Innovation Systems approach for agricultural

transformation

Ranjitha PuskurPresented to the Oromiya BoARD

26 July 2007Addis Ababa

Overview of the presentation

What is innovation?What is an Innovation system?What does innovation capacity

entail?What is Innovation systems

approach and what is its added value?

Implications for extension

What is innovation?Change in practices, in the

established way of doing things – technological, organisational, institutional

Use of new knowledge or new use of existing knowledge and its application for social and/or economic use

What is innovation? Indigenous knowledge of one community may

become an innovation for another community

Can be induced or self-initiated

Radical or incremental

Often a continuous process

Can be triggered in many ways – market, knowledge, resource, policy

What is Innovation? Process of not only creating knowledge,

but making it available and putting it into use Combine different sources of knowledge Can be a new idea or a novel combination

of existing approaches/knowledge Process relies on interaction between

different sources of knowledge Networks of diverse stakeholders

important

What is Innovation? Institutions (working practices)

determine the extent to which they can engage in interactive processes

Wider policy and institutional environment shapes process through incentives and norms

Innovation…. It involves putting ideas, knowledge and

technology to work in a manner that brings about a significant improvement in performance

It is not just an idea – but rather an idea that has been made to work

Innovation…. It can involve “a better way to do

an old thing” or “a better thing to do”

Not just doing the right thing, but doing it in the right way and continuously assessing how well it is done

If new technology is simply delivered, innovation will not necessarily take place

Technology needs to be integrated with other sources of knowledge (farmers, market etc) to allow it to be used in locally relevant ways

Innovation…. Innovation is a requirement- not just a

nice to have, but a necessity It is not just about science and

technology, it is about people, relationships, processes and resources

It is both technological and social (organizational and behavioral)

Can be focused on incremental change or on breakthroughs

Innovation is a social process involving many different actors

Innovation processes can be enhanced by creating more possibilities for actors to interact

Emphasis is on getting the right actors together and getting them to work in certain way

Concern here is with finding practical ways and means of improving these systems

Innovation is not about hiring an Einstein or creating a slogan. Everybody is capable of it, and the first sign that it is happening is when people work together, excited because they want to be there, focused on finding a solution to a challenge they all understand (Smit 2000)

Why is innovation important?

Economic improvement is largely a result of the application of knowledge in productive activities and the associated adjustments in social institutions

Innovation and technology are also needed to transform countries from reliance on the exploitation of natural resources to technological innovation as the basis for development.

What is an Innovation system?a network of all public and private

sector organizations, enterprises, and individuals involved in the process of knowledge creation, dissemination, adoption/adaptation and use, together with the institutions and policies that affect their behavior and performance.

AIS

Partnerships form the core.. Purpose

knowledge sharing Constraints, Opportunities, Technology,

production contexts, market conditions Outputs

learning development and deployment of new

products and processes social and economic change

IS Perspective Technologies alone not enough to bring

about innovation Multiple sources of innovation Partnerships are vital for innovation Service delivery systems and capacity to

innovate are critical in defining the innovation process

Roles and interactions of diverse agents => Knowledge exchange, technological and institutional change

What is Innovation capacity?

capacity in the sense of the nature and patterns of linkages and interaction and the ways of working, mechanisms of governance and the policy environment needed to bring about pro-poor innovation

capacity to respond to changing conditions (production, marketing, policy etc)

2 elements of Innovation capacity

patterns of partnership between scientific, developmental, service delivery organizations and poor farmers and the way this can lead to collective investigation, design and use of location specific technologies, agricultural practices and institutional arrangements.

the new skills and insights that farmers, NGOs, market actors, service delivery agencies and scientists get from each other when they interact through partnerships.

What is Innovation capacity?

increasingly what is required is not generic technical solutions to agricultural problems, but instead local capacities to identify problems and develop solutions

this does not mean that farmers can solve all their problems themselves. Rather that there is a need to embed farmers in a network of supportive partnerships so they can draw knowledge from others, and combine this with their own and generate innovations in farm practice

the most important implication for policy of this is that common ways of promoting innovation in farm practice such as technology transfer need to be supplemented by approaches which focus on developing rural innovation capacity in this more holistic sense

Innovation capacity depends on..

