Announcement: The Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa or AISA workshop

29-31 May 2013. Nairobi, Kenya. JOLISAA is co-organizing with KARI, the PROLINNOVA network, CCAFS FSIFS-AusAID a small (80 participants expected) international workshop (the Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa or AISA workshop) during which selected participants from different horizons will share their experiences and reflect on concepts and results about agricultural innovation processes and systems involving African small holders. Another objective will be to engage with policy-makers and other institutional decision-makers about implications and recommendations for policy, research and practice.

aisa2013

25-31 May 2013. The AISA workshop will as part of an international week devoted to Agricultural innovation in Africa. 

 A four-page announcement about this week of events can be found here 

Announcement WAIA events 060213.pdf

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The AISA workshop will tackle the following questions:

• What insights and lessons can be gained from recent experiences and initiatives to promote and support agricultural innovation involving smallholders throughout Africa?
• How are the AIS concepts and approaches being operationalised in Africa? With what successes and challenges? What added value do they bring compared to earlier or current approaches to agricultural research and development?
• What are some of the key implications and recommendations for the way forward in terms of policy, research and practice with regard to supporting agricultural innovation in Africa, and how can the recommendations be implemented concretely in the near future?

To address the, the workshop will be structured in 5 sessions:

• Opening and facilitated participation in the Eastern Africa Farmer Innovation Fair
• Reflecting on conceptual issues / frameworks / approaches for assessing innovation experiences
• Sharing main results and lessons about innovation processes/cases (posters, oral papers, facilitated group and plenary sessions)
• Policy implications and policy-dialogue strategy and messages
• Identifying the way forward (World Café).

Pls note this is a closed, by invitation only, event. Also note that very limited opportunities exist for sponsorship, as most participants are expected to be self-sponsored through their respective programs and projects.

Preliminary Announcement Final Conference for the ERA-ARD II project

5th June 2013. Egmont Palace, Petit Sablon 8, Brussels, Belgium. Brussels. International Conference – Preliminary Announcement. Better linkages between Agricultural Research and Development for greater impact on Global Challenges.

In recent years, significant progress has been made in improving European coordination of Agricultural Research for Development through ERA-ARD, an EC funded project addressing national programmes for Agricultural Research for Development (ARD) in Europe, as well as EIARD (European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development) targeting European support to global ARD initiatives like the CGIAR and SCAR (Standing Committee on Agricultural Research) targeting research programmes addressing primarily European concerns. 

Future coordination interventions are expected to focus on improved alignment of research and development policies, programmes and instruments both within Europe and between Europe and the South. This conference will bring together policy-makers, donors, programme managers, scientists, the private sector and other stakeholders from Europe and regions of the world concerned with the fields of agriculture, research and international cooperation.

Conference Objectives
This international conference will have a forward looking perspective building on achievements and existing mechanisms to identify concrete ways to improve coordination of agricultural research for development efforts in Europe, emphasising improved synergies between national and bilateral programmes, strengthened linkages between AR and ARD and stronger alignment between national and European programmes with global initiatives in order to address global challenges and to maximise the impact of European investments in AR and ARD, at national, continental and global level.

The outputs of the conference will include proposals for renewed linkages between European AR and ARD, further alignment between member state policies and instruments for a specific dialogue within Europe and between Europe and other regions of world.
Programme Topics

The programme is beginning to take shape, and will include elements of the following:

• The role of Europe in implementing the GCARD Road Map and addressing Global Challenges 
• Looking forward with lessons learnt and results from ERA-ARD 
• European Partnership with the South, including the South’s vision of collaboration with Europe 
• Linkages between agricultural research and research for development in Europe 
• The European ARD coordination set-up: possibilities for the future 

Dialogue on Reimagining Agricultural Research

29-31 January 2013. Penang. Malaysia. The 2013 Dialogue on Reimagining Agricultural Research in Development brings together leaders in agricultural research and development policy and practice to address these questions. By doing so at the start of the new CRPs working on agricultural systems the Dialogue is designed to guide their implementation so as to increase both the intensity and scale of their impact on the poor.

