There is widespread need for gender-responsive agricultural research, yet the question of how this kind of research can be implemented and its success measured needs further interrogation. This paper presents a framework, developed on the basis of literature and validated by experts, for tracking the gender responsiveness of agricultural research throughout the research cycle, from the research plan to the dissemination of research findings. The framework was tested in Uganda and Rwanda on 14 research projects considered to be gender-responsive.
Women play a key role in agriculture and food security, making up around 48 percent of the agricultural labour force in low-income countries. Despite this, their important contribution is hardly visible and largely unrecognized. Gender equality regards human rights but gender-based constraints in the sector cause also major inefficiencies in value chains, and are a key impediment for rural development, food security, and social and environmental sustainability. Moreover, the severe and multidimensional constraints faced by women hamper their productive potential and livelihoods.
To determine whether a farmer’s accessibility predicts the delivery of extension services, this study used banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease-management advisory as a typical case with which to collect extension-delivery information from 690 farmers, distinguished by their respective accessibility. Cost–distance analysis was applied to define each farmer’s accessibility. The results revealed that a farmer’s accessibility does not predict extension delivery to that farmer in all forms of the examined extension parameters.
Rwanda has experienced exceptional economic growth since 2000 despite more than 60% of the predominately-agrarian population living on less than $1.25 a day. Approximately 76% of the country’s working population are engaged in agricultural production, which makes up about one-third of the national economy. Agriculture is also an important source of foreign exchange, making up about 63% of the value of Rwanda’s exports.
The author shares her experience of participating in a training that was organized by the Tropical Agriculture Platform – Agricultural Innovation Systems (TAP-AIS) project, ‘Developing Capacities in Agricultural Innovation Systems: Scaling up the Tropical Agriculture Platform Framework’, implemented by FAO’s Research & Extension Unit, funded by the European Union as a component of the ‘Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA): Towards Climate-relevant Agricultural and Knowledge Innovation Systems’ initiative.
Growing empirical evidence suggests that innovation platforms can be effective in enhancing agricultural research impact by creating an enabling environment for scaling of innovations such as novel technologies, practices and busines models . However, efforts to understand how these innovation platforms operate to scale innovations are insufficient. Such knowledge is critical for improving the design of agricultural innovation systems, specifically within the context of a rising interest in the innovation platform approach to support the transformation of agriculture across Africa.
The present study was designed with the following objectives: i) to evaluate selected stress-tolerant maize hybrids developed by CIMMYT in eastern Africa under farmers’ conditions; ii) to identify farmers’ selection criteria in evaluating and selecting maize hybrids; iii) to let farmers evaluate the varieties and score them for the identified criteria and overall.
Esta guía práctica se preparó en el marco del proyecto Desarrollo de capacidades para sistemas de innovación agrícola (CDAIS), una asociación mundial (Agrinatura, FAO y ocho países piloto) que tiene como objetivo fortalecer la capacidad de los países y las partes interesadas clave para innovar en sistemas agrícolas complejos. lograr mejores medios de vida rurales. CDAIS utiliza un enfoque de ciclo de aprendizaje continuo para apoyar los sistemas nacionales de innovación agrícola en ocho países de África, Asia y América Central.
Esta guía fue producida por la FAO como parte del Proyecto de Desarrollo de Capacidades para Sistemas de Innovación Agrícola (CDAIS). El objetivo de este documento es proporcionar pautas prácticas para implementar ferias para fortalecer la innovación agrícola. Una feria de innovación es un evento organizado para facilitar la correspondencia de la demanda y la oferta y para promover el aprendizaje, y el intercambio de información, conocimiento y experiencia práctica sobre temas específicos.
Este manual fue producido como un recurso para los Facilitadores Nacionales de Innovación (NIF) en todos los países del Proyecto de Desarrollo de Capacidades para Sistemas de Innovación Agrícola (CDAIS). El objetivo de este manual es guiar el nivel de organización de las actividades y capacitar a los facilitadores nacionales de innovación. Les ayudará a aumentar su comprensión de las diferentes etapas del proceso de coaching.