Innovation systems and institutional change

Based on international literature, preliminary experiences in a three-country West African research programme, and on the disappointing impact of agricultural research on African farm innovation, the current paper argues that institutional change demands rethinking the pathways to innovation so as to acknowledge the role of rules, distribution of power and wealth, interaction and positions. The time is opportune: climate change, food insecurity, high food prices and concomitant riots are turning national food production into a political issue also for African leaders. The paper presents innovation systems as an approach to institutional change based on learning, new patterns of interaction and new configurations of key actors. Institutions are embedded in local history and contexts and must emerge from them. Rather than as a tool for promoting technology, extension can more usefully be deployed to facilitate innovation system dynamics that accompany investment in stakeholder interaction.