Public institutions involved in research that aims to strengthen the productivity, profitability and adaptiveness of industries face a multiplicity of challenges when managing for the emergence of cost effective solutions to problems. We reflect upon the learnings of a Government sponsored Visiting Fellow’s programme that we describe as a knowledge management (KM) intervention within Australia’s primary industries Research, Development and Extension (R, D and E) system.
In this paper is studied the case of Trentino, an Italian Alpine region where alternative food chains are quickly developing, by comparing the development of alternative markets in this context with other Italian peri-urban areas. The mountain environment makes it very difficult for farms to standardize their products according to the requirement of the large retailers. Through alternative food chains, the typicality of products and the savoir faire of the farmers – representing the two main factors of products’ added value – are endorsed and more easily communicated to the market.
Small actors in agricultural value chains are tied to markets through a series of forward and backward business linkages, which incorporate various types of business models. The complexity of these business models varies according to the commodity, number of actors involved, local context and market structure.
La literatura de los intermediarios que participan en el proceso de innovación les atribuye la capacidad de cerrar brechas y disminuir los costos de transacción entre actores exploradores y explotadores de conocimiento, siendo esta interacción vital para que exista un sistema de innovación. Sin embargo, no hay un consenso en la literatura respecto al impacto real de los intermediarios en el sistema en el que actúan.
El propósito del análisis presentado en este documento es estudiar algunos elementos en el contexto de unas cadenas (tomate y pepino) y un sector económico (hortalizas) priorizados por el Gobierno de la República de El Salvador. Esto se ha logrado gracias a la aplicación piloto de una herramienta cuantitativa desarrollada por el departamento de Desarrollo Económico y Social (ES) de FAO en Roma. Cabe destacar que este análisis no pretende ser un estudio exhaustivo de la cadena del tomate y pepino en el país sino que un ensayo para demonstrar el potencial de la herramienta.
This case study zooms in on multi-stakeholder processes in the East and Central Africa (ECA) Action Area or Flagship that were launched on 20 May 2013 in Bukavu, DR Congo. The ECA Flagship encom-passes the Rwanda, DR Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia Action Sites. More specifically, the case study describes and reflects upon the first two years of CGIAR Humidtropics in DR Congo. aiming to outline the multi-stakeholder process as it unfolded and highlight lessons that can be learned from this.
This article examines how research on the agriculture and agrifood systems mobilizes the concept of Innovation System (IS). A literature review on the IS provides an analytical framework for determining its theoretical frame of reference, its area of application and its uses.
This short presentation, prepared for the 22nd European Seminar on Extension and Education (ESEE) in Wageningen (29 April 2015), summarizes the SOLINSA (Support Of Learning and Innovation Networks for Sustainable Agriculture) project and its objectives and describes the three features to enhance transition towards sustainable agriculture through learning & innovation: 1) Processes of co-evolution; 2) Joint Reflection; 3) Facilitation.
The Nile Story is one of immense challenges and remarkable achievements for the economic development of the region. It begins in 1999, when the ministers in charge of water affairs in the Nile countries agreed to form the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). Between 2003 and 2015, the Nile Basin Trust Fund (NBTF) supported and coordinated cooperative work in the region, which has been delivered mainly through the NBI.
Los aportes de la agricultura para el país son indiscutibles: cerca del 20% al Producto Interno Bruto, 40% del empleo nacional, alimentos; aunque la mayoría de cultivos se producen en sistemas convencionales algunos como el café y el cacao son generadores de servicios ecosistemicos como la captura de carbono y la infiltración de agua. Así mismo, la agricultura es generadora de cohesión social comunitaria y un extraordinario reservorio de cultura popular. Tres elementos de contexto ponen en riesgo este carácter multifuncional de la agricultura.