Zimbabwe has a pluralistic agricultural extension system. In addition to the public extension service, donors contract private service providers to deliver extension services in specific project areas. This study assesses the impact of an outsourced extension service on rural households in the Mutasa district of Zimbabwe’s Manicaland Province, and examines the financial cost and benefit of this service. The extension service was delivered by a local agribusiness firm and funded by USAID. The study analyses survey data gathered from 94 client and 90 non-client rural households.
This study examines the role of public–private partnerships in international agricultural research. It is intended to provide policymakers, researchers, and business decisionmakers with an understanding of how such partnerships operate, how they promote the exchange of knowledge and technology, and how they contribute to poverty reduction.
Emilio Ruz, executive secretary of the Cooperative Programme for Agri-food and Agroindustrial Technological Development of the Southern Cone (PROCISUR), presented the PROCISUR’s frame-work of innovation management at the 3rd GFRAS Annual Meeting, "The Role of Rural Advisory Services in Agricultural Innovation Systems", 26-28 September 2012, Philippines. His presentation has been prepared with Julio C. Catullo,
Extension Group Coordinator of PROCISUR.
En las economías basadas en la exportación de materias primas, el desarrollo de capacidades de innovación es un fenómeno reciente que presiona a las empresas a introducir cambios en sus procesos industriales. Con el objetivo de caracterizar las dinámicas particulares del proceso de innovación en la industria primaria de la madera, se aplicó una encuesta presencial a treinta empresas del sector
Ante la poca oferta de textos que, aplicando los conceptos de marketing al área de los Agronegocios, indiquen cómo detectar oportunidades de mercado, se presenta una propuesta sobre cómo ayudar al estudiante en estos aspectos. La enseñanza que se entrega a los estudiantes incluye los conceptos de mercado, en que se les propone y recomienda partir de las necesidades del consumidor, generar ideas y luego evaluarlas, lo que está muy bien, siempre que se conozcan dichas necesidades.
En este artículo se hace un análisis histórico del funcionamiento de la cadena de valor láctea en Chile entre 1975 y 2005. Para ello se ha utilizado información procedente de distintas fuentes estadísticas, así como estudios e informes de la época considerada. El objetivo es demostrar que la generación de un sector competitivo, abierto a la competencia internacional, e incluso exportador, no es el resultado de la actuación de las fuerzas libres del mercado, sino de una política pública aplicada de una forma que a la vez resulta flexible y persistente en el tiempo.
This paper draws lessons from selected country experiences of adaptation and innovation in pursuit of food security goals.
Many small-scale irrigation systems are characterized by low yields and deteriorating infrastructure. Interventions often erroneously focus on increasing yields and rehabilitating infrastructure. Small-scale irrigation systems have many of the characteristics of complex socio-ecological systems, with many different actors and numerous interconnected subsystems. However, the limited interaction between the different subsystems and their agents prevents learning and the emergence of more beneficial outcomes.
The markets and value chains approach has recently become fashionable in agricultural development interventions. So too have innovation platforms. This brief shows how innovation platforms can be a useful vehicle to promote market development. It is available in Chinese, English, Hindi, Thai and Vietnamese.
One of the most important things that innovation platforms do is to build the capacity of their members to innovate. Some key elements of innovation capacity include: self-organization, learning new skills, changing mindsets, valuing others’ roles in innovation, having a holistic view, being able to adapt to changing situations, creating new ideas, recognizing opportunities, being proactive, using indigenous ideas, and looking to the future. This brief uses the analogy of a traditional African cooking pot to explain how innovation capacity is developed within an innovation platform.