The presentation was given in January 2009 and introduced why a new approach for livestock development for poverty alleviation was desirable, innovation, innovation systems and value chains, building of innovation platforms, learning-oriented monitoring and evaluation, and scaling up and out.
Increasingly, value chain approaches are integrated with multi-stakeholder processes to facilitate inclusive innovation and value chain upgrading of smallholders. This pathway to smallholder integration into agri-food markets has received limited analysis. This article analyses this integration through a case study of an ongoing smallholder dairy development programme in Tanzania.
Una estrategia para apoyar a las comunidades de pequeños agricultores a adaptarse al cambio climático es el uso de prácticas de Adaptación basada en Ecosistemas (AbE), las cuales integran la conservación, restauración y manejo sostenible de ecosistemas y biodiversidad. Sin embargo, existe poca información de cómo los productores utilizan estas prácticas.
This article proposes ways to use programme theory for evaluating aspects of programmes that are complicated or complex. It argues that there are useful distinctions to be drawn between aspects that are complicated and those that are complex, and provides examples of programme theory evaluations that have usefully represented and address both of these.
This study was part of a larger project that applied an integrated framework for combined nutritional, food safety and value chain analysis to assess the dairy value chain in two regions of Tanzania, namely Morogoro and Tanga. Here, we report on the use of participatory rural appraisals (PRAs) with producers and consumers to investigate seasonality, constraints and opportunities in cow milk production and consumption in ten villages in Tanzania and describe attitudes and practices surrounding milk quality and safety.
The frequency and severity of uncertain rainfall and climate extremes are projected to increase across many parts of the world. Access to rainfall forecasting information becomes an essential and critical resource that smallholder farmers should use to take advantage of good rains and avoid its adverse effects. In many smallholder farming communities, the reliability and accuracy of the scientific information is questionable and therefore not adequately used to make informed farming decisions.
This study aims to estimate the nutritional and agricultural impacts and cost-effectiveness of (1) an agricultural extension platform of women’s groups viewing and discussing videos on nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) practices, with visits at women’s homes or farms to follow up on adoption of new practices shown in the videos (AGRI), (2) women’s groups viewing and discussing videos on NSA and nutrition-specific practices, also with follow-up visits (AGRI-NUT), and (3) women’s groups viewing and discussing videos on NSA combined with a Participatory Learning and Action(PLA)approach of
This poster analyzes the status, challenges and opportunities of the Kyeni local innovation platform that was put up to sustainably evaluate, disseminate and hasten adoption of CA technologies involving maize/ legume cropping systems in eastern Kenya. Establishment and maintenance of IPs is one of the action oriented research approaches for technology transfer in the ACIAR funded Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project such as Kyeni Local Innovation Platform.
The agricultural innovation systems approach emphasizes the collective nature of innovation and stresses that innovation is a co-evolutionary process, resulting from alignment of technical, social, institutional and organizational dimensions. These insights are increasingly informing interventions that focus on setting up multi-stakeholder initiatives, such as innovation platforms and networks, as mechanisms for enhancing agricultural innovation, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
This reports highlights social learning as an essential aspect in dealing with the complexities around climate change and uncertainty in food production. It is not just about adapting to these complexities, it is actually about implementing tranformative changes.