Publications
This policy brief presents a methodology for assessing agricultural innovation systems (AIS), developed and pilot tested by FAO in the context of the Tropical Agriculture Platform, a G20 initiative to develop capacities for agricultural innovation in the tropics supported by the European Union. Using participatory, multi-stakeholder methods and tools, the assessment of a country’s AIS take stock of enabling and hindering factors in innovation processes, identifies gaps and challenges, and advices on ways to strengthen the AIS. An assessment provides evidence required for good decisions on policies, strategies and investments in the agriculture and food sector. Agriculture being a key...
This manual is a visual, practical document on good beekeeping practices for sustainable small-scale beekeepers in Africa. It has been designed to serve as a beekeeping training tool and is a concise, practical reference document. The manual opens with an illustrated story of the damaging effect of certain practices adopted when collecting wild honey (honey hunting) and aims to spark interest among readers on how to harvest honey more sustainably. The second section presents the reader with the main beekeeping equipment and explains how the tools can be used to keep healthy bees and harvest quality honey. It ends with...
Food production and consumption patterns have changed significantly in recent decades. Food supply chains have become ever more integrated and globalized. This has imposed additional constraints on the majority of small-holder farmers. The required shift from subsistence farming to more commercially-oriented farming is a slow process and often hampered by several challenges: weak management and business skills, limited ability to manage risks, the quality and quantity of production, poorly organized producers, lack of capital, poorly developed markets, and high costs of intermediaries and transactions. The publication shows how pluralistic actors in extension and advisory service (EAS) systems can support rural...
The entire EAS system, including service providers, needs to develop new capacities to listen to and respond to the needs and requirements of different categories of producers.
Agricultural research and extension systems are central to unlock the potential of agricultural innovation and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.