Capacity development for agricultural biotechnology in developing countries: Concepts, contexts, case studies and operational challenges of a systems perspective.
Andy Hall & Jeroen Dijkman
#2006-003
There are divergent views on what capacity development might mean in
relation to agricultural biotechnology. The core of this debate is
whether this should involve the development of human capital and
research infrastructure, or whether it should encompass a wider range of
activities which also include developing the capacity to use knowledge
productively. This paper uses the innovation systems concept to shed
light on this discussion, arguing that it is innovation capacity rather
than science and technology capacity that has to be developed. The
context of deploying biotechnology in developing countries is
illustrated with an over view of Uganda and Ethiopia. The then presents
6 examples of different capacity development approaches. It concludes by
suggesting that policy needs to take a multidimensional approach to
capacity development in line with an innovation systems perspective. But
it also argues that policy needs to recognise the need to develop the
capacity of diversity of innovation systems and that a key part of the
capacity development task is to bring about the integration of these
different systems at strategic points in time. The paper concludes with
a tentative typology of the main types of agricultural innovation
systems that are likely to be important in developing countries.
Key words: agriculture; Ethiopia; Uganda; innovation systems;
biotechnology; capacity development; innovation capacity; policy.
ISSN 1871-9872