Category Archives: Innovation Systems

Africa / Animal Feeding / Asia / Fodder / Forages / India / Innovation Systems / Insurance / Livestock Systems / Nigeria / South Asia / West Africa

Improving smallholder fodder through better knowledge as well as technologies

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Busy fodder market in Hyderabad, India; farmers transport their fodder to this market, where it is bought by urban dairies (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The magazine Farming Matters ran a feature on a Fodder Innovation Project funded by the UK Department for International Development and conducted since 2003 by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) with … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Innovation Systems / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Markets / Research / Southern Africa / Value Chains

Innovation platforms for market development and technology uptake in Southern Africa

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At the ILRI-hosted ‘AgKnowledge Africa‘ share fair and the 5th All Africa conference on animal agriculture, Andre van Rooyen shared ICRISAT experiences with ‘innovation platforms’ for market development and technology uptake in Southern Africa. Such ‘innovation platforms’ – spaces which allow individuals and organizations to come together to address issues of mutual concern and interest … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Capacity Strengthening / Farming Systems / Fish / Food Security / Innovation Systems / Knowledge and Information / Latin America / Livelihoods / Women

‘Give a woman a fish and she eats for a day, teach her to fish and she eats her for a lifetime’ goes the proverb (sort of); but give her access to markets and she earns a living, and give her community resources to fish sustainably and she can feed the world

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Demetria Solomon, 54-year-old farmer growing maize, potato, sota, green beans (and former secretary of the local irrigation scheme) in Khulungira Village, central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Over at SciDev.Net, David Dickson is making the case for joined-up thinking in development work. ‘A holistic approach is also essential for building the solid infrastructure and social systems … Continue reading →

Africa / ILRI / ILRIComms / Innovation Systems / IPMS / Knowledge and Information

‘Still all jazzed up’–impacts of the Addis AgKnowledge Africa Share Fair keep on and on . . .

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Roxanna Samii, knowledge practitioner at the International Fund for Agricultural Development, speaks at the opening of the AgKnowledge Africa Share Fair, held on the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, campus of the International Livestock Research Institute last week (photo credit: ILRI/Habtamu). Over at the Social Reporting Blog run by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, knowledge practitioner … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Innovation Systems / Latin America / Research

Clinton puts science at heart of US development strategy

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‘Moves by the the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to put science, technology and innovation firmly at the centre of its aid efforts have been enthusiastically endorsed by a rousing speech from secretary of state Hillary Clinton, in which she described herself as “a friend of science”. ‘”Innovation, science [and] technology must again become … Continue reading →

Animal Feeding / Crop-Livestock / Fodder / ILRI / Innovation Systems

Learning for change: a logical approach for fodder innovation?

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Tracking the right evidence to demonstrate impact is a conundrum common to many development projects. Providing evidence for change proves particularly challenging for projects where outcomes are unpredictable and changes that result from innovation processes are not immediately visible and are difficult to quantify. However, despite these challenges, adopting a ‘learning by doing’ approach and … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Innovation Systems / Soils

Does a country’s dirt determine its destiny?

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‘Chad is dirt poor because its dirt is poor. Germany is relatively rich because its soil is rich. That’s the provocative conclusion flowing from a new study, which suggests that just two fundamental factors—soil type and climate—can largely explain why humans have prospered in some places but not in others. The finding, drawn from a … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Innovation Systems / Research

How can we innovate and with whom… for the agricultural and agrifood systems of tomorrow?

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This question is being debated at ISDA 2010 (Innovation and Sustainable Development in Agriculture and Food), from 28 June to 1 July in Montpellier. This international symposium, organized by CIRAD, INRA and Montpellier SupAgro, sets out to understand, in the light of concrete examples, how research contributes and will continue to contribute to innovation, given … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Ethiopia / ILRI / Innovation Systems / IPMS / Markets / Women

Opportunities for promoting gender equality in rural Ethiopia through the commercialization of agriculture

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This working paper by Lemlem Aregu, Clare Bishop-Sambrook, Ranjitha Puskur and Ephrem Tesema on Opportunities for promoting gender equality in rural Ethiopia through the commercialization of agriculture was released on 31 May, 2010 This paper discusses gender issues in the context of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian Farmers’ Project being implemented … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Feeding / Dairying / Ethiopia / Forages / ILRI / Innovation Systems / IPMS / Livestock / Value Chains

Commercializing dairy and forage systems in Ethiopia: An innovation systems perspective

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This working paper by Tesfaye Lemma, Ranjitha Puskur, Dirk Hoekstra and Azage Tegegne on Commercializing dairy and forage systems in Ethiopia: An innovation systems perspective presents and discusses the results of the analysis of Ethiopian dairy and forage innovation systems. Two factors triggered the need for understanding the innovation systems: Ethiopian dairy subsector has not … Continue reading →