South-South Learning Program Supports Innovation for Competitiveness in African Agriculture
Agricultural productivity is at the heart of development in Africa. Hence the pressing need to promote agricultural innovation systems.
African agriculture faces many challenges, including low crop yields, decreasing soil fertility, and a growing population to feed. The problems have only been worsened by the recent food crisis and the negative effects of climate change. To overcome this challenge, African farmers and firms will have to find new and better ways of growing and commercializing their crops if they want to compete successfully in global markets. And in many African countries, competitiveness based on agricultural innovation is often critical for economic well-being.
Providing a Platform for Sharing Knowledge at a Distance
South-South knowledge sharing has become a preferred method of learning - it is a way that countries can seek solutions from other countries with similar experiences. The usefulness of this approach became even more apparent in the wake of the recent financial crisis as policymakers began searching for new approaches to improve their competitiveness.
In response, the World Bank Institute stepped in to offer a series of videoconference dialogues for African countries. The first of these, on October 29, 2009, discussed the findings from a World Bank publication Agribusiness and Innovation Systems in Africa.
The book analyzes how agricultural innovation arose in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda - including the interdependence of agribusiness, public policy, and specific value chains for food staples, high-value products, and livestock. Experts and decision makers from government and business in the 4 countries traded insights and recommendations with World Bank staff. A new system for nurturing innovation was high on the agenda.
"The Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) framework is being seen increasingly as a very useful way of analyzing and understanding the extraordinarily complex group of actors and interactions needed for agricultural innovation and growth," says Dr. Monty Jones, Executive Secretary of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).
Authors from the 4 countries explained the concept of AIS and how different countries could adapt it to their needs. Citing examples of success and failure - what works, what doesn’t, and why - they made recommendations on how each country might move forward.
"These videoconferences are a unique platform for sharing experiences among countries and experts, and to start a dialogue on different topics and issues surrounding agricultural innovation systems," says WBI Director Bruno Laporte.
Fostering Communities of Practice and Promoting AIS
Another objective of this program is to help develop local institutional capacity and networks of practitioners, both within countries and among countries, and to build on emerging initiatives such as the Kenyan Network on Agricultural Innovation Systems.
"The AIS approach goes beyond traditional sources of innovation such as research and development, extension service, or education and training," said Riikka Rajalahti, Senior Agricultural Specialist at the World Bank. It emphasizes that the ability to innovate relates also to collective, joint action to enhance knowledge flows, and collaboration between the different actors of the system."
Finally, because of agriculture’s fundamental role in Africa’s economic well-being, boosting productivity is critical. "Agricultural productivity is at the heart of development in Africa," says Karen Brooks, World Bank Sector Manager for Agriculture and Rural Development in Africa. "Hence the pressing need to promote agricultural innovation systems."
Related Links
Publications
- Knowledge, Technology, and Cluster-Based Growth in Africa
- Promoting Agricultural Innovation Systems Approach: The Way Forward
- Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to Go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems
- Knowledge and Innovation for Competitiveness in Brazil
- Promoting Enterprise-Led Innovation in China
- Enhancing Agricultural Innovation (Spanish) Incentivar la innovacion agricola: How to Go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems
Forum
