Of Successful Scaling of Agricultural Technologies

Frontiers in sustainable food systems, 2023

Innovation pathways can be defined as a sequence of innovation, going to scale, and implementation at sustainable scale, where innovation is a new product, service or systems change not previously introduced in a specific context. They can take the form of new products or services, institutions, or systems change. Such pathways can play a lead role in transforming agri-food systems in low-and middle-income countries. To get us to our global goals, these pathways have to lead to impact at a scale that matches the size of the challenge. Unfortunately, while there are many proposals in the published and gray literature for integrated, transformative approaches to innovation pathways, few have yet either gone to scale or been implemented sustainably at large scale. Here we assess whether there is evidence to support these proposals about how agricultural innovation pathways should be pursued. In this paper we identify from the literature and case studies potentially key factors for advancing scaling along the innovation pathway: participation, inclusion, leadership, iteration, adaptation, the specific attributes of innovation design, funding models, implementation models, systems change, and partnerships. We test these factors against a collection of innovation and scaling case studies from Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia. While the cases are somewhat limited in their quantitative measures of successful implementation at scale, the qualitative evidence presented in the cases confirms both the general importance of these factors in action and that their importance varies depending on the innovation and context. While confirmation of the importance of these factors is not surprising in itself, we also demonstrate their specific design and implementation (or absence) in di erent contexts, how each element contributes to success at large scale, and actionable examples to be applied in practice. The paper concludes that integrating these factors will likely require changes to traditional approaches to development, innovation and scaling in agri-food systems. Specifically advancing along an innovation pathway to large scale will require a commitment of greater resources over longer time horizons. In the absence of greater overall resources, this implies focusing on fewer innovations at each phase and a greater appetite for risk and failure in individual cases, suggesting adoption of a portfolio rather than a project approach in evaluating success. This may lead to more unsuccessful individual e orts, but those will be o set by a few transformative successes which will change the lives of hundreds of millions, if not billions.

2010

Anyone may use the innovations described here and modify or develop them further, provided that the modified or further developed innovations or any follow-up innovations, of which the innovations described here are an element, are likewise freely available and any description of them includes this proviso and acknowledges the source of information.

