Agriculture,
rural life and IICA in the Summit of the Americas Process.
IICAl 2003.
One of the purposes of this document is to keep
the Ministers of Agriculture and their Delegates informed of
the role of the ministerial meetings in the process of the Summit
of the Americas. It is also intended to promote greater participation
by the community of agriculture and rural life in the process
by means of an analysis of rural reality and the importance
of improving social and economical conditions of the population.
Beintema, Nienke; Avila, Antonio Flavio Dias; Pardey, Philip.
Agricultural
R&D in Brazil: policy, investments and institutional profile.
Washington: IFPRI; EMBRAPA; FONTAGRO, 2001.
This document presents historical data and events
together with a detailed description of recent institutional
and political changes related to agricultural research in Brazil.
Trends of public and private expenditure on R&D are discussed
as well as different approaches for the orientation of research
based on the analysis of quantitative indicators of agricultural
R&D that come from a thorough study conducted by the International
Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Embrapa between 1997
and 2000.
Beintema, Nienke; Romano, Luis; Pardey, Philip. Agricultural
R&D in Colombia: policy, investments and institutional profile.
Washington: IFPRI; FONTAGRO, 2000.
At the beginning of the 80s and after several
growth decades, public financial support for agricultural research
began to diminish in most Latin American countries. In Colombia,
this general trend also emerged but with great differences that
this report intends to brief through a synthesis of recent changes
and the historical facts of agricultural R&D in Colombia.
The results of an extensive study carried out by agencies devoted
to this type of research conducted between 1997-1999 are also
presented.
Beintema, Nienke; Zumbrano, Patricia; Núñez, Mario;
Pardey, Philip. Agricultural
R&D in Paraguay: policy, investments and institutional profile.
Washington: IFPRI; DIA; FONTAGRO, 2000.
By world, and even regional standards, Paraguay's
agricultural R&D investments and institutions are comparatively
small and almost entirely dependent upon government and donor
funding that have created an institutional structure that has
remained virtually unchanged. However, this report points out
some of the recent changes derived from historical events that
affect the development of research and analyses the results
of an institutional study about agricultural R&D agencies
of the country.
Beintema, Neinke; Hareau, Guy; Bianco, Mariela; Pardey, Philip.
Agricultural
R&D in Uruguay: policy, investments and institutional profile.
Washington: IFPRI; INIA; FONTAGRO, 2000.
Although Uruguay has only a small number of
agricultural R&D, the intensity with which the country invests
in agricultural R&D is comparatively high, especially by
developing-country standards. This report provides a general
review of recent changes and historical events of Uruguayan
agricultural R&D agencies (the National Agricultural Research
Institute -INIA-, Faculties of Agronomy and Veterinary Science,
etc.) as well as the results of a study conducted between 1997
and 1999 by these institutions.
Beintema, Nienke M; Pardey, Philip G. Recent
developments in the conduct of Latin American Agricultural Research.
2001.
Following the two decades of increasing investments,
growth in public agricultural research spending stalled during
the 1980s, reflecting shrinking government contributions and
declining donor support in the midst of general economic crisis.
Considering that this regional trend masks variations among
the different countries and the averages are also heavily influenced
by developments in Mexico and Brazil, this document accounts
for the significant changes (complexity and fragmentation) of
Latin American agricultural research and it mentions the shifts
that have occurred in the sources of funding as well as the
way funds are dispersed.
Colombian Rural Development Institute. Áreas
de desarrollo agropecuario y rural: marco conceptual, metodología,
criterios de focalización y resultados. (Agricultural
and rural development areas: conceptual framework, methodology
and focus criteria and results). Bogota, 2004.
The document presents a methodological proposal,
focus criteria and the preliminary results of a work began by
the Colombian Rural Development Institute (INCODER) in order
to carry out a methodological refinement and provide a higher
number of variables and a better level of accuracy of rural
development research. The document includes the grounds and
criteria of the importance of focus in investments and it puts
forward a conceptual framework where rural development areas
are defined by describing the applied model and suggesting various
types of interventions.