Objectives

• Provide the CRPs with an opportunity to learn from, and build upon, previous experience with integrated approaches to agricultural research and development
• Identify how these research programs can foster innovation to improve on these approaches, improve livelihoods in the communities where they work, and achieve significant impacts at the scale of agricultural landscapes

Outputs

• Guidance on innovative approaches to be taken forward through the CRPs
• A community of practice will work together to address these issues as the CRPs proceed
• A refereed publication bringing together learning from the Dialogue

The following resources have been shared by dialogue participants and offered as a beginning of the conversation to re-imagine agricultural research in development. Here is an overview of the most relevant documents related to IAR4D:

• Organizational Change for Learning and Innovation Shared by Andy Hall 
• Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) Shared by Andy Hall 
• Building an Agricultural Research for Development System in Africa Shared by Andy Hall 
• Conceptual & methodological developness in innovation Shared by Ann Waters-Bayer 
• FPIC and beyond: safeguards for power- equalising research that protects biodiversity, rights and culture Shared by Ann Waters-Bayer 
• The Potential of Transdisciplinarity Shared by Ann Waters-Bayer
• Agriculture for development: New paradigm and options for success Shared by John Lynam 
• Recent Advances in Impact Analysis Methods for Ex-post Impact Assessments of Agricultural Technology Shared by John Lynam 
• An innovation systems approach to institutional change: Smallholder development in West Africa Shared by John Daane 
• Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) A Concept Paper for the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme (SSA CP) Shared by John Daane 
• Making a difference: M&E of policy research Shared by Lindiwe Sibanda
• POLICY RESEARCH AND AFRICAN AGRICULTURE: TIME FOR A DOSE OF REALITY? Shared by Lindiwe Sibanda
• Beyond Participation: Boundary Organizations as a New Space for Farmers and Scientists to Interact Shared by Neil Andrew
• How Innovative Is Your Agriculture? Using Innovation Indicators and Benchmarks to Strengthen National Agricultural Innovation Shared by Rachel Sauvinet-Bedouin

Renewing innovation systems in agriculture and food

21 janvier 2013. Agropolis International, Montpellier. Conférence-débat "Quoi de neuf sur l’innovation ?"

Conférence-débat organisée à l’occasion de la sortie du livre " Apprendre à innover dans un monde incertain. Concevoir les futurs de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation", issu du symposium ISDA 2010/ Innovation and Sustainable Development in Agriculture (28 juin- 1er juillet 2010, Montpellier)

Ce livre rassemble les contributions de chercheurs et experts internationaux, sous forme de synthèse ou de points de vue, sur l’innovation dans l’agriculture et l’agro-alimentaire pour faire face aux défis d’aujourd’hui.

Le livre est disponible en anglais (Wageningen Academic Publishers) et en français (Quae).

  










Renewing innovation systems in agriculture and food
Present-day society asks more from agriculture than just the production of food. Agriculture is now required to be concerned with the quality of food, ecosystem services, inclusion of marginalized populations, revitalization of rural territories, energy production, etc.

This opening up of the future of agriculture encourages rural actors to experiment with new farming systems, using imagination, creativity and determination to replace dominant models. At the same time, low-cost mass-production systems continue on their way, with promises of a future based on green technologies. In this discussion it is important to consider what kind of sustainable development societies really want. Which innovations will help in achieving these developments? What role can research and public policies play in supporting the emergence of these innovations?

This book takes the debate beyond the purely technical options and considers social and institutional innovations as well. It demonstrates that innovation is the result of a confrontation between visions of actors who often have divergent interests. There is no single path towards sustainable development and we must find ways to encourage the emergence and co-existence of different types of agriculture and food systems. The success of transitions will not only depend on our capacity to rethink existing models, but especially on our willingness to embark on a creative learning process from which we will inevitably emerge transformed.
Download table of contents of the book 'Renewing innovation systems in agriculture and food'. (PDF file)

Innovations for Better Livelihoods

30/10/2012. Breakout session GCARD II, P3.1 Innovations for Better Livelihoods

Unlocking innovation represents a major challenge. |A diversity of approaches grounded on participatory action research have been developed including notably the concept of Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D).

Despite the conceptual agreement around these approaches and the promise they hold, there are also concerns, not only regarding how these approaches can have impact, but also how they can they do so at scale. Participatory approaches to agricultural research have often been judged to be slow and costly “boutique solutions” confined to the sites where they work directly. As a result their impact on poverty is considered by some to be marginal when compared with commodity research targeting many millions of people.

This Session explored these issues by considering how investment in agricultural research can be strengthened to increase its contribution to poverty reduction and improve the lives of those that more conventional approaches have failed to reach. In doing so the panelists considered the specific issues of partnerships and the role that they play in strengthening the quality of our work and the ultimate scale of the impacts.

What is needed for implementing innovation partnerships and producing the evidence and understanding required for impact in global, regional and national programs?

