Global adoption of transgenic crops reached 67.7 million hectares in 2003 from 2.8 million in 1996. Delivery has occurred almost entirely through the private sector and adoption has been rapid in areas where the crops addressed serious production constraints and where farmers had access to the new technologies. Three countries (USA, Argentina and Canada), three crops (soybean, cotton and maize) and two traits (insect resistance and herbicide tolerance) account for the vast majority of global transgenic area.
This paper addresses four questions: · What lessons can be drawn from the "rise and decline" of NARS in Africa? · What can African research managers learn from some of the successful reforms of NARS in Asia and Latin America over the past 10 to 15 years? · What are the major challenges facing the NARS in the ASARECA region in the coming 10-20 years? · What are the critical reforms and the incentives needed to develop pluralistic, accountable, productive and financially self-sustaining NARS in AFRICA?
Recent studies in the literature examining impact of government seed price intervention on adoption of Bt cotton get different results depending on the specifics of the situation analyzed. According to one study, reduction in seed prices enables farmers to buy seeds at lower prices and this can result in surge of area sown under Bt cotton. The other view holds that seed price interventions have little impact on the adoption rates rather these interventions may adversely affect firms’ incentives to innovate. Which of the two views characterize adoption of Bt cotton in India?
El documento tiene como objetivo analizar los avances realizados por países de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) en el fortalecimiento de la institucionalidad vinculada a la agricultura, el cambio climático y la seguridad alimentaria. El documento destaca iniciativas innovadoras, en ámbitos como la formulación de políticas, el desarrollo de marcos legales, el fomento de la investigación y la innovación, el desarrollo de mecanismos de financiamiento, y la gestión de riesgos climáticos, entre otros. La revisión está enfocada en las políticas nacionales
El taller tuvo como objetivo el fortalecimiento de capacidades de actores nacionales en la formulación e implementación de proyectos que integren temáticas de género y cambio climático. El taller adoptó un enfoque práctico donde se compartieron diferentes herramientas para ser usadas en las diferentes fases del ciclo de proyectos con enfoque de adaptación y/o mitigación al cambio climático en el sector agrícola para garantizar una visión de género e inclusión social.
The turn of agrarian sciences and agricultural extension from reductionist and transfer of technology, respectively, towards systemic approaches has transformed agricultural/rural development thinking in the last decades. Nevertheless, the emergence of Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) has to confront a number of gaps among which the expert – lay knowledge gap is of major importance. This paper aims at exploring such a gap as well as obstacles to participatory development from a critical realist point of view.
There is an emerging body of literature analysing how smallholder farmers in developing countries can benefit from modern supply chains. However, most of the available studies concentrate on export markets and fail to capture spillover effects that modern supply chains may have on local markets. Here, we analyse the case of sweet pepper in Thailand, which was initially introduced as a product innovation in modern supply chains, but which is now widely traded also in more traditional markets.
Natural resource management practices, such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), have been proposed to tackle agricultural challenges such as decreasing productivity growth and environmental degradation. Yet, the benefits of system technologies for farmers are often debated. Impacts seem to be context-specific, which is especially relevant in the small farm sector with its large degree of agroecological and socioeconomic heterogeneity. This was not always considered in previous research.
L’Afrique Subsaharienne n'a pas assez bénéficié des grandes révolutions connues du monde agricole qui ont permis d’accroitre les productivités. Malgré l’existence des nouvelles technologies, les niveaux des productivités agricoles demeurent faibles et inférieurs à ceux d’autres régions en développement. Un certain nombre de facteurs, dont les contraintes à l’adoption des nouvelles technologies, pourraient expliquer ces faibles productivités.
The Guidance Note on Operationalization provides a brief recap of the conceptual underpinnings and principles of the TAP Common Framework as well as a more detailed guide to operationalization of the proposed dual pathways approach. It offers also a strategy for monitoring and evaluation as well as a toolbox of select tools that may be useful at the different stages of the CD for AIS cycle.