Many countries are using innovation funds in the agricultural sector to support innovators and their links to public institutions, private entrepreneurs, and other actors, such as groups of rural producers. These funds create platforms for innovative activity by providing incentives for quality and collaboration. This report synthesizes experience with the two main innovation funds that the World Bank has used to fund agricultural innovation—competitive research grants and matching grants—and offers lessons and guidelines for designing and implementing them. Although the report draws extensively on experience with World Bank investments, the lessons are relevant in other contexts. The practical aspects of designing and implementing successful grant schemes are emphasized throughout.
African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa can feed itself in a generation and help contribute to global food security. To achieve...
In the post-harvest area and in agriculture research in general, both in India and internationally, policy attention is returning to the question of how innovation can be encouraged and promoted and thus how impact on the poor can be achieved....
This book documents the proof of the Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) Concept that was developed by the Forum for Agricultural Research for Development in Africa (FARA). The IAR4D concept forms the basis for the Sub Saharan Africa Challenge...
This paper argues that impact assessment research has not made more of a difference because the measurement of the economic impact has poor diagnostic power. In particular it fails to provide research managers with critical institutional lessons concerning ways of...
Ce rapport présente l’évolution récente des Systèmes d'innovation agricole (SIA) et examine l’incidence d’une large gamme de politiques sur la création et la diffusion de l’innovation dans le secteur agricole et agroalimentaire. Il propose un cadre pour analyser le rôle...