Cameroon is one of the world’s largest producers of cocoa; 209,905 tons of cocoa beans were produced in 2014. Cocoa is the main cash crop of the Centre region of Cameroon and one of the main export commodities of the country. However, unstable international cocoa prices coupled with weather variability have increased food insecurity and malnourishment among cocoa farmers. Furthermore, even when cocoa prices reached high peaks in international markets, smallholder farmers received only 3.5 to 6.4 % of the final value of the chocolate bar. With highly volatile cocoa prices and … [Read more...]
New RAAIS Toolkit: an Easy Way to Make People Do a Difficult Job!
This was how a RAAIS (Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems) workshop participant in Nigeria described his experience. It reflects the objective that we had in mind when developing RAAIS. We wanted to develop a simple, participatory, diagnostic tool for integrated systems analysis of agricultural problems. RAAIS facilitates the analysis of: Interactions between different dimensions, levels and stakeholder dynamics of complex agricultural problems; Innovation capacity in agrifood systems; The existence and performance of the agricultural innovation system. RAAIS can … [Read more...]
Participatory Diagnostic Tool for Complex Agricultural Problems
Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems (RAAIS) is a participatory, diagnostic tool for integrated analysis of complex agricultural problems and capacity to innovate. RAAIS facilitates the analysis of interactions between: (1) different dimensions, levels and stakeholder dynamics of complex agricultural problems, (2) innovation capacity in the agricultural system, and (3) the existence and performance of the agricultural innovation support system. RAAIS has been developed and tested to identify and analyze opportunities for dealing with parasitic weeds in rainfed rice production in … [Read more...]