Agricultural Innovation Systems:!‘Introduction 100,001’

Jens A. Andersson, CIMMYT!Elias Damtew, ILRI!Zelalem Lema, ILRI

An Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) is,!!‘…a network of organisations, enterprises, and individuals focused on bringing new products, new processes, and new forms of organisation into economic use, together with the institutions and policies that affect their behaviour and performance.’ (WorldBank, 2009)

An Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) is,!!‘…a network of organisations, enterprises, and individuals focused on bringing new products, new processes, and new forms of organisation into economic use, together with the institutions and policies that affect their behaviour and performance.’ (WorldBank, 2009)

!

policies

rules

regulations

subsidies

research

Service Providers

ExtensionCBOs

processors

marketing agents

traders

govt. policy makersdonors

NGOs

district agr. office

agro-dealers

ToT (1960s-)

FSR (1980s-)

FPR (1990s-)

Innovation systems

researchers researchers (+ farmers)

researchers with farmers multiple

Technology packages

Adjusted!Packages!(diagnosis)

joint knowledge production

Interactive, innovation,

(co-)learning

Knowledge base:

‘products’:

Model:

Agricultural Innovation Systems thinking: Its origins…

Technologies Actors / stakeholders

Innovation system

Farm household system

Crop-livestock system

Rufino (2004)

social processes!power, linkages,!

(facilitation)

livelihoods,!people

!technologies,!

bio-physical laws

!"!!

Nested systems…

!

policies

rules

regulations

subsidies

research

Service Providers

ExtensionCBOs

processors

marketing agents

traders

govt. policy makersdonors

NGOs

district agr. office

agro-dealers

• is a space for learning and change !• a group of individuals (who often represent organizations)

with different backgrounds and interests: farmers, traders, food processors, researchers, government officials, etc. !

• members come together to diagnose problems, identify opportunities and find ways to achieve their goals. They may design and implement activities as a platform, or co-ordinate activities by individual members. (ILRI-IP practice briefs, 2013)

!

‘a multi-actor configuration deliberately set up to facilitate and undertake various activities around identified agricultural innovation challenges and opportunities, at different levels in agricultural systems (e.g. village, country, sector or value chain).’ !

Kilelu et al (2013)!

" !""""

What is an R4D / MS / Innovation Platform (IP)?

• is a space for learning and change !• a group of individuals (who often represent organizations)

with different backgrounds and interests: farmers, traders, food processors, researchers, government officials, etc. !

• members come together to diagnose problems, identify opportunities and find ways to achieve their goals. They may design and implement activities as a platform, or co-ordinate activities by individual members. (ILRI-IP practice briefs, 2013)

" !""""

What is an R4D / MS / Innovation Platform (IP)?

Some functions of Innovation Platforms:!!Demand articulation – Facilitating the identification of innovation challenges and opportunities as perceived by the different stakeholders!!Institutional support – Facilitating and advocating institutional change (e.g. policy change, new business models, capacity building, etc.)!!Network brokering – Identifying and linking different actors (for instance, for scaling-out)!!Innovation process management – Coordinating interaction and facilitating negotiation and learning among different actors. !!Feedback mechanism – providing platform for evaluation and reflection (for research interventions)

adapted from: Kilelu et al (2013)

Everything is a ‘platform’…

Who is (not) involved? – organisational landscape, who’s interests

What is the purpose?

What is being done? – action

What level of operation? – local / district

Innovation platforms practice brief 12, November 20131

DefinitionsAn innovation platform is a space for learning and change. It is a group of individuals (who often represent organiza-tions) with different backgrounds and interests: farm-ers, traders, food processors, researchers, government officials etc. The members come together to diagnose problems, identify opportunities and find ways to achieve their goals. They may design and implement activities as a platform, or coordinate activities by individual members.

Key questionsInnovation platforms have become a popular way to stimulate positive change in smallholder agriculture. In principle, they bring together a range of stakeholders to identify and solve common problems. They ensure that different interests are taken into account, that stakeholders together work out solutions (brief 1).

In practice, we discover hard truths and difficult questions: Is it worth all the effort and resources? Is our context fit for innovation platforms? What is emerging from our efforts? Are we seeing in-come benefits to poor farmers? Are we seeing any changes in the way decision makers think, non-gov-ernmental organisations talk or farmers operate? If changes are occurring how do we measure them? Indeed, what do we measure? What hard evidence do we have that things are working?

“Innovation platforms are the new way to do devel-opment. Bringing different people together to jointly deal with problems avoids scientists developing solu-tions to problems that don’t exist. Many bottlenecks to development are about people – unless we use people-centred approaches we won’t overcome the bottlenecks”

“Not another innovation platform. Innovation platforms are a complete waste of time. All you guys do is end-lessly talk to one another. Where is the action? What have you achieved”?

These are two perspectives familiar to people working with innovation platforms. In the complex web of relationships that surround agricultural development, innovation platforms are a good way to get to the root of problems and can bring about real, durable change for many people.

But showing their impact is tricky: their costs are high early on and effects may be slow in com-ing, hidden under the surface, and hard to predict, measure and attribute. However, the complexity of farming systems and food security leads to the question: can we really afford to ignore apparently costly approaches such as innovation platforms just because they’re challenging?

