The challenges of providing food security for the developing world have perhaps never been so extreme, with the introduction of new technologies being matched by land degradation, water concerns and the often uncertain impacts of a changing climate. In short, we will need to produce more food on less land. Adding to the problem is the distrust and fear around some new technologies – particularly biotechnologies – that have created a divide between scientists and farmers, decision makers and the public. There have been many attempts to bridge these divides, but few success stories.
Though Odisha is India’s top sweetpotato-producing state, most farmers grow low-yielding varieties of limited nutritional value. The Odisha Directorate of Horticulture and the International Potato Center (CIP) spent four years promoting improved varieties and good agricultural practices in four districts of Odisha, resulting in a 25 per cent growth in the area dedicated to the crop, a 17 per cent increase in farm productivity, and a 40 per cent increase in farmer incomes within the project areas; as well as the introduction of a nutritious, orange-fleshed sweetpotato variety.
Capacity building for integrating gender in research and development (R&D) on agricultural innovations often remains with organizing single gender training. Alternatively, it is often limited to hiring a gender specialist to allocate a small amount of her/his time to the project. This has proofed to be ineffective and a heavy burden for gender specialists. This success story presents an innovative approach to capacity development, which successfully changed agricultural researchers’ attitude to gender in Southeast Asia, with a specific focus in Vietnam.
A network of women farmers’ leaders is set to drive widespread adoption of innovations and technologies across India. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), together with the Department of Biotechnology of India’s Ministry of Science and Technology, are training women farmer leaders on advanced rice production and soft skills to help boost food security in India.
The Water Resources Department, Government of Maharashtra, responsible for building infrastructure and delivering water to farmers and other users, has so far created irrigation potential of about 5.3. million hectares and the current utilization is about 76%. About 5000 Water User Associations (WUAs) have been established to manage the water supply within their designated areas. However, the water use efficiency and productivity is adversely impacting the overall water security of the state.
In India, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are considered as the most preferred institutional mechanism for enhancing productivity and income of farmers. This is based on the resounding success of a few farmer collectives that have aggregated their produce to realise better incomes. However, when efforts were made to scale up this interesting model across the country, several challenges emerged.
The Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries (KNUAF)'s innovative program is helping South Korea overcome issues relating to its ageing rural population while simultaneously developing elite human resources to establish and promote a highly competent agriculture sector. Since its inception, the KNUAF has been producing young highly competent professionals to manage its high tech agriculture either as entrepreneurs or farm managers.
Le développement de l'agriculture organique au Brésil prend des formes multiples. Au travers de leur expérience de l'AO, dans une communauté proche de trois métropoles, de petits maraîchers d'Ibiúna (São Paulo) créent des entités collectives et expérimentent de nouvelles pratiques sociales.
La façon donc les organismes de recherche et d'appui aux agriculteurs participent aux processus de développement de l'agriculture et du monde rural fait l'objet de débats. Ceux-ci portent à la fois sur la compréhension des besoins réels des agriculteurs et sur les formes de coordination entre les différents acteurs de la production de connaissances traduisibles en actions. Nous proposons d'illustrer cette problématique à partir d'un programme de coopération franco-argentin Innovaciones, Desarrollo, Exploitationes Agropecuarias, Sociedad local (IDEAS), engagé en Argentine en 1995-1996.
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.