• policy context: R. Cooke (IFAD Rural Poverty Report 2011)

Stakeholders’ approach to AR4D

• A.Dave (SEWA – Women’s Rural Organization South Asia)
• A. Waters-Bayer (INSARD/CSO-GARD CSO Network)
C1.2. Direct investment in farmers'led research from GCARD Conferences

Putting the approach into practice: Establishing effective livelihood research partnerships for impact at scale

• P. Dugan (CRP Aquatic Agricultural Systems)
P3.1. Establishing effective livelihood research partnerships for impact at scale from GCARD Conferences
• W. Payne (CRP Dryland Agriculture)

Working with national innovation pilot learning sites and inter-regional innovation platforms

• A. Adekunle (FARA SSA-CP/CRP 1.2 on Humid Tropics)
P3.1 Working with National Innovation Pilot Learning Sites and Inter-regional Innovation Platforms from GCARD Conferences
• G. Thiele (CRP Roots tubers & bananas)

3 p. Download document of the Breakout session GCARD II, P3.1

Agricultural Research in Africa: Why CAADP should follow IAASTD

A new briefing paper from APRODEV and PELUM Association analyses the agricultural research policies of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the extent to which they address the needs of marginalised smallholder farmers. CAADP has a huge opportunity to promote good agricultural research by following the findings of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). However, CAADP is largely not following the IAASTD roadmap.

The paper highlights five key problems with CAADP’s policies and practices:

  1. African governments are ignoring their CAADP commitment, set in 2003, to double their annual spending on agricultural research within 10 years; rather, many have been reducing their spending. CAADP has not invested enough in examining why CAADP commitments are not met at member state level and therefore falls short of appropriate measures to meet the set targets of 6% agriculture growth.

 2. Despite the fact that women constitute most farmers in Africa, they are paid lip service in CAADP programmes. Women are largely ignored in countries’ CAADP and other agriculture strategies.

 3. CAADP is promoting a farming model, associated with the Green Revolution, that encourages heavy reliance on expensive external inputs, such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and improved and/or hybrid seeds bought from agribusiness companies; this comes at the expense of promoting sustainable agriculture approaches which are likely to benefit poor farmers much more.

 4. CAADP’s lead partner in agricultural research, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, has taken a lopsided stance on GMOs and advocates strong IPR regimes that threaten farmers’ rights to retain and exchange their traditional seeds; ignoring the consensus on sustainable, agro-ecological farming models as a viable solution for African agriculture.

5. Smallholder farmers, especially women, are being insufficiently consulted in the design of agricultural research policies.

E-mail conference on "Ensuring the full participation of family farmers in agricultural innovation systems

4 June to 1 July 2012. FAO hosted a moderated e-mail conference  on "Ensuring the full participation of family farmers in agricultural innovation systems: Key issues and case studies".

The UN General Assembly has declared 2014 to be the International Year of Family Farming and has invited FAO to facilitate implementation of the International Year, in collaboration with its partners. Among its initiatives for the International Year, FAO is planning to publish a major study on family farming and Agricultural innovation systems (AIS) in 2014 in the State of Food and Agriculture series, which is FAO’s major annual flagship publication.

Agricultural innovation systems are systems of individuals, organizations and enterprises that bring new products, processes and forms of organization into social and economic use to achieve food security, economic development and sustainable natural resource management. AIS include a multitude of potential actors, such as producer organizations, research organizations, extension and advisory services, universities and educational bodies, governments and civil society organizations, co-coordinating bodies, individual farmers and farm laborers, and the private sector (including traders, processors, supermarkets etc.).

The e-mail conference is open to everyone, is free and will be moderated.

The Background Document to this FAO e-mail conference is available here.

Meeting the needs of smallholder farming families also provides the central theme of the GCARD RoadMap, which sets out the systematic changes required to transform and strengthen innovation systems to better meet the needs of resource-poor smallholders around the world.  Results from the FAO e-mail consultation will help inform discussion in The Second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD 2): “Foresight and partnership for innovation and impact on small-holder livelihoods” on practical actions underway and that are required to implement these systematic changes. The GCARD 2 will be organized in Punta del Este, Uruguay, 29 October – 1 November 2012, more information is available on the GFAR website.  The Pre-Registrationfor the GCARD 2012 Conference is now open.

Outcomes from the email consultation and the GCARD Conference will inform preparation of the major FAO study in 2014, as well as help to build cooperation around key forward-looking agendas and facilitate planning of joint actions among all AIS stakeholders to deliver large scale development outcomes.