Social and institutional arrangements to mobilise different sorts of knowledge that create novelty on a continuous basis

Knowledge support arrangements that are flexible, relevant, responsive and multi-organisational

Institutional arrangements and partnership patterns which should be continuously adjusting through learning and in response to changing circumstances

Innovation capacity development is highly context specific and needs to be built in a locally relevant manner

Need for new habits and practices that promote the behaviour needed to sustain the above

There are no ‘optimal’ arrangements, but only ‘adaptive’

Nature of innovation and innovation capacity

Research is an important component—but not always the central component—of innovation

In the contemporary agricultural sector, competitiveness depends on collaboration for innovation

Social and environmental sustainability are integral to economic success and must be reflected in interventions

The market is not sufficient to promote interaction—the public sector has a central role to play

Nature of innovation and innovation capacity

Interventions are essential for building the capacity and fostering the learning that enable a sector to respond to continuous competitive challenges

The organization of rural stakeholders is a central development concept. It is a common theme in innovation systems development and in numerous agricultural and rural development efforts

Actors that are critical for coordinating innovation systems at the sector level are either overlooked or missing

A wide set of attitudes and practices must be cultivated to foster a culture of innovation

The enabling environment is a key component of innovation capacity.

Example of innovation processes and partnerships

BananaMetema

Innovation triggers

•Mainly market and knowledge triggers

Roles of Actors and linkages Government, an important player

Training support, planning, farmer mobilisation

Increasing role of private sector Increasingly into input supply and

service provision No role of financial sector (credit) so far Co-ordinating bodies for co-ordinating

and managing linkages??

Roles of Actors and linkages Research

Training, technology provision, technical support, monitoring

Extension Farmer mobilisation, technical backstopping

External agents (IPMS) Boundary spanning, facilitation of training,

access to technology and technical support, market linkage facilitation

Actor roles.. Varying roles over time, multiple roles

Farmers becoming input suppliers External agents like IPMS played a

catalytic role initially, but government and farmers are taking the lead subsequently

Increasing knowledge and experience exchange between farmers

Market information???

Forage development in Alamata – Actors in 2005

OoARD BoARD

Farmers

Budget, technical advice ()

seed supply, Training,

Forage development – Now..

IPMS OoARD

ILRI

EARS

NGO

BoARD

Farmers

FTCs

Kebelle leaders

seed sale, ,

budget, tech advice,

genetic material, ,

genetic material, ,

genetic material, training,

land for seed multiplication, ,

Actor roles Roles important – actors can change But all the roles have to be fulfilled.. Look at actors who are also important for

women What are the most critical roles? Are they all being fulfilled by existing actors? If not, which actors can fill the gaps? What are the future roles required to

enhance market oriented production? Who are the potential actors who could play

this role?

Actor linkages Which linkages are most critical? Are they all existing now? If yes, how can they be strengthened? What other linkages need to be built? Who will play the linkage facilitation

role?

Implications .. Trust

Attitudes, habits and previous experiences determine the presence and/or extent

Capacity development Should be developed on a system basis Also in marketing, entrepreneurial and

business skills Capacity to forge linkages and manage the

partnership processes – ‘changing to cope with change’

Implications.. Enabling environment

Organizational transformation – culture which promotes linking and learning

Safe spaces for experimentation and learning Incentive and reward system which encourages

innovation and outcome orientation Drawing on principles and experiential learning Vs

blueprints to go to scale Partnerships need to be stimulated- do not happen

automatically - Who plays the boundary spanning role – institutionalising / formalising

Implications.. creating space for reflection and

learning in the crowded schedule of innovation partnerships..

systematizing the reflection and learning process

What is ISA all about? Challenges are changing and becoming more

complex As a response, paradigms of Ag R&D have

been changing Technology and knowledge are necessary, but

not sufficient conditions for Ag Development Innovation is not a continuous process-

continuous feedback loops exist Innovation processes shaped by learning by

doing, using, interacting and, as a result of formal discovery process

Added value of ISA

The way we generate, communicate and use knowledge is changing e.g., ICT

Ag problems are more complex- not a single actor has all the capacities and capabilities to address them Hard functions- R&D, scientific and tech services Soft functions- policy making, co-ordinating or

catalytic roles, interface between hard functions Increasingly markets drive ag development-

globalisation, supermarket revolution, production- consumption systems

Increasing role of private sector

Added value of ISA

New and very dynamic markets for ag products and services

Not just technology and production, but organisations (attitudes, practices and new ways of working), management, marketing changes- new types of knowledge which is not usually associated with conventional Ag R&D

Emphasis on actors and processes

ISA.. provides a framework linking two critical

estates that have in many senses drifted apart. The first is the research establishment and its

unshakable belief that technology development is the way to solve the problems of the poor.