Impact of innovation platforms

1"What"are"innova-on"pla0orms? 2"Innova-on"pla0orms"to"shape"na-onal"policy3"Research"and"innova-on"pla0orms 4"Power"dynamics"and"representa-on"in"innova-on"pla0orms 5"Monitoring"innova-on"pla0orms 6"Innova-on"pla0orms"for"agricultural"value"chain"development7"Communica-on"in"innova-on"pla0orms8"Developing"innova-on"capacity"through"innova-on"pla0orms 9"Linking"ac-on"at"different"levels"through"innova-on"pla0orms""10"Facilita-ng"innova-on"pla0orms 11"Innova-on"pla0orms"to"support"natural"resource"management""12"Impact"of"innova-on"pla0orms"

Inno

vatio

n pl

atfo

rms

prac

tice

brie

f 12,

Nov

embe

r 201

31

Def

initi

ons

An

inno

vatio

n pl

atfo

rm is

a s

pace

for

lear

ning

and

cha

nge.

It

is a

grou

p of

indi

vidu

als

(who

ofte

n re

pres

ent

orga

niza

-tio

ns) w

ith d

iffer

ent

back

grou

nds

and

inte

rest

s: fa

rm-

ers,

trad

ers,

food

pro

cess

ors,

rese

arch

ers,

gov

ernm

ent

offic

ials

etc.

The

mem

bers

com

e to

geth

er t

o di

agno

se

prob

lem

s, id

entif

y op

port

uniti

es a

nd fi

nd w

ays

to a

chie

ve

thei

r go

als.

The

y m

ay d

esig

n an

d im

plem

ent

activ

ities

as

a pl

atfo

rm, o

r co

ordi

nate

act

iviti

es b

y in

divi

dual

mem

bers

.

Key

que

stio

nsIn

nova

tion

plat

form

s ha

ve b

ecom

e a

popu

lar

way

to

stim

ulat

e po

sitiv

e ch

ange

in s

mal

lhol

der

agri

cultu

re. I

n pr

inci

ple,

the

y br

ing

toge

ther

a r

ange

of s

take

hold

ers

to id

entif

y an

d so

lve

com

mon

pro

blem

s. T

hey

ensu

re

that

diff

eren

t in

tere

sts

are

take

n in

to a

ccou

nt, t

hat

stak

ehol

ders

tog

ethe

r w

ork

out

solu

tions

(bri

ef 1

).

In p

ract

ice,

we

disc

over

har

d tr

uths

and

diff

icul

t qu

estio

ns: I

s it

wor

th a

ll th

e ef

fort

and

res

ourc

es?

Is o

ur c

onte

xt fi

t fo

r in

nova

tion

plat

form

s? W

hat

is e

mer

ging

from

our

effo

rts?

Are

we

seei

ng in

-co

me

bene

fits

to p

oor

farm

ers?

Are

we

seei

ng a

ny

chan

ges

in t

he w

ay d

ecis

ion

mak

ers

thin

k, n

on-g

ov-

ernm

enta

l org

anis

atio

ns t

alk

or fa

rmer

s op

erat

e? If

ch

ange

s ar

e oc

curr

ing

how

do

we

mea

sure

the

m?

Inde

ed, w

hat

do w

e m

easu

re? W

hat

hard

evi

denc

e do

we

have

tha

t th

ings

are

wor

king

?

“Inn

ovat

ion

plat

form

s ar

e th

e ne

w w

ay t

o do

dev

el-

opm

ent.

Brin

ging

diff

eren

t pe

ople

tog

ethe

r to

join

tly

deal

with

pro

blem

s av

oids

sci

entis

ts d

evel

opin

g so

lu-

tions

to

prob

lem

s th

at d

on’t

exis

t. M

any

bott

lene

cks

to d

evel

opm

ent

are

abou

t pe

ople

– u

nles

s w

e us

e pe

ople

-cen

tred

app

roac

hes

we

won

’t ov

erco

me

the

bott

lene

cks”

“Not

ano

ther

inno

vatio

n pl

atfo

rm. I

nnov

atio

n pl

atfo

rms

are

a co

mpl

ete

was

te o

f tim

e. Al

l you

guy

s do

is e

nd-

less

ly ta

lk to

one

ano

ther

. Whe

re is

the

actio

n? W

hat

have

you

ach

ieve

d”?

The

se a

re t

wo

pers

pect

ives

fam

iliar

to

peop

le

wor

king

with

inno

vatio

n pl

atfo

rms.

In t

he c

ompl

ex

web

of r

elat

ions

hips

tha

t su

rrou

nd a

gric

ultu

ral

deve

lopm

ent,

inno

vatio

n pl

atfo

rms

are

a go

od w

ay

to g

et t

o th

e ro

ot o

f pro

blem

s an

d ca

n br

ing

abou

t re

al, d

urab

le c

hang

e fo

r m

any

peop

le.

But

show

ing

thei

r im

pact

is t

rick

y: th

eir

cost

s ar

e hi

gh e

arly

on

and

effe

cts

may

be

slow

in c

om-

ing,

hidd

en u

nder

the

sur

face

, and

har

d to

pre

dict

, m

easu

re a

nd a

ttri

bute

. H

owev

er, t

he c

ompl

exity

of

farm

ing

syst

ems

and

food

sec

urity

lead

s to

the

qu

estio

n: c

an w

e re

ally

affo

rd t

o ig

nore

app

aren

tly

cost

ly a

ppro

ache

s su

ch a

s in

nova

tion

plat

form

s ju

st

beca

use

they

’re c

halle

ngin

g?

Impa

ct o

f inn

ovat

ion

plat

form

s

see:"hOps://cgspace.cgiar.org

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