Browsing by Author "Westengen, Ola T"

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From policy promises to result through innovation in African agriculture?
(MDPI, 2021-05-05) Haug, Ruth; Nchimbi-Msolla, Susan; Murage, Alice; Moeletsi, Mokhele; Magalasi, Mufunanji; Mutimura, Mupenzi; Hundessa, Feyisa; Cacchiarelli, Luca; Westengen, Ola T
The problem addressed in this paper is the challenge of moving from formulating policygoals to achieving the promised results. The purpose is to assess the possible role of innovationin agriculture as a way of contributing towards achieving the Malabo Declaration commitmentsand the zero hunger Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) in six African countries. Since theSDGs are high on both international and many national agendas, there is a need to increase ourknowledge of how to move beyond formulating goals. The approach includes both quantitative andqualitative data from a multisite research and development project. Moving from promises in relationto policy goals such as SDG2 and the Malabo Declaration to actions that make a difference at locallevel is a challenging task, and COVID-19 has added negatively to that challenge. Technological andinstitutional innovations exist that have the potential to improve the agricultural productivity, foodsecurity, and income levels of smallholder men and women farmers. However, innovation processesare hindered by barriers related to governmental, economic, knowledge-based, socio-cultural, andresource-based factors. To overcome these barriers, governance needs to go further than defininggoals, and proceed to the next step of establishing effective implementation mechanisms that ensurethe promised result.