Innovation Systems in Potato-Based Agriculture in Bolivia (INNOVA)
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CROP PROTECTION PROGRAMME Strengthening technical innovation systems in potato-based agriculture in Bolivia (INNOVA). R 8182 (ZA 0501) FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT April 2002 – March 2005 André Devaux International Potato Center May 2005 “This publication is an output from a research project funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID” R 8182 Crop Protection Programme. 2 Table of contents Executive Summary ..........................................................................................................4 Background.......................................................................................................................6 Project Purpose.................................................................................................................7 Research Activities............................................................................................................7 Output 1 ............................................................................................................................9 Activity 1.1.......................................................................................................................10 Activity 1.2.......................................................................................................................11 Activity 1.3.......................................................................................................................11 Outputs of Working Group 1 ...........................................................................................12 Activity 1.1 outputs..........................................................................................................12 Activity 1.3 outputs..........................................................................................................13 Output 2 ..........................................................................................................................19 Activity 2.2.......................................................................................................................19 Activity 2.3.......................................................................................................................25 Activity 2.4.......................................................................................................................26 Outputs of Working Group 2 ...........................................................................................27 Activity 2.2.......................................................................................................................27 Activity 2.1.......................................................................................................................28 Activity 2.3.......................................................................................................................33 Activity 2.4.......................................................................................................................37 Output 3 ..........................................................................................................................41 Activity 3.1.......................................................................................................................42 Activity 3.2.......................................................................................................................44 Activity 3.3.......................................................................................................................47 Activity 3.4.......................................................................................................................48 Activity 3.6.......................................................................................................................54 Activity 3.7.......................................................................................................................56 Activity 3.8.......................................................................................................................58 Activity 3.9.......................................................................................................................61 Activity 3.10.....................................................................................................................64 Output 4 ..........................................................................................................................67 Activities 4.1, 4.2. and 4.3...............................................................................................68 Activity 4.4 ......................................................................................................................70 Activity 4.5.......................................................................................................................70 Outputs of Working Group 4 ...........................................................................................71 Activities 4.1, 4.2. and 4.3...............................................................................................71 Activity 4.4.......................................................................................................................78 Activity 4.5.......................................................................................................................79 Contribution of Outputs to developmental impact ...........................................................83 Annex List…………………………………………………………………………………………91 3 4 Executive Summary The project “Strengthening Technical Innovation Systems in Potato-Based Agriculture in Bolivia,” or INNOVA, has its origin in earlier DFID agricultural research and development in Bolivia and takes forward RNRRS outputs in activities where demands by poor farmers for technology innovation are met with an ongoing supply of research. One of the main INNOVA’s achievements has been to develop with groups of farmers an integrated set of mechanisms to link technology supply and demands and to evaluate potential new techniques. These methods include: • Demand Sondeos for assessing farmers’ demands for technology, Technology Fairs for gauging farmers’ responses to new technologies, Retro-information, or local feedback meetings, and municipal “committees with teeth.” • Methods to involve farmers in preparing, adjusting and evaluating Technological Innovation Projects (PITAs) in SIBTA (Bolivian competitive funding system) and ensure pro-poor relevance. As one of the important goals of INNOVA has been to validate technologies developed through research previously supported by DFID, the project team has evaluated about 30 technologies, and farmers have shown considerable interest in several of them. The most important ones are: • Animal-drawn tillage implements, including reversible and multiple-use ploughs adapted with farmers to potato growing systems on the Altiplano. Enhanced adoption and sales of animal tillage implements in the valleys. • New forage crops validated and promoted to increase productiveness of draught animals, conserve soil, and manage weeds and pests in the potato growing systems of the highlands • An integrated strategy to manage potato diseases validated, promoted and used by farmers in the low valleys in Bolivia, to improve productivity and tuber quality. INNOVA also sponsored innovative studies of the national potato market chain competitiveness, broadening the concept of “demand-led research” beyond to include demands from other actors of the market chain, besides farmers. INNOVA’s participatory studies identified opportunities for adding value in potato chains in three regions. INNOVA’s three case studies helped adapt the Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA). It generated innovations in four market segments: quality norms for chuño and for tunta products (dehydrated potato processed traditionally), native coloured potato chips and fresh native potatoes bagged for supermarkets. INNOVA supported a study on the competitiveness and importance of potatoes in Bolivia as an input for policy makers to prioritise this commodity. INNOVA developed a database with Bolivian research results for potato-based agriculture, and a strategy for disseminating INNOVA’s results. The database was shared with Bolivian research partners and is available on INNOVA’s web page (www.innovabolivia.org). Another important achievement of INNOVA was bringing three research and development organisations together. In the past, these organisations all promoted technical Innovation in potato-based farming systems, but they worked in relative isolation from one another. 5 Helping professionals from different institutions to work in the same places on a common research agenda has improved their efficiency, allowed them to share ideas and talent to link technology supply and demand on behalf of poor farmers. While INNOVA was conceived to fit the Bolivian context, valuable lessons and outputs could be applied elsewhere. For example, a new project funded by DFID/CPHP and implemented with CIP will synthesise and share proven research outputs on the market chain approach from INNOVA with R&D institutions in Uganda. Background INNOVA builds on agricultural research projects carried out in Bolivia in the 1990s with support from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). A review of activities supported by DFID’s Crop Protection Program