This is the first chapter of the book "Innovation platforms for agricultural development: Evaluating the mature innovation platforms landscape". It introduces the background, case study competition process, case study characterization and readers’ guide, and book outline. Characterization of the case studies includes their geographical spread, age and life stage of the platforms, and specific information on the multi-stakeholder processes, the content matter, platform support functions, and outcomes and impacts.

The study was commissioned by the Advisory Service on Agricultural Research for Development of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and was carried out in cooperation with GIZ Western Kenya and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture in Nairobi. Overall objective of the study was to design a strategy and make recommendations for locally adapted climate smart agriculture (CSA) tailored to smallholder needs in Western Kenya. This included the production of practical policy and technical guidance material.

In times of market liberalization and structural adjustment, the agricultural sectors of developing countries face profound changes. To seize new market opportunities, farmers need to innovate. In order to innovate, farmers need new technologies and information on how to access and manage them, as well as better support services for the delivery of inputs and knowledge, and better infrastructure for delivering produce to the market.

Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) is the world’s first index-based insurance designed to protect vulnerable pastoralists in drought-stricken areas from losing their primary asset—livestock. This case study demonstrates the opportunities and challenges emerging from the IBLI project. It explains the need to establish the product in locations with large vulnerable pastoralist populations and encourages students to consider and develop an IBLI growth strategy.

The international workshop on Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa (AISA) was held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 29–31 May 2013. Its main objectives were to learn jointly about agricultural innovation processes and systems in Africa, identify policy implications and develop policy messages, and explore perspectives for collaborative action research on smallholder agricultural innovation.The workshop focused on sharing experiences in trying to understand and strengthen multi-stakeholder innovation processes and the role of smallholders in innovation, and identifying and discussing priorities an

This white paper is intended to summarize the key insights gleaned from prior work applying information and communication technologies (ICTs) in support of agriculture and food systems, identifying approaches and opportunities that hold promise for enhancing global food security, and to identify important knowledge gaps that remain, offering guidance for new work that investigates how to apply information and communication technologies in agriculture.

The Bureau for Food Security (BFS) of USAID commissioned five country studies examining the scaling up of agricultural innovations through commercial pathways in developing countries, to understand how the Agency – including its country missions and implementing partners (IPs) – can use donor projects to achieve greater scale and long-term commercial sustainability. 

Commercial Villages Stores (CVS) Programme has been developed and is being implemented by Farm Concern International (FCI) with financial support from USAID/COMPETE (the Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program) in Kenya and Uganda. The programme, which commenced in September 2009, is aimed at graduating smallholder farmers from subsistent farming to market-oriented production as active and reliable agri-commodity value chain players.

The USAID COMPETE (the Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program) funded Commercial Village Stores (CVS) project implemented in Kenya, Meru region in Eastern Province and Eastern Uganda (Jinja) has continued to educate the target communities on post harvest solutions at the village level. Quarter 4 (July-Sept 2010) activities sought to build on strengthening the Meru sites collective action in post harvest handling and storage at the village level with an outreach to more than 10000 farmers in Igoji, Tigania East, Tigania West and Tharaka Districts.

The Commercial Village Stores (CVS) project funded by USAID COMPETE (the Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program) implemented in Kenya, Meru region in Eastern Province and Western Uganda Bushenyi district has continued to benefit under the project.