Individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds are increasingly engaging in research and development in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The main activities, although still nascent, are coalescing around three core activities: innovation, policy, and capacity building. Within agriculture, which is the focus of this paper, AI is working with converging technologies, particularly data optimization, to add value along the entire agricultural value chain, including procurement, farm automation, and market access.
This paper explores the use of actor-oriented approaches in natural resource-based development. It begins by reviewing the need to bring an analysis of actor linkages, coalitions and information flows higher on the agenda in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Various tools which could assist in doing this are introduced and their use is illustrated in case studies of natural resource-based research and development (R&D) projects in Nepal and Bangladesh.
This document is on the Programma sull'Innovazione e lo Sviluppo Agroindustriale (PISA), which is an international program whose general objective is to support innovative projects of agroindustrial development aimed at generating value-added and employment in the rural sector of developing countries.
Coordinated formal efforts to generate technologies for enhancing agricultural development in Ethiopia was mainly rooted in formal research and development institutions up to very recently. A number of improved technologies have been generated wlth the efforts made so far and the superiority of some of the technologies over the traditional practices has already been proved, at least for the major commodities.
The livelihoods of mountain farmers are often constrained by poor access to markets and limited entrepreneurial skills for adding value to produce. Research and development organizations have now recognized that improving market access and enhancing the ability of resource-poor mountain farmers to diversify their links with markets are among the most pressing challenges in mountain agriculture.
La rencontre des chercheurs qui s’interrogent sur l’efficacité de leurs interventions pour accompagner les acteurs dans les processus de changement constitue une occasion pour s’interroger sur les méthodes de recherche à développer lors de travaux réalisés avec les acteurs : recherche participative, « recherche-action », recherche intervention... L’auteur propose de présenter la démarche de recherche-action comme nouvelle.
Ce texte présente les premiers résultats d’une étude sur la contribution de groupes d’agriculteurs familiaux aux processus d’innovation dans trois municipes de la Paraíba (Brésil). L’objectif consistait à identifier le rôle des producteurs et de leurs organisations en matière d’introduction et d’adaptation de techniques agricoles.
In recent years, the agricultural industry has been experiencing an ever-increasing application of information and communication technologies globally. This new revolution has been touted to impact efficiency and productivity in the agricultural extension services within the agriculture sector. Notwithstanding this, empirical research need to be carried out amongst its users in the sector to ascertain these assertions.
Conventional approaches to agricultural extension based on top–down technology transfer and information dissemination models are inadequate to help smallholder farmers tackle increasingly complex agroclimatic adversities. Innovative service delivery alternatives, such as field schools, exist but are mostly implemented in isolationistic silos with little effort to integrate them for cost reduction and greater technical effectiveness.
Technology and innovation are important in addressing complex problems in the agricultural sector in many developing communities. However, ways and mechanisms to integrate them in the agricultural sector are still a challenge due to the lack of clear pathways and trajectories. Value chains are seen as a strong policy instrument to increase profitability in the agricultural sector; there is also debate around whether value chains can be a potential option to organize technology and innovation trajectories in agriculture.