African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa can feed itself in a generation and can help contribute to global food security. To achieve this Africa has to define agriculture as a force in economic growth by advancing scientific and technological research, investing in infrastructure, fostering higher technical training, and creating regional markets.

Public-private partnerships are a new way of carrying out research and development (R&D) in Latin America’s agricultural sector. These partnerships spur innovation for agricultural development and have various advantages over other institutional arrangements fostering R&D. This report summarizes the experiences of a research project that analyzed 125 public-private research partnerships (PPPs) in 12 Latin American countries. The analysis indicates that several types of partnerships have emerged in response to the various needs of the different partners. Nevertheless, public-private partnerships are not always the most appropriate mechanism by which to carry out R&D and foster innovation in agriculture. Sometimes, it is more efficient to organize research via participatory projects or through research contracts.

This open access book is an important reframing of the role of innovation in agriculture. Dr. Campos and his distinguished coauthors address the need for agriculture to feed a growing global population with a reduced environmental footprint while adapting to and mitigating the effects of changing climate. The authors expand the customary discussion of innovation in terms of supply driven R&D to focus on the returns to investors and most importantly, the value to end-users. This is brought to life by exploring effective business models and many cases from agricultural systems across the globe. The focus on converting the results of innovation in R&D into adoption by farmers and other end-users is its greatest contribution. Many lessons from the book can be applied to private and public sectors across an array of agricultural systems. This book will be of enormous value to agri-business professionals, NGO leaders, agricultural and development researchers and those funding innovation and agriculture across the private and public sectors. Tony Cavalieri, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Hugo Campos, Ph.D., MBA, has 20+ years of international corporate and development experience. His distinguished coauthors represent a rich collection of successful innovation practice in industry, consultancy, international development and academy, in both developed and developing countries.”

This report reviews recent trends in agricultural innovation systems (AIS) and discusses the impact of a wide range of policies on the creation and diffusion of innovation in the agricultural and agrifood sector. It suggests a framework for ...

The scientific and technical development of any kind of germplasm is regulated by a vast network of treaties, conventions, international agreements, and national and regional legislation. These regulations govern biotechnological innovations in plants and microorganisms, access to and use of plant genetic resources, and biosafety. This complex mix has made it difficult to arrive at global interpretations, due to overlaps, gaps, ambiguities, contradictions, and lack of consistency. The big picture is even more complex, as a series of scientific developments – gene editing in particular – have in some cases rendered these international regulatory frameworks obsolete. This book puts forward an innovative approach: a “Comprehensive Plant Germplasm System”. The System is a cooperative game theory-based proposal for a binding international convention which would supersede all other conventions, treaties, national and regional legislation covering native varieties and traditional developments, heterogeneous plant varieties, microorganisms, biotechnological inventions, plant genetic resources, and biosafety regulation. In short, it offers a comprehensive framework regarding intellectual property, biosafety, and business regulation and covers all types of germplasm. If applied, the system is expected to yield higher productivity rates in crops and improved food biodiversity, as well as a new paradigm based on the promotion of innovation for “Agriculture 4.0.”

Managing the ability of agriculture to meet rising global demand and to respond to the changes and opportunities will require good policy, sustained investments, and innovation - not business as usual. Investments in public Research and Development, extension, education, and their links with one another have elicited high returns and pro-poor growth, but these investments alone will not elicit innovation at the pace or on the scale required by the intensifying and proliferating challenges confronting agriculture. Experience indicates that aside from a strong capacity in Research and Development, the ability to innovate is often related to collective action, coordination, the exchange of knowledge among diverse actors, the incentives and resources available to form partnerships and develop businesses, and conditions that make it possible for farmers or entrepreneurs to use the innovations. While consensus is developing about what is meant by 'innovation' and 'innovation system', no detailed blueprint exists for making agricultural innovation happen at a given time, in a given place, for a given result. The AIS approach that looks at these multiple conditions and relationships that promote innovation in agriculture, has however moved from a concept to a sub-discipline with principles of analysis and action. AIS investments must be specific to the context, responding to the stage of development in a particular country and agricultural sector, especially the AIS. This sourcebook contributes to identifying, designing, and implementing the investments, approaches, and complementary interventions that appear most likely to strengthen AIS and to promote agricultural innovation and equitable growth. It emphasizes the lessons learned, benefits and impacts, implementation issues, and prospects for replicating or expanding successful practices. The information in this sourcebook derives from approaches that have been tested at different scales in different contexts. It reflects the experiences and evolving understanding of numerous individuals and organizations concerned with agricultural innovation, including the World Bank. This information is targeted to the key operational staff in international and regional development agencies and national governments who design and implement lending projects and to the practitioners who design thematic programs and technical assistance packages. The sourcebook can also be an important resource for the research community and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

TECA is an FAO online platform for the exchange and sharing of agricultural technologies and practices for smallholder farmers and producers. The platform facilitates the transformation process in rural areas by making relevant and innovative technologies available to farmers in the field. In doing so, TECA further enhances the access to knowledge of smallholder producers in rural areas increasing their capacity to innovate and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This catalogue promotes a set of successful innovations for farmers on the occasion of the FAO International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers: Unlocking the potential of agricultural innovation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, which will be celebrated in FAO Headquarters on 2123 November 2018. The technologies presented are concrete actions that have solved specific development challenges and promote sustainable and inclusive rural transformations. The technologies and practices are designed following the FAOTECA platform standards and have been tested and refined in the field. Each practice supports smallholder farmers and those providing advisory services to agricultural producers, to identify specific needs, select the correct practices and to implement technologies adequately. Developed with the help of FAO in cooperation with the FAO Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and other key partners, the GIZ, ICRAF, IFOAM and Swisscontact, this catalogue aims at illustrating how sharing knowledge may unlock innovation throughout the farming process.