Kristin Davis

From "best practice" to "best fit": a framework for designing and analyzing pluralistic agricultural advisory services worldwide

Abstract The article provides a conceptual framework and discusses research methods for analyzing pluralistic agricultural advisory services. The framework can also assist policy-makers in identifying reform options. It addresses the following question: Which forms of providing and financing agricultural advisory services work best in which situation? The framework ‘disentangles’ agricultural advisory services by distinguishing between (1) governance structures, (2) capacity, (3) management, and (4) advisory methods. The framework suggests an impact chain approach to analyze the performance and impact of agricultural advisory services and discusses theoretical and empirical research methods that can be used when applying the framework. The framework shows that reforms of agricultural advisory services can combine different reform elements—such as decentralization, contracting out, using new advisory methods, and changing the management style—in different ways so as to best fit local circumstances. Using a New Institutional Economics approach (transaction costs approach), the article shows that the following sets of contextual factors need to be considered in this regard: the policy environment; the capacity of potential service providers; the type of production systems and market access of farm households; and the characteristics of local communities. The framework can be used to develop assessment tools for agricultural advisory services, to inform processes of reforming of agricultural advisory services and to guide inter-disciplinary research. The framework is unique in combining the insights from different disciplines, which have, so far, been treated separately in the literature. The framework can help policy-makers and analysts to move from ‘ideological’ discussions on reform models to an evidence-based ‘best fit’ approach.

Strengthening Agricultural Education and Training in sub-Saharan Africa from an Innovation Systems Perspective: A Case Study of Mozambique

Abstract This paper examines how post-secondary agricultural education and training (AET) in sub-Saharan Africa can contribute to agricultural development by strengthening the capacity to innovate—to introduce new products and processes that are socially or economically relevant to smallholder farmers and other agents. Using the AET system in Mozambique as a case study, this paper examines the role of AET within the context of an agricultural innovation system. This innovation systems perspective offers an analytical framework to examine technological change in agriculture as a complex process of interactions among diverse actors who generate, exchange, and use knowledge, conditioned by complex social and economic institutions. The paper argues that while AET is conventionally viewed as key to the development of human capital, it also has a vital role to play in building the capacity of organizations and individuals to transmit and adapt information, products and processes, and new organizational cultures and behaviors. The paper emphasizes the importance of improving AET systems by strengthening the capabilities of organizations and professionals; changing organizational cultures, behaviors, and incentives; and building innovation networks and linkages. The paper offers several recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of AET for agricultural innovation and development. Key reforms include aligning the mandates of AET organizations with national development aspirations; inducing change in the cultures of AET organizations through the introduction of educational programs and linkages beyond the AET system; and enhancing innovative individual and organizational capacity by improving incentives to forge stronger links between AET and other stakeholders.

Private Technical Assistance Approaches in Brazil: The Case of Food Processing Company Rio de Una

This chapter documents an example of technical assistance provided by a private-sector firm in Brazil to help small-scale farmers increase their productivity and market access, thereby increasing their income. The public extension system in Brazil has undergone a major set of reforms in the past 20 years in order to meet the extension and advisory service needs of small-scale farmers. The extension and advisory needs of large-scale commercial farmers are met directly by commercial input suppliers, a structure similar to those found in developed countries. In this case study we look at Rio de Una, a private vegetable processing company located in the Parana state of Brazil, to better understand the role of private actors in providing technical assistance to smallholder farmers in Brazil and to document lessons that can be learned from Rio de Una’s technical assistance practices. This case study is the result of a series of interviews with Rio de Una’s management, technicians, and farmers in an effort to understand the relationship between Rio de Una and farmers, the technical services provided, what changes this relationship has brought, and the linkages between these services, public policies, and the overall extension services provided in the region.

INNOVATION PLATFORMS IN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT

Innovation platforms are fast becoming part of the mantra of agricultural research for development projects and programmes. Their basic tenet is that stakeholders depend on one another to achieve agricultural development outcomes, and hence need a space where they can learn, negotiate and coordinate to overcome challenges and capture opportunities through a facilitated innovation process. Although much has been written on how to implement and facilitate innovation platforms efficiently, few studies support ex-ante appraisal of when and for what purpose innovation platforms provide an appropriate mechanism for achieving development outcomes, and what kinds of human and financial resource investments and enabling environments are required. Without these insights, innovation platforms run the risk of being promoted as a panacea for all problems in the agricultural sector. This study makes clear that not all constraints will require innovation platforms and, if there is a simpler and cheaper alternative, that should be considered first. Based on the review of critical design principles and plausible outcomes of innovation platforms, this study provides a decision support tool for research, development and funding agencies that can enhance more critical thinking about the purposes and conditions under which innovation platforms can contribute to achieving agricultural development outcomes.