Search

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.

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.)

Integrated Green Revolution Agriculture, Organic Agriculture and Low-External-Input Agriculture are the three methods by which conditions for rural development and sustainable agriculture can be introduced. Proper management of organic matter, increasing soil life and enhanced utilization of nutrients and balance nutrient flow may aid the use of low-external-input agriculture. Diseases and pests which cause damage should be prevented, and varieties of plants and animals which possess similar characteristics can be combined to produce function diversity.