This report introduces the reader to the concept of agricultural innovation systems (AIS) and the TAP-AIS project being implemented by FAO in nine countries, including Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The results of the AIS assessment for Lao PDR are presented, highlighting key barriers and opportunities for agricultural innovation in the country.
Decision support systems (DSS) have long been used in research, service provision and extension. Despite the diversity of technological applications in which past agricultural DSS canvass, there has been relatively little information on either the functional aspects of DSS designed for economic decisions in irrigated cropping, or the human and social factors influencing the adoption of knowledge from such DSS.
International agricultural research is often motivated by the potential benefits it could bring to smallholder farmers in developing countries. A recent experimental literature has emerged on why innovations resulting from such research, which often focuses on yield enhancement, fail to be adopted due to either external or internal constraints. This article reviews this literature, focusing on the traits of the different technologies and their complexity and distinguishing between yield-enhancing, variance-reducing, and water- or labor-reducing technologies.
Innovations are fast changing the agricultural landscape driven by the increasing need to shift towards sustainable practices without sacrificing the productivity and profitability of farming. Innovations in technology, institutions, processes, and products have contributed to the growth of agriculture, globally and in developing countries including India and Africa, as observed in the cases of green revolution in cereals; and gene revolution in cotton.
Les travaux portant sur l’inclusion des petits exploitants dans l’agriculture contractuelle dans le monde dressent des constats contradictoires. En Algérie, l’État a engagé en 2009 un programme d’appui à l’intégration des filières lait et tomate industrielle, en accordant des primes aux entreprises et aux agriculteurs qui s’engagent ensemble dans des contrats de commercialisation.
This paper attempts to identify the major factors associated with some of the failures and successes of integrated watershed management policies and projects with a particular emphasis on the uplands of mainland Southeast Asia. It argues that many policy measures have been misguided by failing to acknowledge the multi- dimensional facets of sustainable watershed management and putting too much emphasis on command-and-control approaches to resource management and one- size-fits-all conservation models.
In response to population growth, rising income and urbanisation, the demand for livestock products, such as milk, meat and eggs is growing in Ethiopia. The growing demand for milk products offers opportunities for smallholders to realize better livelihoods. Whereas the growing demand for milk products in Ethiopia is widely recognised, the dairy sector has not been able to produce adequate milk to satisfy this demand, mainly due to low productivity of dairy animals.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, young entrepreneurs in agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa were already facing a number of challenges. The main challenges include limited access to natural resources, finance, technology, knowledge and information, and insufficient participation in policy dialogues and other decision-making processes. The COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptions to agricultural value chains are presenting additional hurdles for these agripreneurs.
Ever since the Asilomar Conference on ‘Recombinant DNA' in February 1975, regulatory policies relating to recombinant DNA technology have focused on the idea that this technology implies threats to human health and the environment [1].
Mobile phone use is increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa, spurring a growing focus on mobile phones as tools to increase agricultural yields and incomes on smallholder farms. However, the research to date on this topic is mixed, with studies finding both positive and neutral associations between phones and yields. In this paper we examine perceptions about the impacts of mobile phones on agricultural productivity, and the relationships between mobile phone use and agricultural yield.