Science, Technology and Innovation

Technology - seeds, breeds, fertility inputs, disease control measures, water management - is clearly key to getting agriculture moving. But the impacts of extensive investment in technology development and transfer in Africa and in some parts of Asia have been patchy. With new technology options coming on-stream (e.g. biotechnologies or various sorts) and important new players in the private sector in particular, there are new challenges for the governance of technology in the agriculture sector. The old research and development extension arrangements of 20-30 years ago are not appropriate, but what is? We want to ask a number of questions:

• How can agricultural technology be made to work for the poor? What are the implications for technology choice and priority setting mechanisms?
• How are technology trajectories linked to processes of agrarian/livelihood change in different settings?
• What should be the roles of public and private sectors (both international and national) in technology development?
• How is access to technology options constrained? What alternatives exist?
• How should national/regional innovation systems look to deliver inputs for small farmers?

New Projects

The political economy of cereal seed systems: a new research theme

Backgrounder

As calls for a ‘Uniquely African Green Revolution’ gain momentum, the focus on seeds and seed systems is rising up the policy agenda. Much of the debate emphasises the technological or market dimensions, with substantial investments being made in seed improvement and the development of both public and private sector delivery systems. But there is currently much less emphasis on the wider policy dimensions – and particularly the political economy of policymaking in diverse African contexts.

Experience tells us that it is these factors that often make or break even the best designed and most well intentioned intervention. And since investment in seed improvement and supply was last emphasised as a major development priority (in the 1970s and 80s), contexts have changed. The collapse of national public sector breeding systems has been dramatic, and this has only been selectively compensated for by the entry of the private sector. Large multinational seed and agricultural supply companies are increasingly dominating the global scene, and there are many claims made about the promises of new technologies (notably transgenics) transforming the seed sector through a technological revolution. While informal breeding and seed supply systems continue to exist, and indeed have been extensively supported through NGO and other projects, they are often under pressure, as drought, corruption and conflict take their toll and economic transformation and livelihood change continues apace.

This Future Agricultures project will explore the political economy of cereal seed systems across five countries – the core FAC countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi, as well as Ghana and Zimbabwe for a wider comparison. Each country has a very different history of research and development in this area; in each setting the importance of the public or the private sector differs, with different actors and interests involved; each country has a different reliance on ‘modern’ hybrid (or sometimes biotech) varieties and associated R and D and supply systems; and each country has a different form and extent of independent informal sector, involving networks of farmer experimenters and seed bulkers and suppliers.

The focus on cereal seed systems allows the research to concentrate on a similar set of crops across the four study countries with a key influence on food security at household and national levels. Given the political reverberations of the ‘food crisis’ of 2007-08, this allows for a timely analysis of the implications of the policy processes shaping the breeding, production, marketing and distribution of cereal seeds. Whether grown for local subsistence or traded commercially, the significance of cereal crops to national politics (and so arguments about food security and sovereignty), commercial interests and local livelihoods – is likely to be profound.

Approach

Overall, an historical approach will be necessary to trace changes in the way policies have been framed, looking at the shifts in narratives about what the problem is and what should be done about it over time. Changes in the configuration of actors, their networks and associated interests will also help illuminate how contemporary policies have emerged. A basic mapping of the current situation will take place, involving interviews with key players (from government policymakers to public/private, national/international researchers to commercial sector seed suppliers and traders to farmers in different parts of the country and with different resource endowments).

This will allow the research to elaborate, first, the set of ‘narratives’ (stories about the problems and the appropriate solutions) being deployed by different people. Second, the way such actors interact and relate will be mapped, highlighting key gaps and connections. Third, the interests of different groupings will be analysed, looking at the competing power relations involved, and asking who wins, and who loses in policy formulation and its implementation. Finally, areas of contention and debate will be identified for each country setting, highlighting areas for institutional and policy development (for example, around issues of regulation, certification, priority setting and so on).

This work will be developed further at a planning workshop to be held at IDS in July 2009. A literature review and compilation of documentation is on-going. The first phase studies will be carried out until March 2010, and will be presented att the Future Agricultures annual meeting which will be held around the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development in Montpellier, France. At this stage plans for follow on work will be defined, based on key areas/themes identified in the first phase studies.

Research team

Dawit Alemu (Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research),
Kojo Amanor (Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana),
Hannington Odame (Centre for African Bio-Entrepreneurship, Nairobi)
Happy Kayuni (Department of Political Science, University of Malawi).
Phillani Zamchiya (UWC, South Africa)

The project is overseen by Ian Scoones and John Thompson (IDS).

At the July workshop, the following resource people will contribute to the discussions: Rob Tripp (independent consultant), Jim McCann (African Studies Centre, Boston), Louise Sperling (CIAT) and Geoff Tansey (independent consultant).

Pastoral innovation systems

While there has been much discussion of the importance of innovation in African agriculture, remarkably little has focused on mobile pastoral systems. Everyone agrees that science, technology and innovation must be at the centre of economic growth, livelihood improvement and development more broadly. But it must always be asked: what innovation - and for whom? Decisions about direction, diversity and distribution are key in any discussion of innovation options and wider development pathways.

This project aims to generate debate about pastoral innovation options, focusing on pastoral areas of Kenya and Ethiopia, linking insights from pastoral areas to the wider debate about science and technology in Africa.

In March 2009 over 50 pastoralists from across southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya from a dozen ethnic groups gathered in the Borana lowlands at the ‘University of the Bush’ to debate key pastoral development issues. This week-long event was hosted by the Oromia Pastoralist Association and organised by the Democracy, Growth and Peace for Pastoralists project of the Pastoralist Communication Initiative. Intense and animated discussions took place under the trees next to a tented camp established in the Gujji pastoral area. The Future Agricultures Consortium was represented by Ian Scoones of IDS and Andrew Adwera of African Centre for Technology Studies based in Kenya.

A new FAC publication documenting the results of this workshop is now available. Xxxlinkxxx

Together with partners in Ethiopia and Kenya, the Science, Technology and Innovation theme of the Future Agricultures Consortium is committed to continuing the conversations started at this workshop. A next step will be to bring together pastoralists and their informal innovation networks with those formally charged with research and development and science and technology policy working in the respective countries and internationally. Discussions are underway around links with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) based in Nairobi and Addis Ababa. The on-going work on pastoral innovation systems aims to bridge some of the gaps identified in the March 2009 workshop, and forge new alliances and networks generating innovation in pastoral areas which really makes a difference to pastoralists themselves.

New FAC Occasional Paper: "Pastoral Innovation Systems: Perspectives from Ethiopia and Kenya"

Find additional pastoralist resources at Pastoralist Communication Initiative

NEW PUBLICATION

From SOS Sahel International UK comes Planning with Uncertainty: Using Scenario Planning with African Pastoralists

Further Reading

Pastoral Innovation Systems: Perspectives from Ethiopia and Kenya

DFID Science and Innovation Strategy Consultation

S. Omamo, 2005, 'Agricultural Science and Technology Policy for Growth and Poverty Reduction', A keynote paper prepared for the conference on Emerging Issues in Agriculture and the Role of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, 75th Anniversary Meeting of the IAAE, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, October 7-9, 2005

SOS Sahel International UK publishes a booklet on ' scenario planning' as a way to help pastoralists in Africa manage uncertainty and change. See:Planning with Uncertainty: Using Scenario Planning with African Pastoralists