Cross analysis of multi-stakeholder
innovation in smallholder farming :
Key lessons and policy recommendations
from Benin, Kenya and South Africa
AISA Conference, Nairobi, 30 May 2013
JOLISAA Process
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(Benin,Kenya,
S. Africa)
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13 cases
Case 13
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Collab. assessment
Inventory
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Case 1
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Jul/13
JOLISAA Assessment Process: Cases
Entry point
Natural Resource
Management
Value chain
development
Benin
* Integrated soil fertility
management
* Hwedo agrofishing
system
* Soy foods
* Rice parboiling
Kenya
* Soil liming
* Aloe domestication
* Prosopis management * Mango processing
* Solar milk cooling
* Gadam sorghum
South Africa
* Integrated soil fertility
management
* In field rain water
harvesting
* Input bulk buying
Key Lessons to be Elaborated
Lesson 1: Innovations occur in the “social wild”, even when
there is no intervention
Lesson 2: Innovation processes comprise dynamic bundles
of technological, institutional and organizational elements
Lesson 3: Innovation processes that allow producers to
connect with diverse value chains allow for more flexible
and incremental changes
Lesson 4: Over the long term, innovation processes unfold
in unpredictable and unplannable ways
1. Even where there is no intervention,
numerous innovations occur in the « social wild »
Perceived
overexploitation
of wild aloe
Social wild
Aloe PPP :
Kenya
Conservation through use
Harvesters of wild
aloe
Public Private
Partnership
Aloe cultivation
Sap boilers
Industrial
processing
training
Sap & gum traders
Cosmetics
Informal exporters
Small scale
processing units
Creation of a
new value chain
Planned value chain fails
Messy informal value chain still at work
2. Innovation processes comprised of
dynamic bundles of technological,
organizational and institutional elements
Prosopis innovation bundle: Kenya
FFS groups become charcoal
production and trade association
Management
options
Desertification and
poverty solution
Invasive weed pest
Technical
innovation
Institutional
innovation
Organizational
innovation
Problem turns into an
opportunity
Organizational
innovation
FFS groups
Change in charcoal
processing laws
time
3. Diverse value chains within commodity
allow flexible and inclusive changes
Soy as solution to
malnutrition 1980s
Small scale
mechanisation
Soybean farmers
Small scale
processing
Soybean value chains:
Benin
Traders and bulking enterprises
Medium scale
processing
Industrial oil plants
Culinary and
dietary practices
Contracts & formal
Formal trade
and export
High value
products
Diversified local
markets
Poultry
feed
More
demanding
urban market
Regional cooking
oil
Competition on
global market
Cooking oil
imports
Informal trade
4. Over the long term, innovation processes
unfold in unpredictable and unplannable ways
Initial plan:
baby food
Soybean
introduction
by NGO
Integration
into cuisine
Spreads through
farming systems
Oil plants adjust
from cotton to soy
Introduction of
toa s ting
pri nciples
Introduction of
s oy in infant
mea ls
Development
of soy based
recipes
Promi s cuous TGX cross
va ri ety s election by IITA
Developement
of s mall infant
food enterprises
Soybean
evolution:
Benin
Proces s for
ins tant meals
Numerous adjustments
in processes soycheese, mustards, etc.
Numerous soy products
as substitutes to
common food products
Small scale
mechanization
Experi mentation on
va ri eties and cropping
pra cti ces (mainly by
fa rmers)
s oy based rotations
developed by fa rmers
Inoculation developed by
res earchers up to a
rhizobia production unit
Fa rmer organisations
producing s eeds, selling
i n bulk to l arge s cale oilpl a nts
Development of
i ntermediate service
enterprises toastings oy
for a ni mal feed producing
fi rms (ESOP)
Cons ortium and platform
(FOs , researchers,
Oilplants, NGOs etc.)
Rea djustment of large
s cale oil-plants for s oy oil
production
By products feed
innovation in poultry
raising
Contra cts between oil
plants and farmers for
s eed production,
dis tribution and soy
time
Challenges, lessons and recommendations
Challenge: How to support innovation processes?
L1: Innovations occur in the “social wild”, even when there is no
intervention:
R1: Policies, research and practice would do better
recognizing and strengthening existing local innovation
processes rather than trying to replace them.
L2: Innovation processes comprise dynamic bundles of technological,
institutional and organizational elements
R2: Policy, research and practice should approach
innovation in a way that integrates these elements.
Challenges, lessons and recommendations
Challenge: How to support innovation processes?
L3: Innovation processes that allow producers to connect with diverse
value chains allow for more flexible and incremental changes:
R3: Increase research and investment in innovation
processes that permit flexible engagement with formal and
informal value chain stakeholders.
L4: Over the long term, innovation processes unfold in unpredictable
and unplannable ways:
R4: Provide an institutional environment that recognize and
support unfolding processes and allow for flexible openended interventions.
Participants in JOLISAA
CIRAD: Bernard Triomphe, Bernard Bridier, Henri Hocdé,
KARI: Geoffrey Kamau, Teresiah Ng’ang’a, Kavoi Justice
UAC : Simplice Davo Vodouhe, Anne Floquet, Roch Mongbo, Rigobert Tossou,
UP: Joe Stevens, Brigid Letty, Rootman Gerrit
WUR: Jolanda van den Berg, Todd Crane, Conny Almekinders,
ICRA: Nour Sellamna, Hawkins Richards
ETC: Ann Waters-Bayer, Nicoliene Oudwater, Meijboom Mariana
And many field agronomists and small holders
www.jolisaa.net
For more on the findings, visit
our posters
JOLISAA is funded by the EU