This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion in the scientific literature on the advantages and disadvantages of privatization of extension and advisory services and the shift from thinking in terms of the traditional Agricultural Knowledge System towards a broader Agricultural Innovation System.
Agricultural innovation in low-income tropical countries contributes to a more effective and sustainable use of natural resources and reduces hunger and poverty through economic development in rural areas. Yet, despite numerous recent public and private initiatives to develop capacities for agricultural innovation, such initiatives are often not well aligned with national efforts to revive existing Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS).
This paper introduces Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems (RAAIS). RAAIS is a diagnostic tool that can guide the analysis of complex agricultural problems and innovation capacity of the agricultural system in which the complex agricultural problem is embedded. RAAIS focuses on the integrated analysis of different dimensions of problems (e.g. biophysical, technological, socio-cultural, economic, institutional and political), interactions across different levels (e.g.
This paper reviews the NIS literature chronologically, showing how this shift in emphasis has diminished somewhat the importance of both institutions, particularly governments, and the political processes of institutional capacity building.
Recently, Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKISs) have gained considerable attention in scientific and political forums in the European Union (EU). AKIS is considered a key concept in identifying, analysing and assessing the various actors in the agricultural sector as well as their communication and interaction for innovation processes. Using qualitative expert interviews and organizational mapping, the features of national AKISs were investigated in selected EU member states (Belgium, France, Ireland, Germany, Portugal and the UK).
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.
Este estudio presenta un marco de análisis sobre los factores que inciden en la toma de decisiones de productores de jitomate (Solanum lycopersicum L.) en invernadero, en materia de adopción de innovaciones y proporciona información valiosa para su estudio y gestión. Como hipótesis se plantea que la adopción de una innovación depende de factores o atributos diversos, tanto del productor como de sus unidades de producción, como son edad, escolaridad, experiencia en la actividad, escala de producción, superficie de producción, rendimiento, confianza y asesoría técnica.
Este documento describe el cambio de paradigma realizado por INIFAP al sustituir los modelos lineales de transferencia de tecnología, por la gestión de la innovación, con resultados muy alentadores en áreas planas, serranas y con altos grados de marginación, curiosamente donde los niveles de más pobreza se observan.
La extensión rural es un proceso de trabajo y acompañamiento con el productor orientado al desarrollo sostenible de sus capacidades. En México, se han adaptado una serie de modelos de extensión que van desde el norteamericano, implementado a principios de la década de 1980, hasta el modelo de hub o nodo de innovación (plataforma - módulo demostrativo - área de extensión), aplicado desde el 2010 en el marco del Programa MasAgro. El objetivo de este documento es analizar los diversos procesos de extensión en México.
Como aporte al posicionamiento de la extensión rural como objeto multidimensional de estudio, en este estudio se analizan las valoraciones realizadas por extensionistas rurales acerca de situaciones inherentes a su experiencia cotidiana de trabajo, seguido de la identificación de factores de satisfacción/insatisfacción laboral.