The second is the development sector and its understandable disillusionment with weak performance of science and technology to deliver its promise of social and economic development.

ISA.. The essence of the framework is the

proposition that technology and other forms of knowledge can and does bring about the innovations (technical, institutional, market, organisational) needed for development progress.

However this will only take place when the correct conditions are created for bringing different ideas and bodies of knowledge together and allowing new ideas that emerge from this to be put into productive use.

Emphasis on interdependence and non-linearity in innovation processes

Demand- a determinant of innovation Bigger issues come into focus- starting at the

knowledge application end Why farmers innovate or why they don’t? What are the constraints that hold them

back- prices? Technology? Markets? Are farmers passive recipients of

technology? What are the roles of input suppliers, co-

ops, traders, processors, NGOs etc.

ISA … Particularly for policy making..

Understanding of process Shift to focus on enhancing interactions

between actors From technology generation and

dissemination to innovation processes Acknowledge behaviours Focus of analysis shifts from internal

working of an economic system to the way it interacts with outside world

ISA …

Analytical tool Understand imbalances and distortions Obstacles to well-functioning systems

Policy making support Broad explanation Wider analytical lens

Challenges Inclusive but complex

Tradeoffs between breadth (broader picture) and depth (specific details)

An IS analysis spanning entire Ag sector might be too ambitious and abstract- not analytically useful

Heterogeneity- institutional environment and capacity/assets – blueprints will not work Flexibility Character of local government and commitment

to Rural Development (decentralised and more development oriented)

Challenges Weak infrastructure and poor market

access No organised articulation of farmer

demand for innovation Don’t perfectly understand ag problem Cannot imagine all possible solutions

Exclusion Behavioural and organizational change-

a long and slow process!

What are the implications for Extension???

What are innovative extension systems?

recognition and utilization of multiple sources of knowledge

focus on capacity to solve problems rather than just training for technical capacity building

adopting an interactive communication function

viewing extension as a co-learning process and

institutional pluralism

From Extension to Extension-plus

From ToForm/content Tech dissemination Supporting rural

livelihoodsImproving farm productivity

Improving farm and non-farm income

Forming farmer groups Building networksProviding services Enabling farmers to

access services from other agencies

Market information Market developmentM&E Input & output targets LearningPlanning & Implementation

Doing it alone Partnerships

Sources of innovation in extension

Centrally generated Locally evolved (through experimentation)

From Extension to Extension-plus

From ToApproaches Fixed/uniform Evolving/diverseStaff capacity development

Training Learning by doing, facilitated experimentation

Capacity dev of extension system

Personnel and infrastructure

Dev of linkages and networks

Policy approach Prescriptive/blue prints

Facilitating evolution of locally relevant approaches

Introducing new working practices

Staff training Changing organisational culture through action learning

Underpinning paradigm

Technology transfer Innovation system

Making extension systems more efficient - Six principles

A sound agricultural policy is indispensable Extension consists of ‘facilitation’ as much if not

more than ‘technology transfer’ Producers are clients, sponsors and

stakeholders, rather than beneficiaries of ag extension

Market demands create an impetus for a new relationship between farmers and private suppliers of goods and services

New perspectives are needed regarding private actors

Pluralism and decentralized activities require coordination and dialogue between actors

New goals for extension The goal of extension should move from technology

dissemination to promoting innovation. This would mean that extension perform a wider range of roles.

This include, leading the innovation agenda; organize producers and rural poor and build their capacities; building coalition of different stakeholders; promote information flow; experiment with and learn from new approaches, and act as a “bridging organisation” that access knowledge, skills

and services from a wide range of organizations. Performing these wider roles is important for extension to

reinvent its future and to be relevant to the evolving rural context

New framework for extension planning

The current linear framework of “Research-Extension–Farmer” based on the transfer of technology paradigm is no longer relevant for addressing the wider extension agenda.

Extension needs to embrace systems frameworks such as innovation systems framework, which accommodates more number of actors, their interactions, role of institutions and learning to reinvent its future.