PAEPARD contribution:
Moderated conference on agricultural innovation systems:  a selection of the most significant contributions, relevant for PAEPARD.

·         In order to identify a pool of brokers on the African continent we launched a call for agricultural innovation facilitators (AIF) 1 year ago. We were at that time not aware that ASARECA was in the process of the creation of a pool of well-skilled platform facilitators for innovation platforms under their Farmer Empowerment for Innovation in Smallholder Agriculture (FEISA) project.

o   203 applicants submitted their CV to PAEPARD.

o   The screening of the CVs was based on the geographical origin (country) and the profile of the applicant (research, farmer organisation (FO), private sector, nongovernmental organisation (NGO), ministry, consultant or other).

o   Not surprisingly 160 were male applicants and 43 female.

o   86 applicants had a [agricultural) research profile, 36 applicants worked for an ngo,  21 for a farmer organization, 17 consultants, 16 from a Ministry, 14 private, 6 extensionists, 4 other.

o   But the career path revealed that the  basic training of the majority of all profiles originated in agricultural research.

o   A past training (in Montpellier or in Wageningen) with the International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) was a strong reference for the selection.

We are currently performing an evaluation of the brokers' facilitation in 10 ARD consortia from the consortium's coordinator perspective and the AIFs' perspective. And we realize that a technically sound agronomist with facilitation training is a rare gem. In the agricultural research community, we only managed to identify few good experts in group dynamics, adult training, moderation, knowledge management, etc.

We also realized that because (so far) the dominant PAEPARD partnership model has been the AIF (broker) functioning in a project context, this had some important limitations in terms of innovation. The stress is too much on project innovation instead of system wide innovation by involving several societal actors, including farmers, supply and processing industry, civic advocacy organization, and policy makers. The reason why we opted first for the project partnership model is obvious: we wanted to link the brokering to something tangible: the submission of a research proposal to a funding opportunity, as a milestone of the consortium facilitation (a process of minimum one year).

The requirement for the facilitator to be able to play an independent role within the consortium was essential. Preferably, the facilitator should not be a member of the lead institution (the applicant), to ensure a balance of influence on the consortium. The AIF needed nevertheless to be a person [all] the consortium members felt comfortable with. We wanted the choice of an AIF to be done through a consultation between the consortium and the PAEPARD-trained AIF.  But in one case the AIF with an ngo profile found it difficult to impose her authority towards the researchers involved in the consortium, and in another case AIFs with a research profile failed in their facilitation - not having "the spirit and training for facilitation and brokerage".

Conclusion: testing theoretical concepts into practice, but also to translate practical dilemmas into systemic lessons is a major challenge. [Platform for African - European Partnership in ARD]

Announcement: What works when scaling inclusive agri-food markets?

11-13 April 2012. Carlton Beach Hotel, the Netherlands. From Islands of Success to Seas of Change
“What works when scaling inclusive agri-food markets?”

The last decade has seen an explosion in value chain initiatives, and sustainable and ethical sourcing has become an accepted aspect of business strategy. Non-governmental organisations are working with businesses to link small producers to markets; round tables on global commodity chains are focusing on sector-wide approaches; a broad range of certification schemes are in place; and ‘bottom of the pyramid’ concepts are emerging. Experience is developing rapidly but insights often remain fragmented and the lessons that need to be learned are only slowly being taken on board.

The big question for the next few decades is how to build on these developments to achieve the measure of change that is needed, and quickly. It is necessary to assess when, where and why some efforts remain islands of success while others indicate a sea change. The inspirational examples that are emerging need to be scrutinised, and we need to assess which ideas can be adapted, mutated and cross-pollinated. It is necessary to consult with those who have most experience to see where they believe the opportunities lie for putting good ideas into practice.

100 international partners will attend this learning workshop. Coordinated by the Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation, this is the first step in an initiative to scale up the agri-food market – in a way that includes all players. The aim of the workshop is to take a step back and look at the range of promising efforts that have emerged as a result of the last decade’s experience in establishing sustainable and equitable agri-food value chains. It will also look to the future, share innovative approaches and identify high-potential options. The outcome will be a state-of-the-art perspective on how to develop and expand inclusive agri-food development.

