The concept of technology adoption (along with its companions, diffusion and scaling) is commonly used to design development interventions, to frame impact evaluations and to inform decision-making about new investments in development-oriented agricultural research. However, adoption simplifies and mischaracterises what happens during processes of technological change. In all but the very simplest cases, it is likely to be inadequate to capture the complex reconfiguration of social and technical components of a technological practice or system.
Cotton, a major crop worldwide, is harvested in mechanized production systems once at the end of the growing season. To facilitate harvest and maximize fiber quality, the plants are typically defoliated when about 60% of the cotton bolls are open. Due to non-uniform maturation, the bolls that have opened early expose their fiber to weather until harvest, commonly for weeks, degrading fiber quality. Furthermore, high capacity harvesting machines are heavy, potentially compacting the soil that in turn reduces hydraulic conductivity in the wheel tracks and reducing yield.
The objective of this paper is to analyse the olive oil value chain (OVC) in the Governorate of Medenine (south-east of Tunisia) and the relationships between its main operators for an effective involvement and better performance and resilience of olive sector. Based on semi structured interviews and participatory multi-stakeholders’ workshops, OVC has been analysed and described. MACTOR approach has been applied to establish linkages among chain operators and activities in a partnership approach.
China is characterized as ‘a large country with many smallholder farmers’ whose participation in modern agriculture is key to the country’s modern agriculture development. Promoting smallholder farmers’ adoption of modern agricultural production technology is one effective way to improve the capabilities of smallholder farmers. This paper aims to explore the impact of Internet use on the adoption of agricultural production technology by smallholder farmers based on a survey of 1 449 smallholders across 14 provinces in China.
One option for practically applying innovation systems thinking involves the establishment of innovation platforms (IPs). Such platforms are designed to bring together a variety of different stakeholders to exchange knowledge and resources and take action to solve common problems. Yet relatively little is known about how IPs operate in practice, particularly how power dynamics influence platform processes.This paper focuses on a research-for-development project in the Ethiopian highlands which established three IPs for improved natural resource management.
In this paper, the authors review the conditions that have been undermining sustainable food and nutrition security in the Caribbean, focusing on issues of history, economy, and innovation. Building on this discussion, we then argue for a different approach to agricultural development in the Small Island Developing States of the CARICOM that draws primarily on socioecological resilience and agricultural innovation systems frameworks.
Farmers’ experiments can be defined as the autonomous activities of farmers to try or introduce something new at the farm, and include evaluation of success or failure with farmers’ own methods. Experiments enable farmers to adapt their farms to changing circumstances, build up local knowledge, and have resulted in countless agricultural innovations. Most research on the topic has been conducted in countries of the south.
In Mexico there are public programs that promote the improvement of the technical and productive conditions of the agriculture sector through organisations such as Produce Foundation Puebla (FUPPUE). This organisation has implemented diverse mechanisms oriented to promoting farmers' technological and productive capabilities. However in some cases when the FUPPUE leaves them, farmers' capabilities and performance decrease within a short period of time.
The biodiversity of food plants is vital for humanity's capacity to meet sustainability challenges. This goal requires the rigorous integration of plant, environmental, social and health sciences. It is coalescing around four thematic cornerstones that are both interdisciplinary and policy relevant.
The authors surveyed small-scale farmers in the Kenyan Rift Valley province (Narok and Nakuru districts) to describe constraints to, and changes in, livestock production and to assess the extent to which farmers have adopted new technologies promoted by extension services. In the arid areas of southern Narok, farmer's main constraints were drought and disease. Farmers in Nakuru district, situated in the fertile highlands of the Rift Valley, were also affected by disease but also lacked markets and capital.