Developing an agricultural innovation system to meet the needs of smallholder farmers in developing countries.

Smallholder farmers in developing countries will be critical to meeting the growing demand for food in the next 40 years. However, current agricultural innovation systems (AIS), rural advisory services (RAS) and the enabling environment for smallholder agriculture do not adequately address their needs. Incorporating smallholder farmers into the AIS requires us to develop new systems that integrate research, development and extension so that it can quickly develop relevant solutions to meet the needs of farmers and their associated supply and value chains. This paper proposes some ideas about what this framework might include. It expands the framework of extension models proposed by Coutts et al. (2005) to show the role of RAS in capacity building, into a broader model for how RAS can play a pivotal role in an AIS designed for smallholder farmers. Key elements will be a focus on smallholders accessing value chains and participatory methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]