Technology and innovation are critical to climate-resilient development

The challenges facing the BRACED countries today are unprecedented: populations of those countries are high and rising, and climate change provides an additional stressor on top of sometimes difficult and variable agricultural production. Building in resilience to change and sustainable economic livelihoods for those people who are particularly sensitive to the impacts of climate change, is essential. Technology and innovation are critical to climate-resilient development. Agricultural development, which is the powerhouse of economic development in many of the poorest countries, has historically been based on the development and spread of new technologies. Moreover, past experiences show that technology implementation and use accelerate resilience building in communities.

Innovation in development and agriculture is traditionally viewed as a top down technological application, through which science can achieve a number of ‘productivity-enhancing’ objectives. However, top-down, supply-driven initiatives have often proven to be ineffective in addressing the needs of the poor. Inclusive innovations are needed and this requires a change in institutional culture and mandates, the involvement of the poor in identifying their development priorities and in providing incentives for various actors to serve their needs more effectively. To be pro-poor and alleviate poverty, innovations must therefore be bottom-up, grassroots, community-based and supply-driven, using traditional or local knowledge. While public or non-profit institutions can be effective intermediaries between informal innovation and the formal economy, past experiences show that for these partnerships to be successful, institutions must become followers rather than leaders in the innovation process and respect local knowledge and problem definition.

Agricultural techniques in many BRACED countries have not changed significantly in recent decades – extension services are weak; farmers are an ageing population as younger people migrate to cities; government investment in agriculture and rural development has been very limited and international donors have been focussed elsewhere. However, there are robust, innovative parts of the smallholder farming sector where farm activities are being re-invigorated with new practices and approaches, where the poorest are finding ways to avoid the leanest times and entrepreneurs are thriving. Successful innovations among smallholder farmers include: innovations in markets such as the horticulture sector in Ethiopia and Kenya; getting the right information at the right time thanks to mobile applications, better animal feeding for health and production using feedlots for example; farm management software and training on animal care, pest management and crop development; female-run cereal banks for crisis prevention; and re-greening the Sahel by modifying traditional agroforestry, water and soil management practices.

Five sub-themes were selected to guide further research on Technologies and Innovation:

•  Bottom-up grassroots innovations by and for marginalised groups in informal settings. How these innovations arise and effective modes of dissemination
•  Social/soft innovations and locally appropriate technologies. How these can be promoted and their sustainability under climate change scenarios.
•  Collective action and partnerships. How innovation and knowledge sharing can be encouraged along value chains (vertical innovation) and across villages (horizontal innovation).