agriculture research Articles
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Induced technical and institutional change in tropical agriculture
The author employs a model in which the direction of technical change is induced by changes in relative resource endowments to interpret the trajectories of technical change in both developed and developing country agriculture. An international agricultural research system, an institutional innovation supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), has become ...
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Changing paradigms for organising R&D: agricultural research and the creation of the PROINPA Foundation in Bolivia
A new paradigm for agricultural research based upon the innovation system is emerging. New types of organisation are required to fit the new paradigm. The evolution of PROINPA from NARI programme to foundation is analysed as a case study in organisational innovation in Bolivia, where a comprehensive competitive funding system is being established. The value added and difficulties faced by the ...
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Shaping scientific excellence in agricultural research
Science and technology and particularly biotechnology is increasingly central to development agendas in Africa and elsewhere. Implicit within the centrality of science and technology lie a set of policy issues regarding how best to shape contextually appropriate, innovative and sustainable science and technological products in, with and for developing countries. The work of the Consultative Group ...
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Investing in female scientists to feed Africa
In this interview, Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, director of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development fellowship programme in Kenya, talks about AWARD’s work supporting the careers of female agricultural scientists across Sub-Saharan Africa. She outlines the daunting challenge facing Africa: to rapidly expand agricultural production so that the continent can feed itself. Women ...
By SciDev.Net
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Are developing-country policies and investments promoting research and research partnerships in agricultural biotechnology?
This article presents findings from two studies of public-sector research on agricultural biotechnology. The first focuses on national agricultural research organisations and universities in developing countries, while the second focuses on public?private research collaborations with international agricultural research centres. Findings suggest that a number of developing countries are, in fact, ...
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Editorial Viewpoint: 'Making science and technology work for the poor'
This viewpoint piece argues that, as currently organised, research and development (R&D) systems both public and private do not necessarily respond well to the needs of poor people in developing countries. Despite all the hype about the potentials of Science and Technology for reducing poverty, there are many missed opportunities. Very often poor and marginalised people across the global south do ...
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Method, creativity and CIALs
CIALs (Committees For Local Agricultural Research) are community level organisations for helping agricultural scientists and farmers to collaborate on adaptive research. Although CIALs have been used mainly for testing new crops and varieties, an unorthodox project in Peru and Bolivia recently used CIALs with a range of research techniques: formal trials, participatory research and farmers' own ...
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Agricultural biotechnology policies and research investments in Mexico
This paper examines the agricultural biotechnology research situation in Mexico. In addition to providing insights into the institutional and policy evolution, it analyses a quantitative survey of biotechnology investments in the 14 most important national public and private research organisations from 1985 to 1997. During this time period, Mexico experienced a noteworthy biotechnology ...
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Agricultural research policy framework for improved livelihoods security in crop-livestock production systems
Concerns for sustainable development and poverty alleviation are forcing public agricultural research systems to focus on improving livelihoods security. Crop-livestock production systems are central to the livelihood security of the rural poor in India and some other countries of the tropics. With increasing population, urbanisation and incomes, massive increases are foreseen in demands for ...
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Becoming a top female fisheries researcher in Kenya
In this film, as part of our series Africa’s PhD renaissance, scientist Nina Wambiji talks about how the support she has received from AWARD (African Women in Agricultural Research and Development) has helped her become a leading researcher in her field. She was granted a fellowship at AWARD after obtaining a PhD in Japan for her research on rabbitfish. AWARD is a two year career ...
By SciDev.Net
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Pesticide decay in turf: A review of processes and experimental data
Received for publication November 26, 2007. Decay rates are central parameters in modeling pesticide fate and transport in the environment. Pesticide decay is usually modeled as a first-order process, and variations in half-life can have significant impacts on model predictions. Decay rates for the foliage and thatch components of turf are scarce, and most simulation efforts must resort to values ...
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Strengthening agricultural innovation capacity: are innovation brokers the answer?
Taking the case of Dutch agriculture as an example, this paper examines the emergence and role of innovation brokers in stimulating agricultural innovation system interaction and innovation capacity building, and reflects upon their potential role in developing and emerging countries' agriculture and how their emergence and functioning can be fostered. It concludes that innovation brokerage is ...
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Strategies to Successfully Manage Northeastern Apple Pests
A wide range of pests threaten Northeastern apple crops, forcing some growers to spend up to 25 percent of production costs to manage mites, insects, disease and other pests. Practical strategies to help growers lower this huge cost while protecting their region’s $580 million annual apple crop are outlined in Ecological Management of Key Arthropod Pests in Northeast Apple Orchards, a new ...
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Towards new modes of governance of the research–development continuum to facilitate the dissemination of agricultural innovations in a mountainous province of northern Vietnam
The mountainous regions of northern Vietnam have, thus far, failed to share the impressive economic development that has blessed the rest of the country in the past decade. Despite the multiplicity of Research and Development (R&D) projects working there with the common objectives of agricultural development and poverty alleviation, lack of coordination among projects can limit the effectiveness ...
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Agricultural biotechnology R&D and innovations in Nigeria
This study examined the nature and extent of the agricultural biotechnology R&D and innovations in Nigeria. Data were collected from the Directors, Heads of Crop Units and Research Scientists in the agricultural research institutes using structured and unstructured questionnaires and interview schedules. The data collected were analysed using frequencies, means and percentages. The study revealed ...
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Enhancing undergraduate agro-ecological laboratory employment through experiential learning
We piloted an educational model, the Sustainable Agriculture Scholars Program, linking research in organic agriculture to experiential learning activities for summer undergraduate employees in 2007 and 2008. Our objectives were to: (1) further student understanding of sustainable agriculture research, (2) increase student interest in sustainable agriculture careers, and (3) use community service ...
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An analysis of some paradoxes in alternative agriculture and a vision of sustainability for future food systems
The paper offers an analysis of some of the prevailing practices in sustainable agriculture and points out some of the paradoxes that need to be addressed and resolved in order to enhance acceptability of sustainable agriculture by the general public. Education and research in sustainable agriculture are suggested as possible tools via which solutions to the paradoxes may be found. Preserving the ...
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Cassava: a promising food security crop in Mutomo, a semi-arid food deficit district in Kitui County of Kenya
Cassava is ideal for production and provision of carbohydrates in the marginal and drought-prone areas, which comprise about 80% of Kenya. However, its potential utilisation as a food security crop remains low in these areas. A major constraint to cassava production is lack of adequate disease and pest-free planting materials greatly exacerbated by its low multiplication rate. The Kenya ...
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Biomethanol From Sugar Beet Pulp
According to Atlantic Biomass Conversions, sugar beet pulp, currently of low value to sugar beet growers and processors, could become a significant source of renewable fuel methanol. Nearly 700 million liters of fuel cell quality methanol could be produced annually from sugar beet pulp produced by existing EU and US sugar beet refineries. Atlantic Biomass Conversions, a company based in ...
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Research prizes: a new kind of incentive for innovation in African agriculture
This paper identifies market failures that limit agricultural R&D for Africa and other resource-poor environments, and proposes a way to complement existing institutions with cash prizes for the dissemination of successful new technologies adopted by low-income farmers. The proposed prize institution would use agronomic experiments and farm surveys to document the value of innovations after their ...
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