This flyer illustrates the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP), its work and publications.
The question of how agricultural research can best be used for developmental purposes is a topic of some debate in developmental circles. The idea that this is simply a question of better transfer of ideas from research to farmers has been largely discredited. Agricultural innovation is a process that takes a multitude of different forms, and, within this process, agricultural research and expertise are mobilised at different points in time for different purposes. This paper uses two key analytical principles in order to find how research is actually put into use.
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 global food supply is increasingly facing disruptions from extreme heat and storms. It is also a major contributor to climate change, responsible for one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.This tension is why agriculture innovation is increasingly being elevated in international climate discussions.
Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and transitioning the planet to an equitable climate and nature-positive future by 2050 will require systemic shifts in how food is produced and consumed.
With the current realities of the food systems, the fusion of innovation with purpose becomes not just a choice but a necessity.
The objective of this report is to assess the usefulness of providing guidance for scaling up good practices in core ARD business lines, and to test the prospects for doing so. The output of the document is a guide for a systematic discussion on scaling up of Competitive Grant Schemes (CGSs) for agricultural research and extension at key decision points during the life of an ARD project. This report addresses the other end of the state-of-practice spectrum - good practices and beyond.
La newsletter trae artículos a respecto del uso de las TIC en la Agricultura. Dentre ellos: Un futuro regional en construcción de Marcelo Bosch. Las TIC como herramienta para la superación de las asimetrías de Mônica Rodrigues. “El impacto de las TIC en la agricultura es enorme”, entrevista a Raúl Hopkins. Prioridades y políticas para el uso de las TIC en el sector agropecuario boliviano por Víctor Vásquez Mamani. “Poner las TIC al servicio de la administración y la gerencia retrasa su impacto en los clientes finales”, entrevista a Hugo Chavarría.
Las tecnologías de información y comunicaciones (TICS) contemplan toda forma de tecnología usada para crear, almacenar, intercambiar y procesar información en sus varias formas mientras que el extensionista es un promotor y gestor del desarrollo rural que favorece los procesos de desarrollo rural. El desarrollo de capacidades, es el proceso mediante el cual las personas, organizaciones y sociedades obtienen, fortalecen y mantienen las aptitudes necesarias para establecer y alcanzar sus propios objetivos de desarrollo a lo largo del tiempo.
Many smallholder farmers in developing countries grow multiple crop species on their farms, maintaining de facto crop diversity. Rarely do agricultural development strategies consider this crop diversity as an entry point for fostering agricultural innovation. This paper presents a case study, from an agricultural research-for-development project in northern Ghana, which examines the relationship between crop diversity and self-consumption of food crops, and cash income from crops sold by smallholder farmers in the target areas.
In the AgriSpin project (2015-2017) fifteen organisations involved in innovation support tried to understand better how each of them made a difference in helping farmers to innovate. In principle, each partner organisation hosted a Cross Visits of 3 – 4 days, to present a number of interesting innovation cases in which it was involved. The visiting team, composed of colleagues from other partner organisations, interviewed key actors in each case, and gave feedback about pearls, puzzlings and proposals in these innovation processes.