Abstract
The problem addressed in this paper is the challenge of moving from formulating policy goals to achieving the promised results. The purpose is to assess the possible role of innovation in agriculture as a way of contributing towards achieving the Malabo Declaration commitments and the zero hunger Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) in six African countries. Since the SDGs are high on both international and many national agendas, there is a need to increase our knowledge of how to move beyond formulating goals. The approach includes both quantitative and qualitative data from a multisite research and development project. Moving from promises in relation to policy goals such as SDG2 and the Malabo Declaration to actions that make a difference at local level is a challenging task, and COVID-19 has added negatively to that challenge. Technological and institutional innovations exist that have the potential to improve the agricultural productivity, food security, and income levels of smallholder men and women farmers. However, innovation processes are hindered by barriers related to governmental, economic, knowledge-based, socio-cultural, and resource-based factors. To overcome these barriers, governance needs to go further than defining goals, and proceed to the next step of establishing effective implementation mechanisms that ensure the promised result.
Highlights
Poverty, inequalities and hunger continue to haunt the world, and COVID-19 makes these problems worse [1,2]
The quantitative survey data were analyzed by use of statistical regression analysis and descriptive statistics, while the qualitative data were analyzed by making summaries of discussions and highlighting patterns that complemented the quantitative findings. We report both quantitative and qualitative findings of the barriers that hinder innovations from taking place in six African countries without using econometric models to test the causal relationship between the selected factors and the adoption of technological and institutional innovations
We are addressing the question of what opportunities for and barriers to technological and institutional innovation exist, in order to contribute to achieving the Malabo Declaration and Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2).3
Summary
Inequalities and hunger continue to haunt the world, and COVID-19 makes these problems worse [1,2]. World 2021, 2 the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s (AU) Malabo Declaration, African leaders have committed themselves to reducing poverty, ending hunger and doubling the agricultural productivity and income of small-scale farmers in their countries [5,6]. There is a whole range of existing technological and institutional innovations that could contribute towards reducing rural poverty and improving food security in Africa [7,8,9]. Transferring or scaling-up technological and institutional innovations from one place to another has proven difficult [10,11]. Successful technological and institutional change involves a whole range of factors, such as implementing conducive policies, enabling environments, constructing effective input and output chains, social learning, and behavioral change, etc. Innovations often come with high risks and uncertainties in relation to both natural and socio-economic factors such as drought, pests and diseases, high input prices, low output prices, and marketing constraints [15,16,17]
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