For more information, please visit the website of the Seas of Change Initiative 

Multi-Stakeholder Platforms and Processes (MSP) in Inland valleys in sub-Saharan Africa

This is the link to the trailer (in fact more a summary of 6 minutes) of a 52 minute film on Multi-Stakeholder Platforms and Processes (MSP) in Inland valleys in sub-Saharan Africa. The film was shot in Mali and produced by MOOV-ON productions for AfricaRice and the Agricultural Research institute in Mali (IER). It illustrates ICRA's involvement in the set-up and functioning of MSPs within the framework of a EU-funded project RAP.


Sinima Sinima: MSPs in action (Trailer) door moovon

you can also watch the French version of the trailer (Bande announce), this is the link


Sinima Sinima : PMA en action (Bande annonce) door moovon

Agricultural Innovation platforms in practice

Bulletin 396 Putting heads together: Agricultural Innovation platforms in practice
Authors: Suzanne Nederlof , Mariana Wongtschowski , Femke van der Lee
Series : Bulletins of the Royal Tropical Institute
ISBN : 9789460221835 192 pages
Published 2012

Description

The agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa badly needs to find new ways of doing things if agricultural development is to contribute to food security and poverty alleviation. This is not only about introducing new technologies to farmers. It is also, even more importantly, about changes in the way old and new technologies, ideas and initiatives are put into practice – as well as how different actors work (together) to stimulate innovation. This book takes a look at platforms that have been set up in order to trigger such change.

However, little is known about how innovation platforms actually operate. This book brings together twelve stories from the field about creating and working with innovation platforms in Africa. It is the result of practitioners putting their heads together to analyse their experiences, and to draw lessons from them. This joint analysis provides insights into how innovation platforms (can) work and different options available to them, and also offers suggestions on how to deal with their main common challenges.

This publication is written from the perspective of practitioners for practitioners. It provides new information on the performance of innovation platforms in developing countries, offers options to policy makers, and gives inspiration to all actors involved in one way or another in stimulating innovation in the agricultural sector.

Download
Putting heads together

Agricultural Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa: experiences from multiple-stakeholder approaches

Agricultural innovation in sub-Saharan Africa: experiences from multiple-stakeholder approaches.
Adekunle AA, Ellis-Jones J, Ajibefun I, Nyikal RA, Bangali S, Fatunbi O and Ange A.
2012.
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Accra, Ghana
ISBN 978-9988-8373-2- 0 (print)
ISBN 978-9988-8373-2- 4 (pdf)
160 pages

The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has promoted the integrated agriculture research for development (IAR4D) approach based on an innovation
systems framework. This brings together multiple actors along a commodity value chain to address challenges and identify opportunities to generate innovation. The approach creates a network of stakeholders or partners who are able to consider the technical, economic, social, institutional, and policy constraints in an environment. The network facilitates research and learning that not only generates new knowledge, products or technologies, but also ensures the use of research products.

The IAR4D approach is being tested at three pilot research sites across SSA: in Eastern and Central Africa around Lake Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda); Southern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe); and West Africa (Niger and Nigeria). This has involved the establishment of 36 stakeholder innovation platforms thus: creating functional linkages between farmers, the private sector, and service organizations; integrating productivity, natural resource management, markets and policy; establishing effective mechanisms for organizing and learning processes for farmers; and ensuring action research oriented toward problem-solving and impact. There are strong indications that IAR4D is an effective concept, applicable across a broad spectrum of agricultural systems.

This review examines the experiences of 21 case studies covering a wide range of African farming systems over broad geographic and historical landscapes. Each case study was reviewed by accessing and analysing existing data sources, published material and grey literature. It also involved important consultation with stakeholders in each country.

Inventory of African and European CSOs involved in agricultural research for development (ARD) in sub-Saharan Africa.

19 November 2011. Nairobi. An international consultation meeting was held to discuss the findings of the inventory of African and European CSOs involved in agricultural research for development (ARD) in sub-Saharan Africa. The meeting was attended by about 30 people from research institutions, NGOs and FOs.

The study identified the formal and informal linkages between CSOs and other stakeholders involved in ARD, as well as potentials and blockages in the ARD system to realising a greater participation of CSOs in prioritising, formulating and carrying out ARD. The study also looked into resource allocation for ARD in sub-Saharan Africa, and how and where and by whom the decisions for such allocation are made.

This study was planned to contribute to:

• Designing and implementing a consultative mechanism that allows various CSO representatives to participate meaningfully in African, European and international deliberations on ARD;
• Triggering the necessary change in direction of the ARD system toward a more demand-led, grounded and smallholder-focused research and innovation system; and
•  Stimulating greater resource flows to research involving small-scale farmers.

