Conceptual Diagram of an Agricultural Innovation System

Research and Education

• Improving general education level of all actors.
• Education and training of professionals in the agricultural sector.
• Development of better knowledge and associated skills for farmers and other actors.
• Facilitating investment in human resources for process and product development.
• Developing approaches and methods of experiential and multi-actor learning.

• Developing and improving technologies, practices, and processes relevant to local/regional/national contexts.
• (Joint) testing of locally developed (indigenous) technologies and processes.
• Documenting the ways new practices and technologies are adapted and further innovated to feed into other agricultural research efforts and policy decisions.
• Cooperating with researchers of other countries/international organizations, and/or other disciplines/sectors.

Bridging Institutions

Business and Enterprise:

• Use knowledge to create, test and adapt new technologies to field conditions to produce food, feed etc.
• Apply and suggest innovative products and practices to increase agricultural productivity and market access.

• Represent farmers (interests, needs, opportunities) in value chains and the community and policy arenas.
• Broker knowledge and technology between farmers and other actors.
• Facilitate access to agricultural inputs, credit and markets.
• Help organize value chain.
• Promote specific innovation through collaborative research and organizing logistic support.

• Provide (new) agricultural inputs and output markets.
• Identify, pilot and mainstream new market opportunities.
• Define quality standards of agricultural products.
• Facilitate investment in physical and human resources for product and process development.
• Link agricultural actors to rest of the market.

• Influence research priorities and innovation practices.
• Facilitate consumer acceptance.
• Facilitate and broker information of new products and processes.

Enabling Environment

The enabling environment of AIS consists of a set of factors that influences agricultural innovation and is controlled by governance, regulatory and policy-making organizational structures other than those directly linked to agricultural innovation. The concept of the enabling environment is very broad, including both “intangible” components, such as social conventions and rules of action, values and beliefs, social habits, etc., as well as “tangible” aspects linked to the formal structures dealing with governance, formal rules and regulations, and policy aspects. The enabling environment creates the incentives for interaction, exchange of knowledge and collaborative action of all actors in the system.