The Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) framework is a widely accepted tool for guiding actions that support innovations. Traditionally, AIS in the Global South have focused on increasing agricultural productivity. While this remains important, sustainable agri-food systems require innovations that address a broader range of sustainability goals to ensure nutritious and healthy diets and an agri-food systems that is inclusive and just, protects environmental health, and is resilient to climate change. We examine the extent to which AIS in Benin, Kenya, Mali, and Nigeria prioritize multiple sustainability goals and identify opportunities, challenges, and strategies for redesigning AIS to move beyond the productivity paradigm, focusing on the four structural elements of AIS (institutions, actors, interactions, infrastructure) as well as the functions they serve. We conducted mixed-methods data collection, including interviews with 79 managers and a survey of 1051 staff members from 64 organizations across three types of AIS actors: agricultural research, extension, and education.
AIS have begun to move beyond the productivity paradigm, focusing on certain sustainability goals, while neglecting others. A stronger sustainability reorientation is undermined by roadblocks related to both structural elements and functions and a general neglect of AIS. More substantial and targeted efforts are needed to support a complete shift beyond the productivity paradigm. Sustainable agri-food systems require innovations that not only focus on productivity but simultaneously address environmental and social goals. The paper provides valuable guidance for policymakers to help redesign AIS to foster such innovations. While there has been research on this topic in the Global North, this paper is the first to systematically study this topic in the Global South.
Published in Agricultural Systems 229: 104445.