Understanding barriers to market access for smallholder farmers and their marketing efficiency when they participate in agricultural value chains is key to unlocking the market potential and overcoming market failures. This study aimed at determining factors limiting farmers’ market access, the break-even point for undertaking postharvest value addition activities by the farmers, and the market efficiency of the Uganda potato market chains in which the smallholder farmers are participating.
Este trabajo tiene como objetivos evaluar las actividades de extensionismo en las estrategias Plan Puebla y MasAgro a través de elementos como: comunicación y participación de los actores; difusión de las tecnologías propuestas para la producción de maíz; aplicación de la tecnología y sus efectos económicos; y elementos culturales incorporados a las tecnologías. Todo ello como evidencia de un proceso que permita identificar aprendizajes e implementar acciones para que los pequeños productores logren incrementar los rendimientos de maíz, sus ingresos y mejorar sus condiciones de vida.
This study aims to analyze the evolution of Brazilian agricultural production from the 1960s to now and summarizes some of the main findings from the historical view of Brazilian agriculture development. The arguments should rest here on how technical change and the national system of innovations have built an institutional environment to boost the agricultural sector, particularly in the past few decades. It is not easy to describe the path of Brazilian agricultural development , but organizing some important historical facts can help creating a full picture.
Innovation is often presented as one of the main catalysts for more sustainable and inclusive development. In the agricultural and food sectors, innovation is characterized not only by specificities arising from its relationship to nature, but also from the wide diversity of its stakeholders, ranging from farmers to consumers, and including intermediaries such as the research community and advisory services. Innovation emerges from interactions between these actors, who mobilize resources and produce knowledge in collaborative mechanisms in orderto generate changes.
Extant research shows that universities do not usually foster an inclusive innovation system. This paper examines an innovation program at Zhejiang University that targeted rural areas in China, and that sought to promote an inclusive innovation system.
This chapter aims to shed light on the broad debate surrounding when and why farmers adopt agricultural innovations, especially in the context of multi-stakeholder platforms (MSP) seeking to scale climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices. No research has yet tested the hypothesis that farmer entrepreneurship—defined as the innovative use of agricultural resources to create opportunities for value creation—may facilitate the adoption of CSA practices. This study is intended to fill that information gap.
The development of future food systems will depend on normative decisions taken at different levels by policymakers and stakeholders. Scenario modeling is an adequate tool for assessing the implications of such decisions, but for an enlightened debate, it is important to make explicit and transparent how such value-based decisions affect modeling results.
Food sustainability transitions refer to transformation processes necessary to move towards sustainable food systems. Digitization is one of the most important ongoing transformation processes in global agriculture and food chains. The review paper explores the contribution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to transition towards sustainability along the food chain (production, processing, distribution, consumption). A particular attention is devoted to precision agriculture as a food production model that integrates many ICTs.
Although the political context in Uganda exhibits democratic deficit and patronage, research and development actors have given little attention to the possible negative impact these may have on agricultural policymaking and implementation processes. This article examines the influence of power in perpetuating prevailing narratives around public participation in agricultural policymaking processes.