They were once the central element in state-funded research, but now the research bodies need to redefine their role as partners in the innovation process, responding more efficiently to the needs of society and businesses. In agriculture, the concept of innovation was dominated in the past by linear knowledge transfer in the form of new technologies that were essentially generated by public research (research institutes or universities), transferred to the agricultural extension services, and hence to the farmers for adoption.
The advancement of agriculture sector in one region cannot be separated from the role of agricultural extension in the region. To cover the deficiency of agricultural extension agents, self-supporting extension agents are recruited from farmers or private parties. This study aims to analyze the role of self-supporting instructors in improving farmer institutions and analyze factors related to the role of self-supporting extension agents in improving farmer institutions.
The Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) was established in the year 1963 by former President Dr. Cheddi Jagan. It became a state corporation in 1964 offering the Diploma in Agriculture and the Certificate in Agriculture Programmes, and graduated the first batch of 15 students in 1966. Agricultural diversification has become an important mechanism for economic growth by providing opportunities that facilitate technological advancement and demand driven government policy.
This report is based on the outputs of a one week Exposure and Exchange Programme (EEP) in India hosted by the Self-employed Women’s Association (SEWA) with African women leaders of producer organizations from West and Central Africa. This report critically evaluates the SEWA model and draws conclusions relevant to African women producers organizations to better meet the challenges of raising Africa’s agricultural potential, improve incomes for small farmers, and ensure greater food security.
This chapter starting presenting the current status of agricultural research systems in SSA at national and regional levels against a backdrop of key policy changes and progressive elaboration of agricultural knowledge frameworks registered in the last decade or so. The section argues for endogenous mechanisms to encourage sustainable funding of agricultural research in the region. Section 2 discusses key trends and some innovative approaches that are helping bridge the supply and demand mismatch in AAS.
There is increasing demand for institutional reform in the agricultural sciences. This paper presents lessons from the content and directions in soil science research in India, to make a case for institutional reform in the agricultural sciences. It demonstrates how existing institutional and organizational contexts shape the research content of the soil sciences and its sub-disciplines. These contexts also shape the capacity of the soil sciences to understand and partner with other components of the wider natural resource management (NRM) innovation systems.
This is the first chapter of the book "Innovation platforms for agricultural development: Evaluating the mature innovation platforms landscape". It introduces the background, case study competition process, case study characterization and readers’ guide, and book outline. Characterization of the case studies includes their geographical spread, age and life stage of the platforms, and specific information on the multi-stakeholder processes, the content matter, platform support functions, and outcomes and impacts.
The Tanga Dairy Platform, created in 2008, is an informal forum of different stakeholders involved in the dairy industry of Tanzania’s Northeastern Tanga region. The platform’s objective is to exchange knowledge and develop joint actions to common problems. Six years on, it is a sustainable example of a commodity association addressing the joint problems of the region’s dairy industry.
The question of how agricultural research can best be used for developmental purposes is a topic of some debate in developmental circles. The idea that this is simply a question of better transfer of ideas from research to farmers has been largely discredited. Agricultural innovation is a process that takes a multitude of different forms, and, within this process, agricultural research and expertise are mobilised at different points in time for different purposes. This paper uses two key analytical principles in order to find how research is actually put into use.
Though research on communication and innovation during the last decade brought better understanding on the innovation process, this has not influenced the underlying paradigm and practice of Extension and Advisory Services (EAS) in most countries. At the same time there have been few initiatives that tried to experiment with new ways of developing capacities for extension and innovation.