Graduate programs in agriculture and allied disciplines in Ethiopia are expected to make concrete contribution to market-oriented development of smallholder agriculture. This, among others, calls for realignment and engagement of the programs with smallholder farmers and, value chain, R&D and policy actors. No panacea exists, however, as to how to ensure effective linkages, and thereby responsiveness. Lessons from initiatives on the ground in the country and beyond is thus crucial to inform the development of appropriate policy and innovative strategy.
For better efforts in development of the farming community, agricultural extension services have always focused on farmers’ resources, activities and capabilities. And this has proved to be an important standing point in the rice growing state Tripura of North East India for attaining self-sufficiency in food grain and developing the economic condition of the farmers. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) has been a boon to the rice farmers and also has posed as an example especially in similar other conditions around the world.
In this paper, a novel method to collect symptoms of the disease, as observed by the farmers, using a mobile phone application has been presented. A cumulative composite risk index (CCRI) obtained from more than one existing disease forecast models is validated from the actual late blight queries received from the farmers. The main contribution of the paper is a protocol that combines the symptoms based diagnostic approach along with the plant disease forecasting models resulting in detection of Potato late blight with higher accuracy.
Este artículo explora, partiendo de la base de una perspectiva de “sistemas de innovación”, algunas oportunidades promisorias para los especialistas en información y comunicación.
In direct agri-food chains (DAFCs), farmers and consumers are brought together with the aim of shortening, localizing and synergizing an agri-food chain. As food moves from the farm to the fork, all the economic activities are performed by farmers/producers or consumers, and none intermediary is required to handle an agri-food product before it is consumed. Any DAFC form provide a sort of liminal space for social learning and for local lay knowledge exchange, through face-to-face interactions.
This research is dedicated to illuminating the relationship between knowledge and innovation within agrifood supply chains (ASCs) – although insightful and informative – is marked by conceptual and methodological issues that restrict our ability to understand the ways knowledge affects innovation and vice versa. In this work, adopting a systems approach to ASCs and synthesizing literature from different fields of study, we discuss the metaphors that guide research in this area, and we propose an alternative conceptualization of ASCs
The present study considered the current state of internet of things in Nigeria, future prospects and challenges to the usage of the technology in Nigerian Agriculture. In Nigeria, IoT has been used to dispense feed and water to chicks, virtual fences for monitoring farmlands and forest trees, cashless sales and purchases of farm produce and input, monitoring and management of staff performances on the farm and e-wallet for input, loan and information accessibility on agricultural issues.
This workshop paper relates to the consultation organized by the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR), FAO of the UN (FAO), Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions APAARI), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Consultation held at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India, in December 2009. The paper focuses on the application of the ICTS in agriculture and agricultural development and includes the summary of workshop outputs and pre-workshop Think Pieces.
Changes in the structure of value chains have opened up lucrative opportunities for smallholder producers to increase income as a means to improve their livelihoods. Yet, recent literature argues that smallholder producers are better off in their current markets than when integrated in high value chains on disadvantageous terms. This article studies the terms of integration of smallholder producers in high value chains from a marketing systems perspective
The objective of this study was to integrate sustainability in the innovation process by applying a systems view of foresight in an early stage of innovation development. For this end, we set up a back-casting process based on a triple-helix approach that was adapted to the agricultural setting by including science, policy and agricultural practice. Was deliberately selected four conceptual sustainability-oriented innovations that were driven by the motivation of actors in agricultural science and practice.