Gonsalves, Julian; Becker, Thomas; Braun, Ann; Campilan, Dindo;
de Chavez, Hidelisa; Fajber, Elizabeth; Kapiriri, Monica; Rivaca-Caminade,
Joy; and Vernooy, Ronnie. (Editors) Participatory
Research and Development for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural
Resource Management: A Sourcebook. CIP-UPWARD/IDRC 2005.
272 p.
Volume 1: Understanding Participatory Research and Development;
Volume 2: Enabling Participatory Research and Development; Volume
3: Doing Participatory Research and Development
Research and development can no longer be the
exclusive domain of scientists. To find sustainable solutions
to development problems, a wider range of actors must be involved.
It is crucial, for example, that local stakeholders provide
input to the process. Participatory research and development
(PR&D) offers such an inclusive model.
This three-volume sourcebook provides easy access
to field-tested PR&D concepts and practices for practitioners,
researchers, and academic. As well, it presents a comprehensive
overview of PR&D and will serve as a general reference for
trainers, policymakers, donors, and development professionals.
The sourcebook captures and examines PR&D experiences from
over 30 countries, illustrating applications in sustainable
crop and animal production, forest and watershed management,
soil and water conservation, and postharvest and utilization.
Volume 1 focuses on typologies and concepts,
approaches, participatory technology development, and participatory
natural resource management. Volume 2 examines capacity building,
networking and partnerships, and scaling up and institutionalization.
Volume 3 looks at technology development, strengthening local
organizations, and multistakeholder-based natural resource management.
Each volume includes a glossary, a list of recommended publications,
contact addresses of contributors, and directories of Web sites
and e-groups. The three-volume set comes with a CD-Rom containing
the core articles from the three books, along with 15 additional
papers.
Parra Escobar, Ernesto. El
impacto de la microempresa rural en la economía latinoamericana.
(The impact of rural micro-enterprises on Latin American economy).
Bogota: FIDA; IICA, 2000
This dissertation seeks to show the social,
economic, political and historical role of rural micro-enterprises
in Latin America by providing a definition of rural micro-enterprises,
classifying them and pointing out the possible impact these
may have on Latin American agriculture in terms of aggregated
value, employment and income. Furthermore, the basic elements
of a policy for the development of these units as well as the
main supporting actions required by these are established.
Pérez, Alejandra; Jofre, Italo. La
microempresa rural: documento de investigación. (Rural
Micro- enterprise: research document). Santiago, Chile: IICA,
2000.
In Latin America, micro enterprises make great
contributions to aspects such as employment, production and
national income, becoming an instrument to escape from poverty.
This document does not only present a pragmatic study of the
context of micro enterprises in the continent but it also becomes
a practical proposal that promotes the participation of the
people involved, thus reinforcing technical, entrepreneurial
and organisational training.
Ravnborg, Helle Punk and others. Developing
regional poverty profiles based on local perceptions. Cali:
CIAT, 1999.
Social development programmes and projects and
policy designers in this field that wish to be efficient and
successful in the alleviation of poverty must consider: what
being poor means, the difference between being poor and "not
so poor" and the way in which the population that is classified
at these levels can be identified as such and defined quantitatively.
This manual drifts away from conventional and standardised definitions
of poverty and it describes a method of nine steps that allows
to build up a regional profile of poverty based on the beliefs
of the population regarding the different levels of comfort.
Ryan, Jim. Agricultural
research and poverty alleviation: some international perspectives.
Armidale NSW, Australia, The University of New England, 2002
Poverty alleviation has become a primary
goal of overseas development assistance for most donor countries
and international financial institutions. In this paper, Dr
Jim Ryan examines the range of indicators commonly used to define
the nature and degree of poverty before summarising the current
state of empirical knowledge of its location and extent.
