Innovation and research in organic farming: A multi‐level approach to facilitate cooperation among stakeholders

A wider range of stakeholders is expected to be involved in organic research. A decision‐support tool is needed to define priorities and to allocate tasks among institutions. Based on research and management experience in organic research, the authors have developed a framework for experimental and research projects. The framework is based on a multi‐level approach. Each level is defined according to the directness of the innovation impact on the organic systems. The projects carried out for each level were assessed over a ten-year period. Two applications are presented: analysis of crop protection strategies in horticulture and plant breeding programmes. When combined with four development models of organic farming, this multi‐level analysis appears to be promising for defining research agendas

New Models of Technology Assessment for Development

This report explores the role that ‘new models’ of technology assessment can play in improving the lives of poor and vulnerable populations in the developing world. The ‘new models’ addressed here combine citizen and decision-maker participation with technical expertise. They are virtual and networked rather than being based in a single office of technology assessment (as was the case in the United States in the 1970s-90s). They are flexible enough to address issues across disciplines and are increasingly transnational or global in their reach and scope. The report argues that these new models of technology assessment can make a vital contribution to informing policies and strategies around innovation, particularly in developing regions. They are most beneficial if they enable the broadening out of inputs to technology assessment, and the opening up of political debate around possible directions of technological change and their interactions with social and environmental systems. Beyond the process of technology assessment itself, the report argues that governance systems within which these processes are embedded play an important role in determining the impact and effectiveness of technology assessment. Finally, the report argues for training and capacity-building in technology assessment methodologies in developing countries, and support for internationally co-ordinated technology assessment efforts to address global and regional development challenges

Envisioning 2050: climate change, aquaculture and fisheries in West Africa. Dakar, Senegal 14-16 April 2010

This report presents the activities and results of the workshop Envisioning 2050: Climate Change, Aquaculture and Fisheries in West Africa. The objectives of the workshop were to discuss critical issues and uncertainties faced by the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Ghana, Senegal and Mauritania, build sectoral scenarios for 2050 and discuss the implication of these scenarios in the context of climate change for the countries and the region

The Scaling Mindset – Shifting from Problems to Solutions. Insights from the Review of CCAFS Scaling Activities, 2019

In the frame of the review of CCAFS scaling activities in 2019, 21 project leaders and –implementers were interviewed about their scaling processes, touching a series of aspects that had been identified as crucial and/or critical by earlier research. Results were analysed with a systemic approach, to draw organisational learnings. The findings were validated with CCAFS core team during their Scaling Workshop in Madrid, May 2019, in which the Core Team also prioritized its programmatic areas of response. This working paper captures the main insights and learnings from both the interviews on project level, followed by the results’ analysis. It then summarized the Core Team workshop’s main discussion points and shortly outlines the programmatic areas of response that CCAFS identified. The learnings and insights on the realities of scaling agricultural innovations presented in this working paper can provide a rich basis for further synthesis and/or deeper research on the different aspects of innovation development and scaling

Institutional Reforms for Getting an Agricultural Knowledge System to Play Its Role in Economic Growth

While alarmists shriek the crisis of accelerating soil erosion and declining water quality as the major impediment to the future of global agriculture in supplying the needs of humanity, the argument here is that, although resource degradation is indeed a threat to achievement of satisfactory crop yields over the next several decades, the main threat is not degradation of natural resources. Rather, it is degradation of the capacity of societies, particularly those in the less-developed countries, to develop the knowledge embodied in people, technology and institutions necessary to meet the challenge of higher yields and intensified agricultural production. Dealing with this threat of degradation of knowledge institutions and resources must be an important focus of economic development policy in agrarian societies. In short, the agricultural knowledge and information systems (AKISs) serving the developing world must be put in effective and stable shape to deliver the needful.

Analyzing the Opportunities and Pitfalls of Participation in International Agricultural and Environmental Development

Participation in development by those most affected by programs is increasingly encouraged by donor agencies; however, true participation often remains elusive and misunderstood in practice. This dissertation presents three manuscripts that apply different disciplinary lenses to the concept of participation. The first manuscript analyzes two cases using participation in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems as a means to explain differences in project outcomes that aim to alter social ecological systems. The manuscript introduces a participatory matrix as a simple tool to assess participation in a project's M&E system. The cases relate participation in M&E to improved program outcomes including resource health, sustained livelihoods, and robust social structures. The second manuscript applies new institutional economic theory to the phenomenon of the decline of traditional irrigation systems, karez, as communities adopt pump wells. The study uses records on ecological, institutional, economic, and social factors from Iran and Pakistan spanning the 1950's through 2016, to analyze factors influencing displacement of karez. Evidence suggests that in the areas studied, alterations to institutions governing water and land left small-scale producers worse off, while benefitting large-scale producers. The third manuscript analyzes empirical data from the Afghanistan Agricultural Extension Program (AAEP). Program investment in capacity building activities for Farmer Field School (FFS) facilitators was significant yet use of the FFS approach in Afghanistan's extension system remained lower than expected. Quantitative data show a significant and positive effect of capacity building training on Farmer Field School facilitator use of FFS. Qualitative data give voice to extension worker and trained FFS facilitator explanations of FFS use by individuals highlighting both motivators and barriers

Towards Digital Resilience: Formulating strategies for farmers in a digitally disruptive environment

This study conceptualizes a digital culture strategy to fortify the resilience and competitiveness of middle-skilled farmers in Selangor, Malaysia. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, it synthesizes the Technology Acceptance Model, Theory of Planned Behaviour, and Hofstede's cultural dimensions into a rural digital framework. The research underscores a positive correlation between strategic digital culture adoption and factors like digital literacy and farming productivity, moderated by cultural dimensions. It offers actionable recommendations for policy formulation and resource allocation, enriching existing literature on technology adoption in traditional sectors