establishments worldwide has led to the development of a market for services designed to support agricultural innovation. However, due to market and systemic failures, both supply side and demand side parties in this market have experienced constraints in effecting transactions and establishing the necessary relationships to engage in demand-driven innovation processes.
This paper investigates the introduction of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Canino's area (Italy), from an agricultural innovation system (AIS) perspective focusing on the roles of the innovation actors and the innovation impact pathway. The IPM research in Canino was conducted with a wide range of actors including research, advisory services, producer cooperatives and the private sector in a favourable policy environment facilitating the fast and wide adoption of IPM.
El objetivo de esta tesis será analizar desde la perspectiva de los productores agrarios, su relación con la innovación y los servicios intensivos en conocimiento, promovidos por el Sistema Agrario de Conocimiento e Innovación (AKIS), en la Comunitat Valenciana. A lo largo de los capítulos de desarrollo, se propone evaluar la relación entre los factores clave del comportamiento innovador de los productores (orientación al mercado, orientación al aprendizaje, actitud innovadora), la percepción del desempeño de su explotación, y la valoración de los servicios de investigación y extensión.
The challenges faced by agricultural systems call for an advance in risk management (RM) assessments. This research identifies and discusses potential improvements to RM across 11 European Union (EU) farming systems (FS). The paper proposes a comprehensive, participatory approach that accounts for multi-stakeholder perspectives relying on 11 focus groups for brainstorming and gathering suggestions to improve RM.
The present document is the second deliverable from SALSA's Work Package 4. It contains the comparative analysis carried out from the 13 regional reports (collected in D4.1) that were gathered from the outcomes of the participatory foresight workshop conducted in 13 different regions in Europe and Africa.
This report represents findings on the role of women in small-scale farming (defined as farms up to 5 ha or 8 ESU), particularly in relation to governance frameworks associated with food and nutrition security. It follows SALSA Deliverable 5.1, which assesses the governance arrangements which impact upon small-scale farms and small food businesses. Both reports utilise the data collected in SALSA WP3 (In-depth assessment of food systems in 30 regions).
This Economic and Sector Work paper, “Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to Go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems,” was initiated as a result of the international workshop, “Development of Research Systems to Support the Changing Agricultural Sector,” organized by the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of the World Bank in June 2004 in Washington, DC.
This methodological guide was initially developed and used in Latin America and the Caribbean-LAC (Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic), and was later improved during adaptation and use in eastern African (Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia) through a South-South exchange of expertise and experiences. The aim of the methodological guide is to constitute an initial step in the empowerment of local communities to develop a local soil quality monitoring and decision-making system for better management of soil resources.
The main goal of this report is to provide a brief summary of land-use change in Amazonia within the focus countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. This report will mainly focus on the analysis and discussion of land-use change status and trends since 1970’s, a period when considerable changes started to be evident. Analyses were supported from a literature review and land use databases and maps for Andean countries (CIAT) and Brazil (INPE).