The objective of this research was to scrutinize factors that impeded research-farmer relationship in the context of agricultural innovation system from researchers’ perspective in Ethiopia. The research design used for this study was qualitative research approach. Respondents were interviewed using a snowball sampling technique. Data were collected primarily using in-depth interview, documents and analysed descriptively using the principle of grounded theory.

The Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project supports the efforts of the GoE to transform the smallholder agriculture sector to a more market-oriented sector. LIVES uses a value chain framework to develop targeted livestock and irrigated agriculture commodities through integrated technical and institutional innovations. Such a framework recognizes that value chain actors add value at different stages of the value chain and that individuals and organizations provide inputs and services to the value chain actors.

Agricultural innovation systems require strong linkage between research and extension organizations in particular, and among the various actors engaged in the agricultural sector in general. In the context of Ethiopia and the Amhara regional state, the agricultural research and extension system is characterized by a large number of actors in a fragmented and underdeveloped innovation system, resulting in very low national and regional innovation capacities. Farmers are generally viewed as passive recipients of technology.

In this study, it is applies a participatory scenario modelling framework to assess potential societal responses to the impacts of climate change by the mid-21st century, and model consequent land use and land cover change scenarios under different livelihood futures as guided by communities’ members in the areas under investigation. The authors focused their analysis on two montane sites of the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot , the Taita Hills, Kenya, and a montane area north-west of Jimma, Ethiopia

There is a considerable shortage of improved seed in Ethiopia. Despite good reasons to invest in this market, private sector investments are not occurring. Using an institutional economics theoretical framework, this chapter analyzes the formal Ethiopian seed system and identifies transaction costs to find potential starting points for institutional innovations.

In the context of an exponential rise in access to information in the last two decades, this special issue explores when and how information might be harnessed to improve governance and public service delivery in rural areas. Information is a critical component of government and citizens’ decision-making; therefore, improvements in its availability and reliability stand to benefit many dimensions of governance, including service delivery.

This paper asks: What have been the impacts of farmer- or community-led (informal) processes of research and development in agriculture and natural resource management in terms of food security, ecological sustainability, economic empowerment, gender relations, local capacity to innovate and influence on formal agricultural research and development institutions?

The study explored the nature of innovation response capacity and the building of policy-relevant innovation capacity in the context of livestock-related emergencies in East Africa.