Grant funds specifically targeted to smallholder farmers to facilitate innovation are a promising agricultural policy instrument. They stimulate smallholders to experiment with improved practices, and to engage with research, extension and business development services providers. However, evidence on impact and effectiveness of these grants is scarce. Partly, because attribution of changes in practices and performance to the grant alone is challenging, and the grant is often invested in innovation processes that benefitted from other support in the past.
In this paper the authors present the diagnosis and re-design of farm systems as part of an innovation process involving farmers and scientists to improve the sustainability of family farms in south Uruguay. Although were selected farms with a large variation in resource endowment, they shared the main critical points of sustainability: low productivity and deteriorated soil quality.
Motivated by donor interest in innovative thinking on food security, the authors conducted an interdisciplinary, triangulation analysis of four divergent conceptual frameworks, each relevant to diagnosing food insecurity in developing countries. They found notable tensions as well as synergistic interactions between agroecology, agricultural innovation systems, social–ecological systems, and political ecology. Cross-framework interactions enhance our understanding of how sectoral and macro-economic development strategies impact on livelihoods, availability, and access.
Processes of designing for systemic innovation for sustainable development (SD) through the lens of three long-term case studies are reported. All case studies, which originated from the SLIM (Social Learning for the Integrated Management and Sustainable Use of Water at Catchment Scale) Project, funded within the EU Fifth Framework Program (2001–2004), constitute inquiry pathways that are explored using a critical incident approach.
According to transition science, system innovation requires experimentation and social learning to explore the potential of innovations for sustainable development. However, the transition science literature does not elaborate much on the learning processes involved. Senge's Field of Change provides a more detailed approach to the role of learning and action in innovation. We linked the Field of Change to transition management literature in order to explore social learning in an agricultural innovation experiment in the Netherlands called the ‘New Mixed Farm’.
La presentación da una definición de agricultura familiar y sus características esenciales conjuntamente con una definición de extensionismo. Después, ésta habla sobra les avances del extensionismo en las políticas sectoriales y la incorporación de nuevos temas y actores en la agenda de extensionismo.
La presentación es dirigida a productores y grupos de personas, que realizan actividades agrícolas, pecuarias, acuícolas y pesqueras en zonas rurales y periurbanas. El documento da recomendaciones para facilitar el acceso de los productores familiares al acompañamiento técnico y trata de modelos de extensión con mayor impacto en el desarrollo de la Agricultura Familiar.
Cette publication offre de nombreux exemples concrets détaillant différentes manières de réengager les jeunes dans le secteur agricole. Elle montre à quel point des programmes éducationnels sur mesure peuvent offrir aux jeunes les compétences et la perspicacité nécessaires pour se lancer en agriculture et adopter des méthodes de production respectueuses de l’environnement. Beaucoup des approches ou des initiatives décrites dans cette publication sont issues des jeunes eux-mêmes.
Ces dernières années, une « ruée vers les terres » a privé une multitude de petits producteurs du Sud de leur surface agricole. Depuis l’an 2000, plus de 1 600 transactions foncières portant sur quelque 60 millions d’hectares ont été enregistrées.
Este documento describe la experiencia del establecimiento de Módulos Demostrativos Forrajeros (MDF) con productores de diferentes Asociaciones Ganaderas Locales del estado (AGL); el propósito fue establecer especies forrajeras e innovaciones tecnológicas para la siembra, manejo, conservación y su utilización en la alimentación animal, que sirvieran de espacios demostrativos para los productores ganaderos, extensionistas, estudiantes y funcionarios del sector.