INNOVATION PLATFORMS
FOR CA IN AFRICA
A REFLECTION
Presenter: Michael Misiko
Helena Posthumus (NRI, KIT), Remco Mur (KIT), Mariana Wongtschowski (KIT),
Barry Pound (NRI), Michael Misiko (CIMMYT), Jens Andersson (CIMMYT),
Bernard Triomphe (CIRAD), Paul Mapfumo (SOFECSA)
INTRODUCTION
• Conservation Agriculture:
• Sustainable agricultural intensification
• Increase farmers’ resilience to climatic
variability
• Address soil degradation
• BUT agro-ecological and socioeconomic factors limit adoption
• CA requires:
• Technological & institutional changes in
agricultural systems
• Strong capacity for problem solving from
farmers and service providers to adapt CA
to local circumstances
CONSTRAINTS TO SCALING OUT CA
So what are the main issues?
•Emphasis on CA as technology; but for farmers it is (one of
many) means to an end for:
• Sustainable livelihoods
• Food security
• Risk reduction / resilience
•CA is complex – requires change at multiple levels
•System thinking is necessary. Not only farming system, but
also economic (value chains) and institutional systems at
local, district and national level!
INNOVATION > RESEARCH + EXTENSION
Agricultural innovation = process whereby individuals
and organisations bring existing or new products,
processes and form of organisation into social and
economic use (FAO, 2014)
Innovation is a combination of changes in:
•Technology (hardware)
•Knowledge (software)
•Organisation (orgware)
INNOVATION MODELS
1960
1980
2000
Technology Transfer
Research
Research
Extension
NGOs
Extension
Farmers
Farmers
Private sector:
Innovation System
Agro-dealers,
Service
providers,
Traders
INNOVATION MODELS
Technology transfer
Innovation system
• Single techniques:
• System change:
• Improved crop variety
• Fertilizers
• Improved tools
• Research is driver of innovation
• Extension is driver of
dissemination / outscaling
Research
Extension
Farmers
• Institutional change
• Access to markets / value chains
• Multi-stakeholder processes
• Participatory research
• Innovation driven by multiple actors
in system
Problem: CA cannot be packaged into simple rules for
dissemination through technology transfer
Current R&D system (research institutes, service providers,
ministries) is divided by technical areas and operate based on
technology transfer principles
System change is required!
Research,
extension,
NGOs
Farmers
Private sector:
Agro-dealers,
Service providers,
traders
INNOVATION PLATFORMS
Current challenges in context of CA:
•Driven by researchers, not farmers or private sector
•Limited participation of private sector
•Focus on predetermined solution (CA) rather than
understanding the challenges
•Limited co-innovation between farmers, researchers,
extension, private sector
INNOVATION PLATFORMS
Role of innovation platforms:
•Innovation platforms address shared constraints in
system (e.g. value chain)
•If focus is on technology instead, innovation platforms
often used for dissemination, not institutional change
•Innovation platforms at different levels have different
roles:
• Local: experimentation, adaptation of solutions to local context
• District: multi-stakeholder process to achieve system change to
address constraints in agricultural system
• National: task force for advocacy or policy change
INNOVATION PLATFORMS
Role of innovation platforms:
•Innovation platforms should:
• Experiment with potential solutions to address farmers’ problems
• Facilitate access to, and development of, variety of technologies
from which farmers can chose
• Create enabling environment for sustainable agricultural
intensification
• Facilitate connections of different actors at all levels so
collaboration becomes more natural
• Improve access to services, credit, transport, markets,
knowledge, technologies, seeds, agricultural inputs
• Identify strategies that link income generation to land
rehabilitation
BEST PRACTICES
Best practices of innovation platforms for CA:
•Village committees in Burkina Faso: platforms to discuss
use and management of natural resources
•Learning Centres Zimbabwe?? PAUL MAPFUMO??
WAY FORWARD?
• Dynamic interaction between research, farmers and
other stakeholders at multiple levels (joint
experimentation, feedback loops, etc)
• Need to address economic & institutional constraints to
create enabling environment for agricultural innovation
•
•
•
•
•
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Markets / value chains (tension commodities vs farming systems)
Access to agricultural inputs, seed policies
Create better access to knowledge and technologies for farmers
Integration of policies and actors at multiple levels
Facilitate interaction, critical reflection & learning, between actors
Capacity building for institutional development, facilitation of
innovation processes
• Engagement of farmers as equal partners in all activities!
THANK YOU