This paper, using Thailand as a case study, aims at understanding the national innovation system (NIS) in developing countries which are less successful in technological catching-up. In contrast to developed countries, the development level of Thailand’s NIS does not link to its economic structural development level. As Thailand moves from agricultural to an increasingly industrial economy, its NIS remains weak and fragmented. The mismatch between the two affected Thailand’s competitiveness and partially contributed to the recent economic crisis.
Social learning processes can be the basis of a method of agricultural innovation that involves expert and empirical knowledge. In this sense, the objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness and sustainability of an innovation process, understood as social learning, in a group of small farmers in the southern highlands of Peru. Innovative proposals and its permanence three years after the process finished were evaluated. It was observed that innovation processes generated are maintained over time; however, new innovations are not subsequently generated.
Despite the well-known importance of innovation to productivity growth in the agri-food sector, very few studies have attempted to measure farm-level innovation. This article contributes to the literature by developing an agricultural innovation index that goes beyond measuring innovation through adopted technologies. Based on this index, drivers and barriers of innovation are assessed. The findings reveal that innovation efforts differ between farm systems.
The promotion of land, soil and water conservation measures has been a widespread development in sub-Saharan Africa in a bid to tackle degradation and improve productivity. As a result, several governments have launched various campaigns on soil, land and water conservation measures. The aim of this study is to determine some of the factors that influence farmers’ awareness (knowledge) and adoption of land, soil and water conservation practices. Data for this study was collected from 312 households using a questionnaire survey in the Chinyanja Triangle of Southern Africa.
Like other developing countries, Pakistan is under severe economic pressure and striving to boost entrepreneurial orientation for achieving growth through minimal depletion of natural resources. In order to facilitate widespread and successful adoption of green entrepreneurial farming, it is crucial to address barriers inhibiting the uptake of green entrepreneurial activities in farming for the sustainability of natural resources as well as food provision. To this end, the present study aimed to investigate barriers in the adoption of green entrepreneurial farming in Pakistan.
This study refines the participatory management (PM) in agricultural extension education (AEE) by adopting a multidimensional approach. PM is a process where extension agent (EA) tries to provide a good situation for AEE and share significant degree of power with their farmers. The data were obtained from samples of 290 Iranian farmers in Torbat Heydarieh, Iran. Methodology was descriptive and correlation. There was directly and a statically significant relation between all of components of PM regarding in effective AEE. The PM is a panacea for improving the AEE.
The Farmer Business School (FBS) is a participatory, action learning process focused on product and business development, and like the Farmer Field School, is a complex, multi-dimensional innovation with the potential to benefit large numbers of farming households economically, socially and institutionally. Scaling this approach requires rethinking both innovation and scaling.
Social learning in multi-actor innovation networks is increasingly considered an important precondition for addressing sustainability in regional development contexts. Social learning is seen as a means for enabling stakeholders to take advantage of the diversity in perspectives, interests and values for generating more sustainable practices and policies. Although more and more research is done on the meaning and manifestations of social learning, particularly in the context of natural resource management, little is known about the social dynamics in the process of social learning.
The increasing complexity of technology development and adoption is rapidly changing the effectiveness of scientific and technological policies. Complex technologies are developed and disseminated by networks of agents. The impact of these networks depends on the assets they command, their learning routines, the socio-economic environment in which they operate and their history.
The agricultural innovation systems approach emphasizes the collective nature of innovation and stresses that innovation is a co-evolutionary process, resulting from alignment of technical, social, institutional and organizational dimensions. These insights are increasingly informing interventions that focus on setting up multi-stakeholder initiatives, such as innovation platforms and networks, as mechanisms for enhancing agricultural innovation, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.