Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) 'Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability'

In its Europe 2020 Strategy, the Commission underlines the role of research and innovation as key elements in preparing the European Union for future challenges. Innovation is indispensable in preparing Union agriculture for the future. The concept of EIP is a new way to foster innovation. This EIP aims to foster a competitive and sustainable agriculture and forestry that 'achieves more from less' and works in harmony with the environment.

 

Extension Policy Requirements for Improved Accountability: Programme Planning; Delivery/Implementation; Monitoring & Evaluation

K.Davis, GFRAS, 2011

Graduate programs in agriculture in developing countries such as in Ethiopia are often designed in cognizance of the need for skilled manpower for gricultural development. In Ethiopia, the contribution of graduates of agricultural graduate programs to the ttempt to transform smallholder agriculture has become a matter of urgency in the face of the increasing challenge of food insecurity. However, the performance of graduates of those programs in making oncrete contributions to the urgent needs of agricultural development has been patchy at best. There ight be no single best solution as to how to make agricultural graduate programs and/or their raduates responsive to the needs of agricultural development. In particular, hopes that effective teaching nd learning in agricultural graduate programs would lead their students to attain the relevant knowledge and skills to make concrete contributions to agricultural development are frequently not realized. ...

Families, communities and indigenous peoples own or manage more than 30 percent of the world’s forests. Th ey have a demonstrated capacity to manage their forests sustainably but have received little policy attention from national governments and international agencies.

A number of factors account for the long-term success of forest management by families, indigenous peoples and local communities. In all cases, however, forest producer organizations, or FPOs, have played central roles. FPOs are formal or informal associations of forest producers – women and men, smallholder families, indigenous peoples and local communities – who have strong relationships with forests and (oft en) farms in forested landscapes.

Encouraging the establishment and successful development of FPOs should be a priority for governments wishing to promote sustainable forest management and prosperous rural communities. Th is paper explores the factors that help build constructive relationships with government counterparts, and the policy and institutional conditions that encourage or hinder FPO development.

Producer organisations (POs) are widely heralded as leading contributors to poverty reduction and achievement of food security (FAO, 2010). POs can successfully strengthen the economic position of their members by providing agricultural inputs, credit, processing and marketing services (Narayanan and Gulati, 2002), In India, the Central Government has identified farmer producer organisation as the most appropriate institutional form around which to mobilize farmers and build their capacity to collectively leverage their production and marketing strength (GoI, 2013) . While several POs are doing well, a large number of POs struggle to continue their activities after the first few years of its formation.

Delivering mobile-enabled agricultural services (‘mAgri services’) to women in developing countries is a major market opportunity for the mobile industry that also offers substantial social benefits. The mAgri services market is nascent but growing—GSMA has tracked 106 active, global deployments by mobile network operators (MNOs) and third party providers. Women working in agriculture account for an estimated 556 million potential users globally,2 but are underserved as a unique customer segment.

This short 10-page paper summarises the work of The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in implementing a sustainable agriculture development project across the pacific region (DSAP) since 2003. The key success factors of the project in promoting gender-equality, improving food security and livelihoods, whilst also addressing climate change related production problems, are emphasised. Central to the success of the project is the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach used at every key decision making point at regional, national and community levels. This approach incorporates a strong gender analysis component to identify agricultural production problems and solutions from the perspectives of women, men and youth in the communities.

This report presents the findings from four case studies of development assistance in the Pacific region, which illustrate how a focus on gender equality has fared in the context of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Additionally, the authors have drawn upon contemporary literature and their collective Pacific-based aid and development experiences to inform these findings and to make recommendations about how aid and gender effectiveness can be enhanced. The strengthening of existing development policies and practices as well as the introduction of new gendered practices by the commissioning agencies - NZAID and AusAID - can facilitate the vital outcome of aid and gender effectiveness for citizens.