This paper identifies market failures that limit agricultural R&D for Africa and other resource-poor environments, and proposes a way to complement existing institutions with cash prizes for the dissemination of successful new technologies adopted by low-income farmers. The proposed prize institution would use agronomic experiments and farm surveys to document the value of innovations after their initial diffusion, and offer payments in proportion to estimated social benefits in target regions.
This book documents a unique series of 19 case studies where agricultural biotechnologies were used to serve the needs of smallholders in developing countries. They cover different regions, production systems, species and underlying socio-economic conditions in the crop (seven case studies), livestock (seven) and aquaculture/fisheries (five) sectors. Most of the case studies involve a single crop, livestock or fish species and a single biotechnology.
Los cambios acontecidos en la agricultura cubana a finales del siglo XX provocaron la ruptura del paradigma basado en la dependencia de importaciones, por lo que se precisó comenzar a construir un nuevo modelo técnico-económico sobre la base del desarrollo endógeno, asociado al fomento de capacidades innovadoras y de tecnologías sostenibles; ello exigió que los centros de desarrollo de conocimiento se centraran en la aplicación de innovaciones, mediante adecuados procesos de extensión rural.
En el marco del desarrollo del proyecto internacional Diseminación del Fitomejoramiento Participativo en Cuba, programa para fortalecer la Innovación Agropecuaria Local (PIAL) III Fase, y como parte de las herramientas de monitoreo y evaluación se elaboró una metodología para evaluar la influencia del contexto local sobre los impactos del proyecto. Se presentó la metodología y sus resultados, estimando el desempeño del año 2013, valorado en 42 municipios donde se implementó el proyecto, se evalúo el efecto del contexto socioeconómico y las medidas a delimitar para disminuir al mínimo los e
Este documento describe el Proyecto Internacional BIOMAS-CUBA, enfocado a utilizar la biomasa como fuente renovable de energía, contribuir a mejorar las condiciones de vida, y lograr la coexistencia entre mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático, seguridad alimentaria y sostenibilidad energética en el medio rural. BIOMAS-CUBA abarca la producción y utilización de biodiesel y biogás, la gasificación de biomasa y la producción de bioproductos.
The agricultural innovation system can be strengthened by increasing the learning capacity of research and field organisations. Participatory methods were developed to study three dimensions of the capacity of such organisations in Nicaragua to access and analyse information, highly correlated to learning capacity – the individual routines of their professionals, the formal procedures of the organisation and the organisation's use of collaborative projects to strengthen core operations.
This paper discusses the challenges and determinants of agro-operations and innovation initiatives in developing countries. With particular reference to the Caribbean region, available country statistics and data are analysed. A generic model of collaborative innovation for agriculture that stresses collaboration among the stakeholders (government, knowledge institutions, public and private firms and others) is described.
Public–private partnerships that aim at the development of innovations have gained increasing attention from governments, public research and private companies, because they enable partners to draw from complementary resources and profit from synergy and joint learning. This article develops arguments for when partnerships should form and compares them with experiences in real partnership cases in Latin America.
Empirical studies on agricultural technology adoption generally divide a population into adopters and nonadopters, and analyse the reasons for adoption or nonadoption at a point in time. In reality, technology adoption is not a one-off static decision, rather it involves a dynamic process in which information gathering, learning and experience play pivotal roles, particularly in the early stage of adoption. A conceptual framework for an adoption pathway is suggested in which farmers move from learning to adoption, to continuous or discontinuous use over time.
This study describes the evolving context and organisational linkages in the agricultural innovation system of Azerbaijan and suggests ways to promote effective organisational ties for the development, distribution and use of new or improved information and knowledge related to agriculture. Graph-theoretic principles and concepts are employed to assess the existing organisational linkages vital for agricultural innovations.