2012

This thesis is concerned with development of improved management practices in indigenous chicken production systems in a research process that includes participatory approaches with smallholder farmers and other stakeholders in Kenya. The research process involved a wide range of activities that included on-station experiments, field surveys, stakeholder consultations in workshops, seminars and visits, and on-farm farmer participatory research to evaluate the effect of some improved management interventions on production performance of indigenous chickens. The participatory research was greatly informed from collective experiences and lessons of the previous activities. The on-station studies focused on hatching, growth and nutritional characteristics of the indigenous chickens. Four research publications from these studies are included in this thesis. Quantitative statistical analyses were applied and they involved use of growth models estimated with non-linear regressions for the growth characteristics, chi-square determinations to investigate differences among different reciprocal crosses of indigenous chickens and general linear models and covariance determination for the nutrition study. The on-station studies brought greater understanding of performance and production characteristics of indigenous chickens and the influence of management practices on these characteristics. The field surveys and stakeholder consultations helped in understanding the overarching issues affecting the productivity of the indigenous chickens systems and their place in the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. These activities created strong networking opportunities with stakeholders from a wide spectrum. The on-farm farmer participatory research involved selection of 200 farmers in five regions followed by training and introduction of interventions on improved management practices which included housing, vaccination, deworming and feed supplementation. Implementation and monitoring was mainly done by individual farmers continuously for close to one and half years. Six quarterly iv visits to the farms were made by the research team to monitor and provide support for ongoing project activities. The data collected has been analysed for 5 consecutive 3-monthly periods. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyse the data collected involving treatment applications, production characteristics and flock demography characteristics. Out of the 200 farmers initially selected, 173 had records on treatment applications and flock demography characteristics while 127 farmers had records on production characteristics. The demographic analysis with a dissimilarity index of flock size produced 7 distinct farm groups from among the 173 farms. Two of these farm groups were represented in similar numbers in each of the five regions. The research process also involved a number of dissemination and communication strategies that have brought the process and project outcomes into the domain of accessibility by wider readership locally and globally. These include workshops, seminars, field visits and consultations, local and international conferences, electronic conferencing, publications and personal communication via emailing and conventional posting. A number of research and development proposals were also developed based on the knowledge and experiences gained from the research process. The thesis captures the research process activities and outcomes in 8 chapters which include in ascending orderintroduction, theoretical concepts underpinning FPR, research methodology and process, on-station research output, FPR descriptive statistical analysis, FPR inferential statistical analysis on production characteristics, FPR demographic analysis and conclusions. Various research approaches both quantitative and qualitative have been applied in the research process indicating the possibilities and importance of combining both systems for greater understanding of issues being studied. In our case, participatory studies of the improved management of indigenous chickens indicates their potential importance as livelihood assets for poor people. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis has been written under very difficulty circumstances, which by all means looked insurmountable, occasioned mainly by a lack of requisite funding for the purpose. Inevitably, it has taken a longer time than originally anticipated. However, despite the difficulties, it has been possible to produce it largely due to the support I received from many people. Their sympathy, understanding and forbearance were beyond my expectation. They sustained my determination and kept me going even when it seemed a hopeless endeavour. I will never forget their great gesture of kindness that was beyond measure. Just to mention a few of these people, I would like to extend my gratitude to first of all my supervisor, Professor Roger Mead at the school of Applied Statistics who through sheer happenstance, made arrangements for me to be registered for the PhD study. I met Professor Mead in Kenya during a workshop on statistical methods in on-farm experimentations and we managed to visit one of my indigenous chickens project groups together. Much appreciation is also extended to my supervisors at the department of International and Rural Development, Dr Patricia Norrish (now retired) and Derek Shepherd, my great mentors. These were my 'guardian angels'. Without them, I doubt if I might have lived the dream. Many thanks to other people, so many to mention, at both the Applied Statistics and IRDD for their great support and encouragement. I also thank the many friends I met along my long journey for their company and support in many different ways. Photograph 3.8. Laying nests with eggs laid by indigenous chickens in a farm in Scheme village, Bahati Region (3), Kenya…………………………… xxiii LIST OF BOXES Box 3.1. On-station research reports and publications……………………………. Box 3.2. Coverage of field visits and consultations……………………………….. Box 3.3. Collaborative projects between KARI and Universities in Kenya………. Box 3.4. Participatory strategic approach to development of improved indigenous poultry systems in East Africa……………………………… Box 3.5: Case study showing how harnessing of a local resource (indigenous chickens) can uplift livelihoods………………………………………. Box 3.6. Perceived benefits from the indigenous chicken participatory research process……………………………………………………………………. Box 3.7. Email messages communication on international conferences where indigenous chickens research work was presented………………………… Box 3.8. Email messages about the 2 nd FAO/INFPD electronic conference on Family Poultry Production-July 2002………………………….… Box 3.9. Publications and reports from the whole research process………………. Box 3.10. Newsletter communication on indigenous chicken research…………… Box 3.11. Email messages requesting indigenous chicken research Information………………………………………………………………………… Box 3.12. Research and development proposals on indigenous chickens………… Box 5.1: Indigenous chicken project improved intervention options and how they were adapted by farmers……………………………………………. xxiv LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 3.1: Box 3.1-Research reports and publications from the on-station research activities…………………………………………………… Appendix 3.2: Box 3.2-Categories of organisations and institutions covered during the field visits and consultation process…………………………... Appendix 3.3: Box 3.3-Examples of collaborative projects on indigenous chickens between KARI and Universities in Kenya………………………………..

