This paper explores the use of actor-oriented approaches in natural resource-based development. It begins by reviewing the need to bring an analysis of actor linkages, coalitions and information flows higher on the agenda in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Various tools which could assist in doing this are introduced and their use is illustrated in case studies of natural resource-based research and development (R&D) projects in Nepal and Bangladesh.
The paper explores the implications of rural livelihood diversity for agricultural innovation policies. It summarises literature on the nature of rural poverty, with particular emphasis on the relative roles of farm and non-farm income. It also reviews the various roles, direct and indirect, that agricultural innovation can play in rural poverty reduction. Finally, it uses an agricultural knowledge and information systems (AKIS) perspective to argue for a differentiated approach to targeting agricultural innovations, based on an analysis of rural assets.
Les agricultures familiales constituent la très grande majorité des agricultures du monde, la première source d’emploi en milieu rural et le premier fournisseur de biens alimentaires. Elles sont à l’honneur sur la scène internationale avec la proclamation par l’Organisation des Nations Unies de l’année 2014 « Année internationale de l'agriculture familiale » ; c’est l’occasion pour la communauté scientifique d’Agropolis International de témoigner de son fort engagement, depuis de nombreuses années, en matière de recherche « sur » et « pour » les agricultures familiales.
Les recommandations de cet atelier sont organisées en trois parties. La première propose un état des lieux des interactions qu’entretient l’agriculture familiale avec les acteurs du système alimentaire mondial. La seconde relate les principaux débats et controverses ayant structuré l’atelier. La troisième explore Le rôle de la recherche dans l’évolution de l’agriculture familiale en tant qu’élément du système alimentaire ?
Les recommandations de cet atelier sont organisées en trois parties. La première propose un état des lieux des interactions qu’entretient l’agriculture familiale avec les acteurs du système alimentaire mondial. La seconde relate les principaux débats et controverses ayant structuré l’atelier. La troisième explore Le rôle de la recherche dans l’évolution de l’agriculture familiale en tant qu’élément du système alimentaire ?
Les recommandations de cet atelier sont organisées en trois parties. La première propose un état des lieux des interactions qu’entretient l’agriculture familiale avec les acteurs du système alimentaire mondial. La seconde relate les principaux débats et controverses ayant structuré l’atelier. La troisième explore Le rôle de la recherche dans l’évolution de l’agriculture familiale en tant qu’élément du système alimentaire ?
This book contains a collection of papers that discuss the experience of an Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) capacity building program in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The program was the AusAID-funded Agricultural Research and Development Support Facility (ARDSF), which ran for fi ve years from 2007 to 2012, and which sought to improve the delivery of services by agricultural research organisations to smallholder farmers.
This paper presents findings of an explorative case study that looked at 22 organisations identified as fulfilling an intermediary role in the Kenyan agricultural sector. The results show that these organisations fulfill functions that are not limited to distribution of knowledge and putting it into use. The functions also include fostering integration and interaction among the diverse actors engaged in innovation networks and working on technological, organisational and institutional innovation.
The emergence of a globalised knowledge economy, and the contemporary views of innovation capacity that this trend enables and informs, provides a new context in which development assistance to agricultural research and development needs to be considered. The main argument in this paper, which focuses on The Netherlands, is that development assistance should use this emerging scenario to identify niches where inputs can add value to the R&D investments of others, particularly in activities that help wire up innovation systems, linking R&D to other activities and actors in society.
This paper was prepared to present at the Farmer First Revisited: 20 Years On conference at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK, December, 2007. Its focus is the challenge of strengthening agricultural innovation systems. The paper prefaces this discussion by reflecting on an apparent paradox. While agricultural innovation has never been better studied and understood, many of our ideas about innovation have failed to fundamentally change the institutional and policy setting of public and private investment intended to promote innovation for development.