Next steps: 

• INSARD will finalise the “CSO-in-ARD” mapping study report and make it widely available. INSARD will develop a short strategy paper on possible CSO consultation and coordination mechanisms. 
• INSARD will develop a policy paper to provide a basis for engaging with the GCARD (Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development) roadmap, including issues of governance reforms and alternative approaches to ARD.
• INSARD will contribute to the regional consultations for GCARD in Africa and Europe in early 2012 by informing NGOs and FOs in these regions about the international ARD process, so that they understand how they can engage in ARD decision-making, in a similar way as was done during the time of the NGO Committee (NGOC) of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research).

Resources:

Mapping EU-SSA Agricultural Research for Development, CSO Engagement and Resource-Allocation Processes, Mutizwa Mukute and Tafadzwa Marange, 7 December 2011, 77 pages.

INSARD Mapping Study Consultation Workshop on Coordination Mechanisms and Fund Flows in ARD. 19 November 2011. 20 pages

Agriculture innovation systems: An investment sourcebook

Forthcoming on February 17, 2012.
Agriculture and Rural Development Series
English; Paperback; 696 pages; 8.5x11
Published February 17, 2012 by World Bank
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8684-2; SKU: 18684
Price: $49.95
Book ordering information

The long-awaited agriculture innovation systems sourcebook is going to be published by the World Bank early in 2012.

According to some pre-materials, “the agricultural innovation system (AIS) approach has evolved from a concept into an entire subdiscipline, with principles of analysis and action, yet no detailed blueprint exists for making agricultural innovation happen at a given time, in a given place, for a given result. This sourcebook draws on the emerging principles of AIS analysis and action to help identify, design, and implement the investments, approaches, and complementary interventions that appear most likely to strengthen innovation system and promote agricultural innovation and equitable growth.”

It is “targeted to the key operational staff in international and regional development agencies and national governments who design and implement lending projects and to the practitioners who design thematic programs and technical assistance packages. The sourcebook is also an important resource for the research community and NGOs and may be a useful reference for the private sector, farmer organizations, and individuals with an interest in agricultural innovation.”

Key messages of the sourcebook are:

• Agricultural development depends on innovation. Innovation is a major source of improvedproductivity, competitiveness, and economic growth throughout advanced and emerging economies, and plays an important role in creating jobs, generating income, alleviating poverty, and driving social development.
• If farmers, agribusinesses, and even nations are to cope, compete, and thrive in the midstof changes in agriculture and economy, they must innovate continuously.
• Investments in science and technology are a key component of most strategies to improve and maintain agricultural productivity and innovate.
• Research, education, and extension investments are necessary components but have not been sufficient for agricultural innovation to occur. Other conditions and complementary interventions are needed.
• In addition to a strong capacity in R&D, components of effective agricultural innovation are collective action and coordination, the exchange of knowledge among diverse actors, the skills, incentives and resources available to form partnerships and develop businesses, and enabling conditions that make it possible for actors to innovate. These conditions and complementary interventions have not been consistently addressed to date.
• Innovation and business development by different stakeholders does not occur without complementary investments to create a supportive environment. Enabling conditions in a given context depend on a (innovation) policy mix, innovation governance, a diverse set of regulatory matters and other investments with synergistic effects.
• The agricultural innovation system (AIS) investments must be context specific and respond to the stage of and vision for development in a particular country and agricultural sector. Given the resource limitations, investments need to be assessed, prioritized, sequenced, and tailored to the needs, challenges, and resources that are present.

THE ROLE OF AGRICULTURAL R&D WITHIN THE AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION SYSTEMS FRAMEWORK

This paper (40 pages) traces the evolution of the innovation systems framework within the agricultural sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, and presents a conceptual framework for agricultural innovation systems. The difference between innovation ecology/ecosystems and intervention-based innovations systems is highlighted, given that these two concepts are used at different levels in promoting and sustaining agricultural innovations. The role of open innovation, innovation platforms, and innovation intermediaries in catalyzing, enhancing, and facilitating the innovation process are discussed, as is the role of R&D in the innovation process.

The paper goes on to consider the interconnectedness of the innovation systems perspective and value-chain analysis in agricultural R&D processes, before summarizing the current status of agricultural R&D in Sub-Saharan Africa, lessons from past experience, and implications and key challenges confronting development practitioners in institutionalizing the agricultural innovation systems concept within the agricultural R&D in the region. Finally, some key conclusions and areas for investment are presented.

Related blog post:
AGRICULTURAL R&D: INVESTING IN AFRICA’S FUTURE