Rural innovation systems and networks: findings from a study of Ethiopian smallholders
TLDR
This paper analyzed interactions between smallholders and other actors to provide new perspectives on the role played by smallholder innovation networks in the agricultural sector by drawing on data from community case studies conducted in 10 localities.Abstract:
Ethiopian agriculture is changing as new actors, relationships, and policies influence the ways in which small-scale, resource-poor farmers access and use information and knowledge in their agricultural production decisions. Although these changes suggest new opportunities for smallholders, too little is known about how changes will ultimately improve the wellbeing of smallholders in Ethiopia. Thus, we examine whether these changes are improving the ability of smallholders to innovate and thus improve their own welfare. In doing so, we analyze interactions between smallholders and other actors to provide new perspectives on the role played by smallholder innovation networks in the agricultural sector by drawing on data from community case studies conducted in 10 localities. Findings suggest that public extension and administration exert a strong influence over smallholder networks, potentially crowding out market-based and civil society actors, and thus limiting beneficial innovation processes. From a policy perspective, the findings suggest the need to further explore policies and programs that create more space for market and civil society to participate in smallholder innovation networks and improve welfare. From a conceptual and methodological perspective, our findings suggest the need to incorporate rigorous applications of social network analysis into the application of innovation systems theory.read more
Citations
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Evolution of systems approaches to agricultural innovation: concepts, analysis and interventions
TL;DR: In an attempt to synthesize and organize the existing literature, this paper reviewed the literature on agricultural innovation, with the threefold goal of sketching the evolution of systemic approaches to agricultural innovation and unravelling the different interpretations; assessing key factors for innovation system performance and demonstrating the use of system thinking in the facilitation of processes of agricultural innovation by means of innovation brokers and reflexive process monitoring.
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Seerp Wigboldus,Laurens Klerkx,Cees Leeuwis,Marc Schut,Marc Schut,Sander Muilerman,Sander Muilerman,Henk Jochemsen +7 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a method that connects the heuristic framework of the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (MLP) to a philosophical "modal aspects" framework, with the objective of elucidating the connectedness between technologies, processes and practices.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the role that institutions, defined as the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction, play in economic performance and how those institutions change and how a model of dynamic institutions explains the differential performance of economies through time.