Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Making things happen: Stories of how DONATA’s innovation platforms are strengthening farming communities across Africa

Making things happen: Stories of how DONATA’s innovation platforms are strengthening farming communities across Africa
Series 1:

Burkina Faso – Building better lives
DRC – Working wonders with miracle maize
Kenya – Sweet success with sweet potato in Busia
Mali – Food security is our motto
Mozambique – Maize magic
Tanzania – Improving access to promising technologies
Uganda – Transforming lives with technology in Gulu
Zambia – Back to basics with sorghum

DONATA [Dissemination of New Agricultural Technologies for Africa] is a continental platform for technology dissemination co-created and co-managed by FARA Secretariat together with the SROs and NARS. Most of its work in the field is conducted through innovation platforms for technology adoption (IPTAs). IPTAs operate at sub-national level and are composed of agricultural research-for-development (ARD) partners, including extension agencies and farming communities. They work on a common commodity and analyse gaps in the commodity value chain to define the IPTA’s specific interventions. They follow the concept that effective agricultural technology dissemination – the adoption, use, uptake or commercialisation of existing knowledge – calls for understanding of farming systems through strong linkages and active participation among a range of actors.

IPTAs include researchers, primary producers, extension workers and NGOs, government policy makers, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, traders, processors and others. All of these stakeholders are organised into a coherent platform, with each participant (individual or corporate) contributing to the attainment of its goals.

No comments:

Post a Comment