The emergence of a globalised knowledge economy, and the contemporary views of innovation capacity that this trend enables and informs, provides a new context in which development assistance to agricultural research and development needs to be considered. The main argument in this paper, which focuses on The Netherlands, is that development assistance should use this emerging scenario to identify niches where inputs can add value to the R&D investments of others, particularly in activities that help wire up innovation systems, linking R&D to other activities and actors in society.
The Papa Andina network employs collective action in two novel approaches for fostering market chain innovation. The participatory market chain approach (PMCA) and stakeholder platforms engage small potato producers together with market agents and agricultural service providers in group activities to identify common interests, share market knowledge and develop new business opportunities.
This report presents the main results of the EU-funded IN-SIGHT project ‘Strengthening Innovation Processes for Growth and Development’. The authors sketched out a conceptual framework and knowledge base for a more effective European policy on innovation in agriculture and rural areas. Both conceptual framework and knowledge base are consistent with the new European agenda for agricultural and rural policy and sensitive to the diversity of the European agricultural and rural systems.
L’évaluation participative repose sur le principe d’une participation active des principales parties prenantes (dont les groupes les moins organisés) à l’exercice d’évaluation. Cette démarche présente un certain nombre d’atouts qui peuvent se transformer en limites quasi rédhibitoires si certains préalables ne sont pas remplis. La finalité de cet article est de discuter des avantages et des inconvénients de la participation, ainsi que des conditions à réunir pour que l’évaluation participative puisse atteindre ses objectifs.
L’agriculture de conservation (AC) obéit à trois principes : travail du sol minimal, couverture du sol permanente et multiculture. Partant de ses avantages avérés pour l’écologie du sol, la séquestration de carbone et son adoption massive dans quelques régions du monde, elle est présentée par ses promoteurs comme un système durable convenant à tous contextes. Dès lors elle a été mondialement diffusée au nom du développement durable.
C’est un pays-continent, planté au milieu de l’Afrique centrale, dont les possibilités agricoles et rurales sont énormes. Les dirigeants de la République démocratique du Congo doivent cependant dépasser une vision extractive de l’économie et renforcer les véritables forces productrices, essentiellement agricoles, tout en sauvegardant le fabuleux patrimoine naturel du pays. En élaborant un Code agricole, le gouvernement congolais affiche l’ambition de se doter de moyens pour relancer l’agriculture, la pêche et l’élevage.
This synthesis report presents the outputs of the workshop organised by CTA at its headquarters in Wageningen, The Netherlands, 15-17 July 2008. The outputs are presented in two main parts, each corresponding to one of the workshop objectives, and ends with a section on the way forward as suggested by the workshop participants. It also includes a first attempt to come to a consolidated generic framework on AIS performance indicators, based on the outputs of the different working groups.
These notes summarise reflections on local innovation and participatory innovation development that took place within the PROLINNOVA International Support Team (IST), based on observations and discussions with network partners during advisory visits and international workshops.
The history of agricultural research and development (R&D) has never been static. Its philosophies, concepts and principles continue to change and to impact on present-day practices. It is imperative to understand and draw lessons from the old and new perspectives, which inform agricultural R&D processes and policy formulation in developing countries. The interest of this paper is, therefore, to draw relevant lessons that can explain the dynamics,of the innovation systems at the grassroots in sub-Saharan Africa in particular.
The Routemap to Information Nodes and Gateways (RING) is a CIARD project led by Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR). The Routemap consists of a registry of existing information services in agricultural research, innovation and development , indexed and described in a way that makes them more easily "exploitable" for building value-added integrated services.