Multi-stakeholder or innovation platforms are increasingly seen as a promising vehicle for agricultural innovation and development. In the field of agricultural research for development (AR4D), such platforms are an important element of a commitment to more intentional, structured and long-term engagement among sector stakeholders.
Innovation platforms are widely used in agricultural research to connect different stakeholders to achieve common goals. This brief deals with the gender dimension in innovation platform and is part of the series of ‘practice briefs’ intended to help guide agricultural research practitioners who seek to support and implement innovation platforms.
Four types of scaling are discussed in this brief. The first two focus on ways individual technologies or interventions are taken to scale through platforms. The third is when a platform adjusts to address different scales. The fourth is when the innovation platform approach is replicated. This brief is part of the series of ‘practice briefs’ intended to help guide agricultural research practitioners who seek to support and implement innovation platforms.
This report seeks to understand the successes, challenges and opportunities of Cambodia’s agricultural transformation over the past decade to derive lessons and insights on how to maintain future agricultural growth, and particularly on the government’s role in facilitating it. It is prepared per the request of the Supreme National Economic Council and the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries and is based on the primary farm data surveys from 2005 and 2013, and the secondary data from various sources.
This work summarizes background papers prepared for the World Bank Group with significant input from government counterparts and other development partners. It takes stock of major recent developments and argues that a lot has been achieved in the last decade in terms of production of commodities for export and food consumption, with favorable impact on rural poverty reduction. It also argues that the two factors driving the recent agricultural performance, namely favorable international prices and expansion of the agricultural frontier, have reached their limits.
Mali is a vast, land-locked country in West Africa with a population of approximately 14.9 million, and a GDP per capita of USD480. The economy is largely rural, with over two-thirds of the population living off agriculture, notably cotton. Gold is the country’s largest export, though production has been declining and the industry faces an uncertain future as proven reserves are limited. The service sector, which represents 40 percent of GDP, is dominated by trade and commerce. Mali’s dependence on crops and gold makes it vulnerable to terms of trade shocks.
Agriculture remains fundamental for Nicaragua from both a macroeconomic and social view. It is the largest sector of the Nicaraguan economy, and it remains the single biggest employer with around 30 percent of the labor force and including processed foods, like meat and sugar, agriculture accounts for around 40 percent of total exports value. Nicaragua appears to be gradually losing competitive edge of some of its key agricultural exports within the most important export markets.
Despite myriad challenges, Kenya has emerged in recent years as one of Africa’s frontier economies, with headline growth in the most recent decade propelling the country toward middle-income status. Less well understood is how risk dynamics associated with production, markets, and policy adversely impact sector performance, in terms of both influencing ex ante decision making among farmers, traders, and other sector stakeholders and causing ex post losses to crops, livestock, and incomes - destabilizing livelihoods and jeopardizing the country’s food security.
Botswana has been one of the worlds fastest growing economies over the past 50 years, allowing the country to move from being among the poorest to upper middle income status - this has had the effect of pulling the majority of the population out of poverty. While Botswana is rightly praised for its management of resource wealth, it is apparent that the high levels of investment by government (in health, education, and infrastructure) are not delivering quality outcomes, making it increasingly difficult to meet the objectives of growth, diversification, and poverty elimination.
African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa can feed itself in a generation and help contribute to global food security. To achieve this Africa has to define agriculture as a force in economic growth by: advancing scientific and technological research; investing in infrastructure; fostering higher technical training; and creating regional markets.