Suchergebnisse

This study is designed to understand the existing formal and informal social networks among re-settlers in Ethiopia. Its main purpose is to explore the extent and gender implica¬tions of women's participation in different social networks. The study aims to identify options for enhancing the role and sustainability of these social networks for promoting agricultural innovation in the Metema resettlement site in Ethiopia. Using multistage sampling procedure, the study is based on the selection of 2 out of 18 Peasant As¬sociations (PAs) in the district, and on a random sample of 160 households. The results show significant variations between previous and recent settlers, and between male and female headed households in terms of membership in different social networks. Relatives, friends and neighbors are the most important source of information and mutual support; and of influential networks in the adoption and diffusion process in the study area. The study recommends for government and NGOs to provide genuine support to social networks, to strengthen their organization, and to promote community based self help groups.

Forage development is one of the strategies to address feed scarcity and low livestock productivity in Ethiopia. In line with government strategy, multiple actors took part in a forage development programme for six years (2004–09) in Alaba Special District, in southern Ethiopia. This paper analyses the six-year forage development programme, comparing its two phases, from an innovation systems perspective to identify best practices. The study shows that key forage innovative practices are: targeting innovative forage farmers, developing local forages, establishing private forage sources, forage promotion and diversifying capacity building. These best practices can be scaled up and out to address feed scarcity and increase livestock productivity.

L'une des évolutions les plus notables en matière de développement agricole est la manière dont la réflexion dans ce domaine s'intéresse davantage aux systèmes d'innovation plutôt qu'à la recherche en elle-même. Le problème récurrent de la pénurie de fourrage : bétail dans le nord du Nigeria. Une des principales critiques adressée à la recherche agricole, et exprimée par toute une génération de praticiens du développement rural et de penseurs systémiques, est que la recherche ne parvient pas à répondre aux besoins en constante évolution des agriculteurs. Ils soulignent également que si la recherche est un moteur de développement des technologies, l'adoption de celles-ci sur le terrain reste faible. Le centrage sur l'innovation plutôt que sur la recherche a pour avantage de mettre plus fortement l'accent sur l'application des connaissances et des technologies plutôt que sur la simple production de celles-ci. Même si cette logique est de plus en plus largement acceptée au sein du monde de la recherche sur le développement, il semble qu'il reste encore à définir comment la notion de système d'innovation peut être traduite dans la pratique. Le challenge à ce niveau est la nature, extrêmement spécifique au contexte, des capacités à développer. Les chercheurs explorent actuellement divers moyens de favoriser le développement de ces capacités spécifiques au contexte.

Ethiopia has a diverse agro-ecology suitable for growing various temperate and tropical fruits. However, the area under fruits is very limited. The limited development of the fruit sector in the country could be attributed to input supply constraints, limited skilled manpower and extension approaches, and focus of agricultural development efforts on grain production, amongst others. The current government's policy and development strategy prioritize intensive production and commercialization of agriculture, including fruit production. In an effort to support this change, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) initiated a 5-year project with financial assistance from Canada, called Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian farmers. IPMS follows participatory value chain and innovation system perspectives and focuses on knowledge-based development of identified agricultural commodities with market potential in ten pilot learning 'weredas' (districts) in four regional states. One of the 'weredas' is Metema, where the project introduced banana (Musa spp.) production. The objective of this study is to share IPMS experiences in promoting innovation in banana value chain development in Metema 'wereda'. The study provides a brief history of banana introduction in Ethiopia, describes the value chain in banana production, and input supply, marketing and the various innovations that have been introduced to develop the chain, with a focus on actors and action-learning processes. We highlight the future outlooks on the banana value chain, the reasons for successful adoption of innovations and the options to sustain it so that the value chain can respond to changing conditions. ; Canadian International Development Agency

Ethiopia has a diverse agro-ecology and sufficient surface and ground water resources, suitable for growing various temperate and tropical fruits. Although various tropical and temperate fruits are grown in the lowland/midland and highland agro-ecologies, the area coverage is very limited. For example, banana export increased from less than 5,000 tons in 1961 to 60,000 tons in 1972, but in 2003 declined to about 1,300 tons worth less than USD 350,000. The limited development of fruit sector in the country could be attributed to constraints such as limited inputs, skilled manpower and extension approaches and, focus of agricultural development efforts on grain production amongst others. The current government's policy and development strategy prioritizes intensive production and commercialization of agriculture, including fruit production. In an effort to support this change, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) initiated a five-year project with financial assistance from Canada, called improving productivity and market success (IPMS) of Ethiopian farmers. IPMS follows participatory value chain and innovation systems perspectives and focuses on knowledge-based development of identified agricultural commodities with market potential in 10 pilot learning weredas (districts) in four regional states. One of the weredas is Metema where the project introduced banana production. The objective of this paper is to share IPMS experiences in promoting innovation in banana value chain development in Metema wereda. The paper provides a brief history of banana introduction in Ethiopia, describes the value chain in banana production, input supply and marketing and the various innovations that have been introduced to develop the chain, with a focus on actors and action learning processes. The future outlooks of banana value chain and the reasons for the successful adoption of the innovation and the options to sustain it so that the value chain can respond to changing conditions are highlighted. ; Canadian International Development Agency

This paper examines how women's participation in family decision-making is affected by land rights in rural areas in India. The 2005 Hindu Succession Act was legislated to protect women's rights to an equal share in ancestral property, including land. Using a unique rural household survey from Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal where female enumerators were employed to interview female participants, we find that only 3% of the 8,000 rural households randomly selected in those four states have their land registered under women's names. Controlling for the potential endogeneity of land title ownership, we find that women's land title ownership has positive effects on their participation in decisions about farming, livelihood, and household activities. Using state leveldisaggregated data, however, we find that the signs and magnitudes of the impacts differ across the four states whose social and economic norms are diverse.