Competing models of innovation informing agricultural extension, such as transfer of technology, participatory extension and technology development, and innovation systems have been proposed over the last decades. These approaches are often presented as antagonistic or even mutually exclusive. This article shows how practitioners in a rural innovation system draw on different aspects of all three models, while creating a distinct local practice and discourse. We revisit and deepen the critique of Vietnam’s “model” approach to upland rural development, voiced a decade ago in this journal.
This paper is a reflection on a research project that defied the conventional technology transfer approach and adopted an approach based on innovation system principles to address fodder scarcity. Fodder scarcity in the project was conceptualized not as lack of technical capacity, but as lack of innovation capacity. This project tried to enhance innovation capacity by promoting appropriate configurations of stakeholders. However, translating this theory and principles into action was fraught with numerous challenges.
The tools of biotechnology present an opportunity to infuse a new round of technology into Indian agriculture, which has been going through "technology fatigue" in recent period. These technologies follow from the conventional plant breeding techniques and complement them in improving crops to resist biotic and abiotic stresses, break yield barriers, and sustain yields in the face of resource degradation and climatic change.
This report presents the outcome of the World Bank's analytical and advisory work to assess the status of water resources development and the key water issues and challenges facing the country. The Bank has also reviewed its history of cooperation with the Government of China in recent decades, and notes the remarkable achievements China has made in developing the water sector. The report proposes solutions for tackling the enormous challenges facing China in the sector.
This training-of-trainers manual is designed to train you to be able to deliver a capacity enhancement workshop (CEW) to rural women on climate change and gender. It has been designed by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and is appropriate to the South Asian context.
In order to solve the problems of low efficiency and backward methods in the agro-technical extension activities, this paper designed an agro-technical extension information system based on cloud storage technology. This paper studied the key technologies, such as cloud storage service engine, cloud storage management node and cloud storage data node and designed the overall architecture of the agro-technical extension information system based on cloud storage technology.
Grants for agricultural innovation are common but grant funds specifically targeted to smallholder farmers remain relatively rare. Nevertheless, they are receiving increasing recognition as a promising venue for agricultural innovation. They stimulate smallholders to experiment with improved practices, to become proactive and to engage with research and extension providers. The systematic review covered three modalities of disbursing these grants to smallholder farmers and their organisations: vouchers, competitive grants and farmer-led innovation support funds.
Farmer innovation diffusion (FID) in the developing world is not simply the adoption of an innovation made by farmers, but a process of communication and cooperation between farmers, governments, and other stakeholders. While increasing attention has been paid to farmer innovation, little is known about how farmers’ innovations are successfully diffused. To fill this gap, this paper aims to address the following questions: What conditions are necessary for farmers to participate in FID? How is a collaborative network built up between farmers and stakeholders for this purpose?
The role of genetically modified (GM) crops for food security is the subject of public controversy. GM crops could contribute to food production increases and higher food availability. There may also be impacts on food quality and nutrient composition. Finally, growing GM crops may influence farmers’ income and thus their economic access to food. Smallholder farmers make up a large proportion of the undernourished people worldwide. Our study focuses on this latter aspect and provides the first ex post analysis of food security impacts of GM crops at the micro level.
Boll guard I & II were introduced in 2002 and 2006 by Mahyco Monsanto with Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, Govt. of India. Indian cotton farmers adopted Bt hybrid cotton between 2002-2013 reaching 92% of the cotton area and 95% of the production, replacing conventional hybrids/ varieties of all the species in both rainfed and irrigated conditions. Bt hybrid cotton was presumed to produce record highest average productivities in India and other major cotton growing countries also in 2007 and 2012 with a decline after 2008 due to excess rains. Farmers invested Rs.