This is especially so in dealing with the poor. Quite often, communities continue to remain poor due to weak, non-existent and exploitative relationships with actors who have access to new production inputs, services and knowledge.

New framework for extension planning

Addressing exploitative and weak relationship necessitates provision of a range of support to the poor that improves their capacity to access, adapt and use knowledge, inputs and services.

The linear framework restricts extension’s linkages to only research and farmers.

While several actors in the innovation systems need scientific expertise to solve problems, the linear framework restricts the role of research to provision of only new technologies to farmers.

Linear framework is no longer valid to reinvent either extension or research!!

Partnerships Extension needs a wider range of skills to

address the increasingly complex rural innovation agenda.

Partnering with other actors with these skills and expertise is the only way forward.

Partnerships have been generally weak in the public sector extension.

While extension needs to partner with several other actors, what is often discussed is its linkage with research.

Even after constant efforts, its links with research remains weak and continues to be a matter of great concern.

Partnerships More number of research-extension meetings

is not a solution. What is important is the nature and quality of the relationship which has to be reflected in more joint activities.

Both Research and Extension needs partnerships with other wide range of actors.

The current working practices in extension favour independence and not interdependence.

Moreover, partnership is a skill that could be perfected only through practice and therefore it has to consciously interact more closely with other actors to develop partnership arrangements.

Technical and institutional innovations

Extension has to deal with both technical and institutional innovations.

Conventionally extension was dealing with only the technical innovations.

“Institutional innovations” or the new ways of doing things includes, new ways of organizing production input management marketing sharing common resources new way of providing extension support.

Institutional innovations are going to be equally or more important in dealing with complex challenges facing agriculture and rural development.

Technical and institutional innovations

Technical innovation need not have to be the starting point for extension.

Extension has several other things to do even in a situation where relevant technical innovations do not exist.

Technical and institutional innovation ideally should go hand in hand.

Quite often, institutional innovations are even necessary for generating and promoting technical innovations.

Institutional innovations can flourish only in a situation where sufficient flexibility and freedom to experiment exists.

However, centralised arrangements for funding, implementation, monitoring and evaluation have been found to effectively stifle generation of locally relevant institutional innovations.

Capacity Development There should be a mechanism for all actors in the

innovation system (including extension) for continuous development of their capacities to deal with evolving needs of the sector.

The actors should be able to integrate different kinds of knowledge; respond rapidly to opportunities and threats; and sensitive to the needs of the poor.

Capacity development in extension is conventionally equated with training on new technology or new extension technique. This is not enough to develop the capacity to innovate.

Two important means of developing capacity Developing new platforms for interaction by various

actors (eg: stakeholder dialogues) promoting joint interventions by a coalition of actors

FTCs as knowledge centres – nodes for experiential learning Stimulate a diversity of extension innovations that

respond adaptively to local and evolving circumstances Recognise value of diversity of approaches and

arrangements – flexibility Learn from experiences to distill principles for scaling up Important to pilot innovative approaches in few FTCs and

scale up based on experiences and lessons learnt No blue prints even for market-oriented extension

support

Some thoughts on the way forward..

Optimal use of FTCs Depends on.. Quality and relevance of services and training

offered – ensured through community consultations

Technical and financial support to DAs Effective linkages of FTCs with woreda level

marketing and co-operative experts Continuous upgrading of skills of DAs Provision of adequate and relevant training

and demonstration materials, both related to production and marketing and, their continuous updating

Effective inclusion of gender and HIV concerns in extension activities

Critical role of M&E Review the current M&E plan Revise it to make it more learning

oriented - move towards more innovative targets Outcome monitoring and responsibility

Mainstream planning, implementation and M&E tools

Accountability to farmers or FAs - farmer control over R&E resources

Equity.. Integration of HIV and gender concerns

Incorporate into TVET and university curricula

Incorporate short awareness sessions into all training programmes/courses

Organizational culture changes Centralized modes of planning stifle innovation Tradition of assessing performance in terms of

technology adoption and not outcomes or impacts

History of regarding only successes and reluctance to report and analyse reasons of failure

Tradition of working independently of other agencies

Up-ward accountability for resource utilization rather than output achievement and client satisfaction

Finally.. Crafting institutional reforms is a

pragmatic, exploratory and social learning process that unfolds over years and decades

Initiate a few pilots (learn by doing) Experiment with institutional innovations

Learn from experiences of others Approach less important than its

ingredients

Thank you!!!