An international symposium on agricultural innovation systems in Africa was held on 20-23 November 2006 in Kampala, Uganda. It was jointly organised by CIAT (International Centre for Tropical Agriculture), IFPRI-ISNAR (International Service for National Agricultural Research division of the International Food Policy Research Institute), ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute), IIRR-Africa (International Institute of Rural Reconstruction) and Prolinnova (Promoting Local Innovation). The Innovation Africa Symposium brought together researchers and practitioners involved in innovation systems to share current thinking and experiences and to draw lessons for research, development, policy and practice of innovation in agriculture and natural resource management in Africa.
The Symposium focused on the following themes:
- Conceptual and methodological developments in agricultural innovation systems
- Partnerships and other forms of social capital in agricultural innovation systems
- Institutional, policy and knowledge-sharing mechanisms to support agricultural innovation systems
- Enhancing local innovation processes
- Market-led innovation in agriculture
- Building capacity to innovate.
A major output of the symposium was the book Innovation Africa: enriching farmers’ livelihoods edited by Pascal Sanginga, Ann Waters-Bayer, Susan Kaaria, Jemimah Njuki and Chesha Wettasinha (Earthscan, 2009).