This study considers what lessons might be learned from the cassava value chain in the context of CTA’s interest in the potentials of: digital financial services for agriculture, such as mobile payments for farmers’ products; other payment streams for financial inclusion of farmer; index based insurance services; digital services to support access to loans and credits. This research provides a comprehensive market study of cash usage behavioural practices and financial literacy among cassava farmers in Ghana and Nigeria.
The startups are an exemplar that great things are done by a series of small things brought together. Taking one small step at a time, moving from one problem to another and solving the issues by disruptive innovation is what these startups are trying to achieve. The startups are not only creating new jobs which means more employment but are also leaving a ripple effect on the socio-economic fabric of the demography in which they are operating. The world has become a playfield for these young entrepreneurs as the global startup revolution continues to grow.
Con el objetivo de proponer lineamientos conceptuales para un sistema de innovación y co-producción de tecnología a fin de coadyuvar en la planeación, evaluación y fortalecimiento institucional de la extensión rural en la Ciudad de México (cdmx), se evaluó la experiencia de 35 campesinos, 7 extensionistas, 3 funcionarios de gobierno y 2 coordinadores de una organización Sistema-Producto en Milpa Alta, Xochimilco y Tláhuac, durante 2015.
Innovation intermediaries are individuals and organisations that enhance connectivity amongst constituencies of national, sectoral, and regional systems of innovation, thereby facilitating knowledge spillover. This paper articulates the whole picture of Indonesia's agricultural innovation system, with a special focus on how different innovation intermediaries play different roles in technology transfer and knowledge dissemination.
The term ‘systemic innovation’ is increasing in use. However, there is no consensus on its meaning: four different ways of using the term can be identified in the literature. Most people simply define it as a type of innovation where value can only be derived when the innovation is synergistically integrated with other complementary innovations, going beyond the boundaries of a single organization. Therefore, the term ‘systemic’ refers to the existence of a co-ordinated innovation system.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Innovation System research, this paper presents an extensive literature review on this large field of innovation research. Building on an analytical basis of the commonalities “system” and “innovation”, the authors analyze the four main Innovation System approaches: National Innovation Systems (NIS), Regional Innovation Systems (RIS), Sectoral Innovation Systems (SIS) and Technological Innovation Systems (TIS). The analysis is structured systematically along ten comprehensive criteria.
This paper offers a perspective on the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System. The first chapter gives an introduction to the subject and explains the role of SCAR and of the Strategic Working Group AKIS. The second chapter investigates the AKIS and their role in innovation, including the policy context of the European Innovation Partnership “Agricultural productivity and sustainability”. Chapter 3 discusses the relation in a globalised world between Agricultural Research (AR) and Agricultural Research for Development (ARD).
In Sub-Sahara Africa, adoption rates of improved crop varieties remain relatively low, which is partly due to farmers’ limited access to information. In smallholder settings, information often spreads through informal networks. Better understanding of such networks could potentially help to spur innovation and farmers’ exposure to new technologies. This study uses survey data from Tanzania to analyze social networks and their role for the spread of information about improved varieties of maize and sorghum.
Nouvel instrument communautaire mobilisant la politique de recherche et la PAC, le PEI entend susciter des partenariats entre les acteurs du développement, de l’enseignement agricole, les agriculteurs, les chercheurs et les entreprises. En cela, il reflète l’évolution récente du cadre de pensée des institutions internationales, qui voient dans l’innovation agricole moins le produit de la recherche et du transfert de connaissances que le résultat d’interactions entre acteurs au sein de réseaux plus ou moins formels.
This paper shares the first results of an ongoing collaborative action research in which ten development organisations explored different Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) approaches with the aim of dealing more effectively with complex processes of social change. There are four reasons why we think this paper may be of interest: 1) The paper illustrates a practical example of action research whereby the organisations themselves are becoming the researchers.