Policymakers and practitioners involved in research and development often think about innovation related to sustainable agriculture and food security as the natural outcome of best practices. However, when looking more closely at scaling of innovations it tends to be an unpredictable, complex process, depending on the interaction between the ‘DNA’ of the innovation and the context within which it is taking place. This policy brief presents a summary of the results of a two year strategic research project ‘Innovation systems and scaling in practice’ which was executed by Wageningen UR.

African smallholder farmers continuously seek to improve their agricultural enterprise, to improve their food security and to increase their income by making more efficient use of their assets. Farmers have to adapt to continuous, often unforeseen and sudden, changes in their production and marketing environments, and this requires ongoing innovation. Research Into Use (RIU), a DFID-funded programme, explored different approaches for promoting innovation in agriculture.

Agricultural Systems, 2020

Research for development (R4D) projects increasingly engage in multi-stakeholder innovation platforms (IPs) as an innovation methodology, but there is limited knowledge of how the IP methodology spreads from one context to another. That is, how experimentation with an IP approach in one context leads to it being succesfully replicated in other contexts. To inspire development actors to consider the fit of an innovation methodology for a context, following work on anchoring for scaling, we developed a framework for networking-, methodological, and institutional anchoring and applied it to a R4D IP in order to test the value of such an anchoring approach for understanding the scaling of innovation methodologies such as IP. We selected a R4D project with a Farmer Research Group-Innovation Platform in Ethiopia, whose technical output and methodological approach were greatly appreciated by the actors involved. Using the anchoring framework, the executed or non-executed tasks were identified. Besides, the embedding of the methodological experiment the potential up-scaling and outscaling were systematically analyzed. The analysis yielded the strengths and weaknesses of the anchoring work done so far to scale the innovation methodology used, and provided concrete suggestions of how to proceed if an innovation project considers 'going to scale'. We recommend R4D projects to valorize their work and pay more explicit attention to anchoring. With a flexible, multi-pronged anchoring approach and continuous scanning of the progress made in context, more R4D projects and their associated innovation methodologies can 'go to scale'.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a CGIAR Research Center established in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI's strategic research aims to foster a climate-resilient and sustainable food supply; promote healthy diets and nutrition for all; build inclusive and efficient markets, trade systems, and food industries; transform agricultural and rural economies; and strengthen institutions and governance. Gender is integrated in all the Institute's work. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components to translate IFPRI's research from action to impact. The Institute's regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.

Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 2009

Review by Nicholas Babin Agricultural research and extension has recently returned to a priority place in the world of international development. Donors are underwriting massive new investments with attention increasingly focused on the food security of small-scale, resource-poor farmers. As foundations, governments, educational institutions and NGO's design their models of agricultural research and development they would do well to take into account the lessons and insights that this excellent edited volume compiles. Farmer First Revisited is the latest by-product of a twenty year project documenting and evaluating participatory approaches to and methods of agricultural development. The project began in 1987 with the original Farmer First workshop that resulted in an edited volume of the same name. This was followed up with the 1992 workshop and associated volume, Beyond Farmer First. In this, the third installment, editors Scoones and Thompson have followed a similar formula to the two previous works, pulling together key papers from the workshop in order to offer a critical assessment of the role of farmers in agricultural research and development.

Journal of Agricultural Studies, 2015

Indigenous chicken production system has long been characterised by low productivity due to among other factors, poor management, inadequate and poor feeding regime, poor (or lack) of disease control measures, poor hygiene, inappropriate housing, negative attitudes, lack of technical knowledge and lack of institutional support in terms of policy and infrastructure. This research was carried out to evaluate effects of improved management practices on performance of indigenous chickens at farm level and consequences for farmer participation in the implementation of research activities. The research involved 200 farmers in five regions in three counties. Four villages were selected per region and10 farms in each village. Interventions housing, feed supplementation, vaccination and deworming were implemented by farmers and monitoring and evaluation carried out. Farmers used own local inputs in implementing the project interventions and recorded various project activities and outputs. Th...

The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 2009