الموارد
Partners of the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) met in Kigali (Rwanda) to review the progress made in the implementation of the TAP Action Plan in general, and of the EU-funded Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems (CDAIS) project in particular, as well as to approve the TAP Common Framework and the Work Plan for 2016. More than 50 participants - from 25 TAP Partners organizations and implementing partners of the CDAIS project - took part in the meeting, which was held in in Rwanda's Capital, Kigali, and lasted three days, from 19 to 21 January 2016.
During the meeting the Common Framework was approved for its use...
IARBIC, an FAO supported project to intensify agriculture in Niger, has won the first prize in the competition for the “Best Sustainable Development Practices (BSDPs)” of the EXPO Milano 2015. The ceremony has taken place on July 6, 2015, at the Auditorium in Palazzo Italia with concluding remarks given by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture Maurizio Martina. During the ceremony, a video was projected showcasing IARBIC’s main goals and achievements. The project aimed at increasing agricultural production in Niger by facilitating access to innovative forms of financing and to quality fertilizers.
The "Best Sustainable Development Practices"...
FAO's Research and Extension Unit, headed by Karin Nichterlein, will be FAO's technical focal point for the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between FAO and three of Italy’s main research institutions in the areas of food, environment and technology. The purpose of the MoU, signed in Rome on the 23 June 2015, is to provide a framework for collaboration with the overall goal of assisting developing countries in enhancing the sustainability of the food production and nutrition.
Through this new partnership, countries will benefit from the expertise of Italy's National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR), the Council for...
Two members of FAO's Research and Extension Unit (Karin Nichterlein and Andrea Sonnino) have co-authored with two additional experts in agricultural innovation (Philipp Aerni and Stephen Rudgard) an article that has been recently published on the journal "Sustainability". The paper provides a summary of the results obtained from three regional needs assessments of Capacity Development (CD) initiatives undertaken by the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) and its partners. Established by the G20 and facilitated by FAO's Research and Extension Unit, TAP is a multilateral dynamic facilitation mechanism, which fosters better coherence and greater impact of capacity development for agricultural innovation systems in tropical...
Insights Based on Assessments of Strengths and Weaknesses of the AIS in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey
This publication represents a synthesis of assessments of national agricultural innovation systems in countries of Central Asia, South Caucasus and Turkey.
Occasional papers on Innovation in Family Farming
This paper provides a summary of the results obtained from three regional needs assessments of Capacity Development (CD) initiatives undertaken by the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) and its partners. The surveyed tropical regions were Southeast Asia, Central America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings reveal a mismatch in all three regions between the external supply of primarily individual CD and the actual demand for institutional CD.
This collection of materials contains:
- The farm business school: One-day orientation programme presents the training concept to policy-makers and programme managers
- Seven-day orientation programme prepares facilitators to set up and run farm business schools
- The handbook outlines the scope of the farm business school programme
- Training exercises manual provides the working exercises for the training programme
The study reflects on previous World Bank and FAO reports that made the general recommendation to set both research and extension investment targets in developing countries at 1% of agricultural gross domestic product (AgGDP). In order to define proxies for country-specific extension investment targets, authors developed an extension investment model (EIM) based on socio-economic macro-indicators (poverty, undernourishment, access to information and population density) and a method to define estimates for cost increases related to climate change.
Rural advisory services (RAS) can play an important role in addressing gender inequalities. However, RAS programmes have often fallen short of expectations to design and implement relevant services to help rural women and men achieve food security and generate more income. This paper is based on an examination of a broad selection of existing literature on gender-sensitive RAS. It looks at gender-differentiated barriers in access to RAS and explores the challenges of effectively targeting women family farmers when delivering these services.
The Farmer Field School (FFS) approach has been very successful and witnessed a strong expansion in many areas beyond crop production. Notwithstanding this success, the adoption of FFS in national extension often remains problematic and FFS activities have often been implemented in the margin of national institutions with strong reliance on donor funding. The creation of an enabling environment for institutional support is essential for expanding the effort, improving quality, and strengthening impact and continuity of the FFSs. This paper aims to analyse opportunities, challenges and implications of institutionalizing FFS at the national level.
Occasional papers on Innovation in Family...