This flyer expresses the idea that Agricultural knowledge, science and technology (AKST) cannot be achieved through business as usual and that nstitutions are needed that can drive efforts in the face of unprecedented challenges. The discussed key questions are: How have institutions shaped the development of AKST? What are their impacts on sustainable and equitable development? Which institutional arrangements have the greatest potential to drive and deliver sustainability and development goals?
CABI’s Plantwise programme runs local plant clinics in 24 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America where trained ‘plant doctors’ provide on-the-spot diagnosis and advice for farmers who bring samples to the clinics. A database that records each consultation and shares knowledge across clinics and countries continually builds the ability of the programme to respond to farmers’ needs. The programme embodies key principles of an innovation systems approach.
The process of knowledge brokering in the agricultural sector, where it is generally called agricultural extension, has been studied since the 1950s. While agricultural extension initially employed research push models, it gradually moved towards research pull and collaborative research models. The current agricultural innovation systems perspective goes beyond seeing research as the main input to change and innovation, and recognises that innovation emerges from the complex interactions among multiple actors and is about fostering combined technical, social and institutional change.
ICTs are being increasingly used for Knowledge Management (KM) nowadays. In spite of this, rapid deployment of ICTs for KM is a major challenge. This paper explores the challenges in using ICT for KM using the case of “agropedia” – an ICT mediated knowledge management platform for Indian agriculture. The paper argues that KM is no more a technical challenge, but rather constrained by social and organizational barriers. Without initiating institutional and policy changes in addressing these barriers, KM continues to elude Indian agriculture.
The CGIAR research program on livestock and fish aims to sustainably increase the productivity of small-scale livestock and fish systems so as to increase the availability and affordability of meat, milk and fish for poor consumers across the developing world. The purpose of this document is to lay out a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Framework for the program. The Framework provides a concise narrative of why the M&E system is important, how it operates, what kinds of data it will collect and who is responsible for data collection and analysis.
The new challenges facing the European agricultural and rural sectors call for a review of the links between knowledge production and its use to foster innovation, and for a deeper analysis of the potential of the current Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) to react to the evolving context. This paper highlights how the Italian AKIS places itself in the new emerging framework, with a particular emphasis on the incentives guiding the system and the experiences of monitoring and evaluating the national AKIS policy.
In this paper, presented at the 12th European IFSA Symposium (Workshop: "Generating spaces for innovation in agricultural and rural development") in 2016, the authors assess the integration of new entrants to small-scale farming into agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS), in four study sites located on Europe’s periphery (Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom).
While privatization of extension has received considerable attention with respect to implications for public and private good, less consideration has been given to structural and relational implications for knowledge sharing.
The privatization of agricultural research and extension establishments worldwide has led to the development of a market for services designed to support agricultural innovation. However, due to market and systemic failures, both supply side and demand side parties in this market have experienced constraints in effecting transactions and establishing the necessary relationships to engage in demand-driven innovation processes.
This study describes the evolving context and organisational linkages in the agricultural innovation system of Azerbaijan and suggests ways to promote effective organisational ties for the development, distribution and use of new or improved information and knowledge related to agriculture. Graph-theoretic principles and concepts are employed to assess the existing organisational linkages vital for agricultural innovations.