agrl_innovations_in_ssa.pdf?utm_content=buffercb41d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Figure 6: Private sector roles
Private firms’ support for research and extension occurred when they saw direct benefit to
their business. In Zambia, support for research and extension in CA provides a good example. In
this case Durant, a private cotton company, supported ZNFU’s establishment of a Conservation
Farming Unit to promote suitable practices for maize and cotton and funded a research farm to
undertake further research on CA.
However, in the case of less-valuable crops, for which the private sector cannot benefit from
their investments, public research and extension remain essential.
Although farmers and their representative bodies are the largest component of the private
sector, because they were major beneficiaries of the innovation process, they have been
excluded from this categorisation,
Farmer roles
In some cases, for example, in Botswana’s cattle industry, farmers successfully helped to shape
the policy environment through production of a well researched sector study that provided the
basis for consultation and discussion. However such a process requires effective organisation,
funding and political access. Unfortunately in most cases smallholder farmers were not been
able to directly influence policymaking. In the case of the cotton sector in Malawi other
stakeholders are supporting the organisation and establishment of a National Cotton Farmers
Association. In other cases NGOs supported the establishment, coordination and facilitation of
farmer groups and representative bodies.
The case studies demonstrated that farmers respond when new technology is available and
at the same time there is a financially attractive market. This is typified when the two are
A comparative analysis of the case studies
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