Over the last 20 years, poor rural farmers in Nigeria have seen the benefits of community organization as a tool for local economic development under the National Fadama Development Project series. They have witnessed improvements in rural areas that have embraced a more inclusive and participatory model of local economic decision making. Many communities have come together under the umbrella of new institutional arrangements for addressing local issues. These arrangements have visibly improved economic conditions, boosted agricultural incomes, and helped reduce rural poverty.
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.
In recent years the there has been an increasing recognition of the potential of the innovation systems concept to provide new ways of making more effective use of agricultural research and improve its impact on socially desirable outcomes. This paper documents the experiences of a group of researchers in India who experimented with this framework and tried to operationalise its principles in project design. The paper comments on some of the implications of using this approach and the challenges it presents for implementers of agricultural research projects in developing countries.
This edition of “The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas,” covering 2015-2016, is divided into the following four chapters:
Chapter I: Macroeconomic Context: The author analyzes the evolution and outlook for financial and macroeconomic markets, which determine the conditions in which agriculture in the Americas will have to operate.
This document examines the macroeconomic and sectoral context and the trends and outlook for crops, livestock, fisheries, forests and rural well-being, as well as the public policies and institutional framework for these sectors. Based on an analysis of the trends and prospects, each chapter offers a series of recommendations for the consideration of decision-makers, in an effort to help address the challenges posed by the global economic dynamics and to take advantage of opportunities.
This report provides a short summary of the recent history of the seed industry. Although the informal seed system still accounts for an estimated 85 percent of planted seed, the formal sector has been transformed in 20 years from control by a monopoly parastatal to competition among 23 registered companies, with at least 5 or 6 being serious players. Significantly, the relief seed industry that dominated and distorted the formal seed trade during the Northern Uganda conflict has withered away, leaving room for a sustainable, market-driven seed industry to develop.
Modern agriculture and food production systems are facingincreasing pressures from climate change, land and wateravailability, and, more recently, a pandemic. These factors arethreatening the environmental and economic sustainability ofcurrent and future food supply systems. Scientific andtechnological innovations are needed more than ever to secureenough food for a fast-growing global population. Scientificadvances have led to a better understanding of how variouscomponents of the agricultural system interact, from the cell tothe field level.
Developing irrigation technology for a diversity of farmers with rapidly changing demands can be hard for designers, especially when the technology concerns smallholders in developing countries. Innovation networks supporting the adopted technology increasingly include both globalised players and very local actors, making innovation intermediaries capable of translating innovation issues for different actors increasingly indispensable.
Public administrations have in recent years developed programs of public funding for innovation to boost the competitiveness of business. The study of how companies have used these funding sources generates knowledge to improve the design of support for private innovation and to provide advice for innovative companies. This paper investigates these issues in the agri-food sector which is of particular interest as it is comprised mainly of small and medium enterprises with a wide regional presence and interaction with their local environment.
There are very few published literature sources that focus on the potential benefits of m-Agri services in Africa and none of which explore their sustainability. This study, therefore, explores the evolution, provision, and sustainability of these m-Agri services in Africa. An overview of the current landscape of m-Agri services in Africa is provided and this illustrates how varied these services are in design, content, and quality.