The purposes of this course are to review the major reforms being considered internationally that aim to change the policy and institutional structure and operations of public sector agricultural extension systems, and to examine the advantages and disadvantages of each of these reforms as illustrated by the selected case studies. Aside from the introductory chapter, the course is organized into nine modules, which are conceived as part of a larger framework.
This publication contains twelve modules which cover a selection of major reform measures in agricultural extension being promulgated and implemented internationally, such as linking farmers to markets, making advisory services more demand-driven, promoting pluralistic advisory systems, and enhancing the role of advisory services within agricultural innovation systems.
In the context of an exponential rise in access to information in the last two decades, this special issue explores when and how information might be harnessed to improve governance and public service delivery in rural areas. Information is a critical component of government and citizens’ decision-making; therefore, improvements in its availability and reliability stand to benefit many dimensions of governance, including service delivery.
Women play important roles at different nodes of both agricultural and off-farm value chains, but in many countries their contributions are either underestimated or limited by prevailing societal norms or gender-specific barriers. We use primary data collected in Asia (Bangladesh, Philippines) and Africa (Benin, Malawi) to examine the relationships between women’s empowerment, gender equality, and participation in a variety of local agricultural value chains that comprise the food system.
Sustainable intensification of smallholder farming is a serious option for satisfying 2050 global cereal requirements and alleviating persistent poverty. That option seems far off for Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) where technology-driven productivity growth has largely failed. The article revisits this issue from a number of angles: current approaches to enlisting SSA smallholders in agricultural development; the history of the phenomenal productivity growth in the USA, The Netherlands and Green Revolution Asia; and the current framework conditions for SSA productivity growth.
This paper introduces Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems (RAAIS). RAAIS is a diagnostic tool that can guide the analysis of complex agricultural problems and innovation capacity of the agricultural system in which the complex agricultural problem is embedded. RAAIS focuses on the integrated analysis of different dimensions of problems (e.g. biophysical, technological, socio-cultural, economic, institutional and political), interactions across different levels (e.g.
The present rise of pork demand in Benin calls for an assessment of the swine value chain (VC) to envision its development. A participatory approach is here proposed to join this assessment to a stimulation of innovation among stakeholders.
En esta investigación, realizada en el Programa Académico de Administración de Empresas Agropecuarias de la Universidad De La Salle, se confirma que la incorporación de técnicas pedagógicas de creatividad e innovación contribuye a generar una mejor formulación de proyectos relacionados con emprendimiento. Se deduce que no basta con disponer del acervo básico sobre técnicas de creatividad y de innovación sino que se hace necesario un desarrollo permanente, para reforzar el avance de los proyectos.
El objetivo de ese estudio fue identificar y analizar características relacionadas con procesos de gestión de la innovación tecnológica en doce microempresas chihuahuenses (México). Los resultados revelan que las microempresas objeto de estudio presentan las características que la literatura considera clave para la innovación; sin embargo, sus calificaciones resultan inferiores a evaluaciones aplicadas a pequeñas y medianas empresas.
En este trabajo se desarrolla la investigación como estudio de caso, con información generada por los productores asociados en Amigos de Ozolco, durante dos años de operación y acompañamiento. El estudio de caso permite medir y registrar la conducta de las personas involucradas en nuestra situación de estudio, con información verbal y datos obtenidos desde fuentes cualitativas y cuantitativas, primarias y secundarias; esto es, documentos, registros de archivos, entrevistas directas, observación directa, observación de los participantes e instalaciones y objetos físicos.