This report assesses trends in investments, human resource capacity, and research outputs in agricultural R&D -excluding the private (for-profit) sector- in LAC. It is an update of Stads and Beintema (2009), covering a more complete set of countries and focusing primarily on developments during 2006-2012/2013.
En este artículo se presenta brevemente un panorama de las principales áreas temáticas abordadas en 14 encuentros realizados por la Asociación Latino-Iberoamericana de Gestión Tecnológica (ALTEC). Ester encuentros constituyen en uno de los espacios más importantes en esta región para la discusión de la investigación en la disciplina de la gestión de la innovación y la tecnología esa asociación desde 1985 hasta el año 2011.
Precision agriculture (PA) is growing considerably in Brazil. However, there is a lack of information regarding to PA adoption and use in the country. This study sought to: (i) investigate the perception of growers and service dealership about PA technologies; (ii) identify constraints to PA adoption; (iii) obtain information that might be useful to motivate producers and agronomists to use PA technologies in the crop production systems.
Este artículo tiene como principal objetivo discutir un método para el desarrollo de proyectos de viabilidad y atracción de inversiones en el cual se considere la vertiente de la sustentabilidad económica, pero también la social y la ambiental. El artículo muestra primero la importancia de una orientación para mercado de un proyecto en agronegocio que tradicionalmente estuvo más orientado a la producción. Luego, sugiere cuatro dimensiones fundamentales para que sean incorporadas en proyectos de viabilidad en agronegocios.
El objetivo de esta investigación se centró en contrastar, como instrumento metodológico, el esquema teórico de los conglomerados para analizar la propuesta de los sistemas agroalimentarios localizados (SIAL) y derivar potenciales elementos clave de necesaria atención a la hora de promover un proceso evolutivo desde una actividad tradicional y semindustrial, hacia un competitivo conglomerado de agroindustrias rurales (AIR), ubicado territorialmente y sustentado en los atributos locales propios de cada recurso explotado y con las características distintivas de las relaciones establecidas por
Within the last four years, a number of high profile reports outlining new strategies for pulling African agriculture out of its current impasse have emerged. These include the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme of NEPAD, and the InterAcademy Council Report commissioned by UN Secretary General Koffi Annan.
Numerous innovation platforms have been implemented to encourage the adoption of agricultural innovations and stakeholder interactions within a value chain. Yet little research has been undertaken on the design and implementation of innovation platforms focussing on issues other than market access and aiming to encourage agro-ecological intensification.
Innovation Platforms (IPs) have become a popular vehicle in agricultural research for development (AR4D). The IP promise is that integrating scientific and local knowledge results in innovations that can have impact at scale. Many studies have uncovered how IPs work in various countries, value chains and themes. The conclusion is clear: IPs generate enthusiasm and can bring together stakeholders to effectively address specific problems and achieve ‘local’ impact.
Although much has been written on how to implement and facilitate innovation platforms efficiently, few studies support ex-ante appraisal of when and for what purpose innovation platforms provide an appropriate mechanism for achieving development outcomes, and what kinds of human and financial resource investments and enabling environments are required. Without these insights, innovation platforms run the risk of being promoted as a panacea for all problems in the agricultural sector.
Rapid climatic and socio-economic changes challenge current agricultural R&D capacity. The necessary quantum leap in knowledge generation should build on the innovation capacity of farmers themselves. A novel citizen science methodology, triadic comparisons of technologies or tricot, was implemented in pilot studies in India, East Africa, and Central America. The methodology involves distributing a pool of agricultural technologies in different combinations of three to individual farmers who observe these technologies under farm conditions and compare their performance.