This brochure presents the five-year TAP-AIS project (2019-2024) funded by the European Union under the DeSIRA Initiative and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The project has the main objective to strengthen capacities to innovate in national agricultural innovation systems (AIS) in the context of climate-relevant, productive, and sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific.
ICT-driven digital tools to support smallholder farmers are arguably inevitable for agricultural development, and they are gradually evolving with promising outlook. Yet, the development and delivery of these tools to target users are often fraught with non-trivial, and sometimes unanticipated, contextual realities that can make or mar their adoption and sustainability. This article unfolds the experiential learnings from a digital innovation project focusing on surveillance and control of a major banana disease in East Africa which is being piloted in Rwanda.
The concept of an innovation system is used to understand how innovation contributes to economic growth. However, innovation systems do not evolve evenly in different parts of the world. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the emergence of innovation systems in the context of developing countries. It uses the Rwandan case, where agriculture is a dominant socio-economic sector with high innovation potential. It explores how stakeholder interactions and policies contribute to the emergence of an agriculture innovation system in Rwanda.
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.
Participation of actors is essential for achievement of the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With respect to sustainable agriculture the UN has introduced a collaborative framework for food systems transformation encompassing: 1) food system champions identification; 2) food systems assessment; 3) multi-stakeholder dialogue and action facilitation; and, 4) strengthen institutional capacity for food systems governance. The last two actions are the focus of this thesis.
There is widespread need for gender-responsive agricultural research, yet the question of how this kind of research can be implemented and its success measured needs further interrogation. This paper presents a framework, developed on the basis of literature and validated by experts, for tracking the gender responsiveness of agricultural research throughout the research cycle, from the research plan to the dissemination of research findings. The framework was tested in Uganda and Rwanda on 14 research projects considered to be gender-responsive.
L’accès au financement des petits exploitants ou des organisations constitue de plus en plus des mesures de protection sociale tout en améliorant la cohésion sociale des populations (Hendriks, 2019). Cette idée n’est pas dissociable de l’environnement camerounais dont l’Etat a souscrit pour les Objectifs de Développement Durable. Dans ce cadre, on peut se demander : quelle est l’influence de la protection sociale, notamment dans sa dimension inclusive en du financement de l’agriculture sur la cohésion sociale à l’Ouest-Cameroun ?
Sustainable Public Food Procurement (PFP) represents a key game changer for food systems transformation. It can influence both food consumption and food production patterns. It can deliver multiple social, economic and environmental benefits towards sustainable food systems for healthy diets.
This publication aims to contribute to the improved understanding, dissemination and use of PFP as a development tool in particular in the case of school meals programmes.
This document is part of the project “Strengthening the adaptive capacity to climate change in the fisheries and aquaculture sector of Chile”, executed by the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the Ministry of the Environment, and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, with funding from the Global Environment Facility. The work was implemented in four pilot coves: Caleta Riquelme (Tarapacá); Caleta Tongoy (Coquimbo); Caleta Coliumo (Biobío); and Caleta El Manzano-Hualaihué (Los Lagos).
CABI and the Cereal Growers Association (CGA) have been sharing information with farmers in Kenya on how to effectively and safely manage the continuing threat of the invasive fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). This was achieved thanks to a development communication campaign that combined video sharing through a network of lead farmers and social media.