Grants for agricultural innovation are common but grant funds specifically targeted to smallholder farmers remain relatively rare. Nevertheless, they are receiving increasing recognition as a promising venue for agricultural innovation. They stimulate smallholders to experiment with improved practices, to become proactive and to engage with research and extension providers. The systematic review covered three modalities of disbursing these grants to smallholder farmers and their organisations: vouchers, competitive grants and farmer-led innovation support funds.
En este informe se describen las experiencias y enfoques de la constitución de cadenas agroalimentarias y se plantea la necesidad de desarrollar una nueva institucionalidad y formas de cooperación técnica para el fortalecimiento del sector agrícola y rural. Se espera que las cadenas agroalimentarias se constituyan en mecanismos de diálogo e instrumentos de gestión para la competitividad y la toma de decisiones según las demandas de los Estados Miembros del IICA.
Este articulo aborda el tema de la colaboración y de cómo esta puede ayudar el desarrollo y la innovación agrícola en África.
This article gives insights about collaboration and how this process can help agricultural innovation in Africa.
El objetivo del proyecto es contribuir al fortalecimiento de la institucionalidad relacionada con el desarrollo de las capacidades agroempresariales y organizativas de los productores y agroempresarios para vincularse de manera rentable, sostenible y competitiva al mercado en Ecuador, Guatemala y Paraguay
Based on farmer and value chain actor interviews, this comparative study of five emerging dairy clusters elaborates on the upgrading of farming systems, value chains, and context shapes transformations from semi-subsistent to market-oriented dairy farming. The main results show unequal cluster upgrading along two intensification dimensions: dairy feeding system and cash cropping. Intensive dairy is competing with other high-value cash crop options that resource-endowed farmers specialize in, given conducive support service arrangements and context conditions.
Innovation Platforms (IPs) are seen as a promising vehicle to foster a paradigm shift in agricultural research for development (AR4D). By facilitating interaction, negotiation and collective action between farmers, researchers and other stakeholders, IPs can contribute to more integrated, systemic innovation that is essential for achieving agricultural development impacts. However, successful implementation of IPs requires institutional change within AR4D establishments.
Vertical linkages occur among innovation platforms organized at different levels: community, district and national. Horizontal linkages occur among platforms situated at the same level (e.g. in multiple districts) to strengthen their bargaining position or for learning. This brief discusses ways to facilitate learning and problem solving across innovation platforms at different levels (vertical linkages) and between initiatives located at the same level (horizontal linkages). It is available in Chinese, English, Hindi, Thai and Vietnamese.
Innovation platforms are fast becoming part of the mantra of agricultural research and development projects and programs with an innovation objective.
On-farm agricultural innovation through incorporation of new technologies and practices requires access to resources such as knowledge, financial resources, training, and even emotional support, all of which require the support of different actors such as peers, advisors, and researchers. The literature has explored the support networks that farmers use and the overall importance ranking of different support actors, but it has not looked in detail at how these networks may differ for different farmers.