Technology and Innovation - Background Resources
Governing Technologies
Research is critical to the future of agricultural development in Africa.
But what sort of research and for whom? In the past, inappropriate framings
of problems and solutions have combined with limited field capacity and
poorly functioning innovation systems. This has meant that the diverse
livelihood pathways and agricultural technology demands of poor agriculturalists
and pastoralists in Africa have often not been served by current arrangements
for agricultural innovation. With the current policy debate about agricultural
research and technology development so couched in "rational"
technical and economic terms, there has been little scope to debate the
wider social and political ramifications of new ways of organising, funding
and governing agricultural research and development.
See Further Reading
Science and Technology as a Focus of Policy Attention
Science and technology (S and T) in agriculture are once again a focus
for policy attention. Many argue that a way out of the current productivity
bind – particularly in Africa – is to invest in technology development.
The Green Revolution in Asia in the 1960s and 70s is often referred to
as a model, with the need to invest in (re)building scientific capacity,
particularly in Africa. Thus the Commission for Africa argued for up to
$3 billion over a decade earmarked investment particularly in building
regional ‘centres of excellence’ across the continent. Similarly,
the Millennium Project’s reports both on S and T and on hunger both
agreed that technological advances were key to meeting MDG goals. A joint
UK-Canada report on science and technology has also recommended that significant
donor funds for Africa are pushed towards technology development and building
capacity of African science institutions. African organisations, such
as NEPAD and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa also argue
for a revitalisation of African R and D capacity in agriculture. Meanwhile,
the UK’s Department for International Development is busy preparing
a new science and innovation strategy in parallel with new announcements
for investing significant research funds in ‘ecoregional’ hubs
for agricultural research, again focusing on Africa.
Such policy activity is unprecedented. Not since the hey-day of the 1970s when technological change was seen to be the core driver of developmental advances has S and T policy seen such a profile. While many assessments have shown the positive returns to investment in agricultural research, the causal relationships and the contexts for positive impacts are not always clear. An assessment of CGIAR investments and their livelihood impacts showed just how complex these relationships are. Reviews of the CGIAR system as a whole following its 30 year anniversary have equally shown some significant advances, but also some slow or limited wins.
While the argument that S and T is essential to turning African agriculture
around has been largely won, exactly what this should involve remains
a subject of much debate. In the context of the country work of the Future
Agricultures consortium, the teams will be asking what works well where
and why? Should new funds be invested in regional centres of technical
excellence, attracting diaspora expertise back to the continent? Should
new funds be pumped into the international research system, with the CGIAR
centres expected to come up with big impact spill-over technologies? Or
should money be spent on rebuilding the crumbling research and extension
infrastructure and personnel base at a national level? Or are there other
options, outside the conventional institutional routes, that bring in
alternative expertise – and particularly farmers’ own innovation
experience – into revitalised innovation systems that cut across
public/state, private/corporate and community/farmer led processes? With
the funds being promised – most recently at the 2nd African Ministerial
Conference on Science and Technology in Dakar - the debate is now on.
See Further Reading
Further Reading
Governing Technologies
'Governing Technology Development: Challenges
for Agricultural Research in Africa', I. Scoones, IDS Bulletin,
Vol 36, No 2, 2005
'The Family
Farm in a Globalizing World: The Role of Crop Science in Alleviating Poverty',
M. Lipton, 2020 IFPRI Policy Brief 74, 2005
'Key Challenges for Technology Development
and Agricultural Research in Africa', M. Jones, IDS Bulletin,
Vol 36, No 2, 2005
Human
and Social Capital in the Diffusion of Low External Input Agriculture,
ODI, Rural Policy and Governance Group website
'Does
Low External Input Agriculture Reach the Poor?', ID21 Research Highlight
Science and Technology as a Focus of Policy Attention
Making Science and Technology Work for the Poor. A speech by Ian Scoones at a Brighton festival event, Brighton, UK, May 2006.
'Science
Capacity 'Imperative' for Africa's Development', David Dickson, SciDevNet,
March 2005
UN
Millennium Project Task Force Reports
'Partnerships
for Building Science and Technology Capacity in Africa: Canadian and UK
Experience', Joanna Chataway, James Smith and David Wield, Paper prepared
for the Africa–Canada–UK Exploration: Building Science and Technology
Capacity with African Partners, 30 January – 1 February 2005, Canada
House, London
The New Partnership for
Africa's Development (NEPAD)
Forum for Agricultural
Research in Africa
DFID Current
Research
'Research
Returns Redux: A Meta-Analysis of the Returns to Agricultural R&D',
Julian M. Alston, Michele C. Marra, Philip G. Pardey, and T. J. Wyatt,
EPTD Discussion Paper No. 38, 1998, Washington DC: IFPRI
IFPRI
Papers on Impact of Agricultural Research on Poverty
'The
CGIAR at 31:An Independent Meta-Evaluation of the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research', Carl K. Eicher and Mandivamba
Rukuni, The World Bank Operations Evaluation Department, 2003
'Policies
to Strengthen the Capacity of Agricultural Innovation Systems in Developing
Countries', Project Coordinator: Dr Andy Hall, United Nations University
2nd
African Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology, SciDevNet
Report
