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Report on a culturally deep discussion and celebration in May 2023 in Olaszfalu, Bakony Region, Hungary and field trip to Eastern Hungary.

There is a growing promotion of agroecological techniques in many Sub-Saharan African countries as a response to the current climatic variability challenges. In the case of Burkina Faso, a number of studies have mentioned the role of Farmers’ Organizations (FOs) in the promotion of agroecological techniques. Although previous studies have highlighted the role of FOs in agroecology, more detailed studies on the effectiveness of their intermediation activities and especially those focusing on the way the FOs influence farmers’ agroecological innovations decisions are still scarce. This study addresses this gap by providing the answer to the question of what drives farmers’ decisions to implement agroecological innovations and how their FOs influence these decisions. The results show that the implementation of agroecological innovations varies, with some farmers using many and others few of the innovations promoted by their respective FOs. Farmers’ implementation of these innovations is largely influenced by the actions of their FOs on at least one of the three drivers of individual motivation or innovation behavior (Vroom 1964): instrumentality, valence, and expectancy. Finally, the study calls for policy actors to increase funding support to FOs for widening their continuous provision of agroecology development activities.

Book details Hahn, Allison H., Media culture in nomadic communities. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press B.V.; 2021. 221 pp. ISBN: 978 94 63723022 (hardcover), e-ISBN: 978 90 4855030 2. DOI 10.5117/9789463723022.

Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) is influenced by diverse and complex factors, and therefore requires a holistic approach to agriculture and food systems plus integration of knowledge from diverse sources in science and society. Using the results of a colloquium held at the University of Hohenheim (Germany) in September 2016 leading up to the recent High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) Note on Critical and Emerging Issues for Food Security and Nutrition, this article underlines the role of research and innovation as a social and political process and draws attention to neglected types of knowledge. It illustrates the potential of knowledge co-production and co-innovation to transform food systems in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Within the context of the European-funded JOLISAA project (JOint Learning in and about Innovation Systems in African Agriculture), an inventory of agricultural innovation experiences was made in Benin, Kenya and South Africa. The objective was to assess multi-stakeholder agricultural innovation processes involving smallholders. Approach: Country-based teams used bibliographic searches, interviews with resource persons and field visits to identify cases. The inventory was developed iteratively according to a common analytical framework and guidelines inspired by the innovation system perspective. Findings and practical implications: The completed inventory includes 57 documented cases, covering a wide diversity of experiences, in terms of types, domains, scales and timelines of innovation. The inventory confirms the diversity of stakeholders involved in innovation, the diversity of innovation triggers and drivers, and the frequent occurrence of market-driven innovation. It also illustrates more original features: the typically long timeframes of innovation processes; the common occurrence of "innovation bundles"; and an often tight yet ambivalent relationship between innovation initiatives and externally funded projects. National teams faced several challenges during the inventory process, for example, in gaining a common understanding and making consistent use of key innovation-related concepts, and in accessing relevant information, as some case holders were reluctant to share their experience freely. Originality/value: The JOLISAA inventory contributes to illustrating that African agriculture is responding actively to the many challenges it faces. Documenting and sharing such a palpable dynamism may help to counter some of the pessimism and negative publicity that African agriculture usually attracts and to increase the motivation of many for making innovation happen across Africa. (Contains 3 tables and 2 notes.)

Local innovation in agriculture and natural resource management is the process through which individuals or groups discover or develop new and better ways of managing resources, building on and expanding the boundaries of their existing knowledge. Prolinnova (Promoting Local Innovation) is a NGO-led global partnership programme that is being built from the bottom up, to develop and institutionalise partnerships and methodologies that promote such local innovation. The focus is on building national-level platforms where the different stakeholders in agricultural research and development meet and work out their particular country programmes together. The nine countries involved in the Prolinnova programme at present have analysed their diverse experiences in building multi-stakeholder partnerships and noted some basic prerequisites for effective partnerships: internal motivation, sincere commitment from all partners; good facilitation; shared responsibility; openness and transparency. A fundamental challenge in the process of partnership building is dealing with diversity and potential conflict. It is in creating learning spaces for potential partners to come together and find common ground on which they can work towards common goals that conflict will be countered and successful partnerships will be secured. (Contains 1 note.)

There is a growing promotion of agroecological techniques in many Sub-Saharan African countries as a response to the current climatic variability challenges. In the case of Burkina Faso, a number of studies have mentioned the role of Farmers' Organizations (FOs) in the promotion of agroecological techniques. Although previous studies have highlighted the role of FOs in agroecology, more detailed studies on the effectiveness of their intermediation activities and especially those focusing on the way the FOs influence farmers' agroecological innovations decisions are still scarce. This study addresses this gap by providing the answer to the question of what drives farmers' decisions to implement agroecological innovations and how their FOs influence these decisions. The results show that the implementation of agroecological innovations varies, with some farmers using many and others few of the innovations promoted by their respective FOs. Farmers' implementation of these innovations is largely influenced by the actions of their FOs on at least one of the three drivers of individual motivation or innovation behavior (Vroom 1964): instrumentality, valence, and expectancy. Finally, the study calls for policy actors to increase funding support to FOs for widening their continuous provision of agroecology development activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic seed is vital for organic agriculture. However, organic plant breeding is not keeping pace with the increasing organic production, mainly because of a lack of sufficient financial resources. Therefore, the questions arose: what are the obstacles, and how can they be removed? An analysis of the situation in Europe revealed that royalties from intellectual property rights (IPRs) such as plant variety protection are inappropriate for organic seed. New additional financing strategies were developed based on the concept of seed as a commons, and the attitude of stakeholders in the food value chain towards an open source strategy was assessed. The conclusion is that dealing with seed as a commons is an indispensable feature of organic plant breeding. New financing strategies for this offer promising potential for organic plant breeding and an alternative to IPRs-based funding. It is essential to involve stakeholders along the entire value chain, including food consumers, in financing plant breeding. The successful introduction of a food label "open source and organic" could boost commons-based organic plant breeding financing. Generally, there is no single solution; the different strategies identified are complementary. Their validation requires further practical research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Book details: Hahn, Allison H., Media culture in nomadic communities. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press B.V.; 2021. 221 pp. ISBN: 978 94 63723022 (hardcover), e-ISBN: 978 90 4855030 2. DOI 10.5117/9789463723022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting rural development in Africa involves learning to clap with two hands, that is to say, creating effective interaction between local knowledge and development initiatives, on the one hand, and the knowledge and initiatives of formal agricultural research and extension, on the other. Farmer innovators ‐men and women farmers who take their own initiative to change local agriculture ‐ are key allies in rural development, as shown by the experience of the ISWC programme in Africa. Focusing on Ethiopia and Tanzania, the authors describe how formal research and extension services are made aware of farmers’ innovative work and are encouraged to document the results, promote their spread, and support further development efforts by farmer innovators. A modified Participatory Technology Development (PTD) approach is thus emerging, which starts not with problem analysis but rather by linking up with local problem‐solving initiatives. While the learning process on this approach continues, dialogue has been initiated with policy‐makers with a view to incorporating the approach into regular government extension, research and training activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

How do farmers see environmental changes affecting their family's well-being? How are they trying to cope with and improve the situation? What can outsiders do to support them in these efforts? These questions were addressed in the March 1992 issue of ILEIA Newsletter, a journal of the Information Centre for Low External Input in Sustainable Agriculture. The following is an edited version of that issue's editorial. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]