The ASTI initiative, a network of national, regional, and international agricultural research and development (R&D) agencies, The ASTI initiative compiles, processes, analyzes, and publicizes data on institutional developments, investments, and capacity in agricultural R&D at national, regional, and global levels. ASTI outputs describe trends (progress of agricultural R&D human and financial capacity over time at the national, regional, and global levels) and comparative information (performance of a country or region compared to others). The ASTI initiative entails a large amount of original and on-going survey work focused on developing countries, but also maintains access to relevant data for developed countries. The initiative will improve its data collection, analysis, dissemination activities and broaden the various partnerships established and initiated.

n/a

Agricultural science and technology for innovation are vital to promoting rural development and poverty reduction. To this end, many studies on agricultural research, extension and education have highlighted the importance of public investment and policies in these areas. However, with the growing recognition that agricultural innovation is a complex process that defies simple solutions, it has become more and more difficult to identify the types of investment and policy interventions needed to make developing-country agriculture more responsive, dynamic and competitive. This output generates information and analysis of science and technology policies that provide incentives for poverty-reducing, productivity-enhancing innovation in the agricultural sector. First, the output aims to design methods and measure key indicators of innovation in each of the following agricultural domains: (a) the knowledge and education domain; (b) the business and enterprise domain; (c) the bridging institutions which link the two domains; and (d) policies, institutions, and frame conditions. Second, the output aims to provide in-depth and comparative analysis of science and technology strategies and policies, and their contribution to promoting innovation in the agricultural sector. This research will be pursued jointly with IFPRI’s sub-theme 9.5 (“C. Organization and management of agricultural research”) in light of the sub-theme’s expanding work on organizational, structural, and financial reforms in national agricultural systems.

Ethiopia, Vietnam

This output will provide evidence on the impact of farmer field schools and other extension and education approaches; recommendations established for organizational, institutional, and policy alternatives to facilitate scaling-up, greater participation, and increased impact of extension; tools and methods developed that provide development practitioners and researchers with approaches for rigorous examination of extension; and improved and tested models of extension systems. The goal of this output is to provide strong evidence to policymakers and other stakeholders in development, on the effectiveness of farmer field schools (FFS) and other extension approaches in fighting poverty and fostering innovation. The specific objectives are to determine (a) the intended and unintended impacts that extension has on poverty, innovation, empowerment, gender, productivity and/or sustainability of agriculture; (b) the impact that broader context (policies, markets) has on extension; (c) whether poor and other marginalized groups participate equally in extension and rural education programs; and (d) how extension programs have evolved within and between countries and institutional arrangements, and in particular, establish whether any learning mechanisms have been created and what factors have influenced the development of extension programs. Research activities include setting up projects, identification of locations, and communication with collaborators; developing concepts and tools through methodology workshops; collecting and analyzing secondary and qualitative data: documentary analysis and key informant interviews; reviewing the findings with collaborators; and disseminating findings. The comparative and complementary advantage of the research is that it comes at a time when there is much focus on agriculture in general and extension (education) in particular to address issues of agricultural productivity, rural poverty, and food insecurity. IFPRI has the capacity and connections to conduct this research in an effective and timely manner.

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda