Functional dynamics to strengthen an agroecological technological innovation process in a developing country The case of plantain multiplication technology by Plants from Stem Fragments (PIF) in Cameroon

Soule Adam Nawalyath, Temple Ludovic, Mathe Syndhia, Kwa Moïse. 2023. Functional dynamics to strengthen an agroecological technological innovation process in a developing country The case of plantain multiplication technology by Plants from Stem Fragments (PIF) in Cameroon. Journal of Innovation Economics and Management (42) : 103-125.

Liste HCERES des revues (en SHS) : oui

Thème(s) HCERES des revues (en SHS) : Economie-gestion

Résumé : Developing countries' agriculture today faces many challenges (rising poverty of farmers, food insecurity, climate change, etc.) that make agroecological innovations necessary (Tibi et al., 2022; Loconto, 2023; Matt, 2023). Once those innovations are created, there is at first a need for them to be used and, second, to be anchored in the national context. Third, there is a need for those innovations to evolve and expand in all the contexts in which they could be useful, integrating the adjustments due to implementation by their adopters. Those different steps do not occur in a straightforward way and sometimes require interventions from policy (Godin, 2017; Faure et al., 2018; Köhler et al., 2019). In Central and West Africa, the banana plantain is a priority food source (Bakouétila et al., 2016). In Cameroon, the banana plantain is not only cultivated as a single culture but it is also associated with various intercropping systems with annual and perennial crops such as coffee, cocoa, palm trees, and tubers (Dépigny et al., 2019). It helps to provide an income source for farmers and to shade annual crops during their early years. Cameroon is thus the 4th largest plantain producer in Central and West Africa (FAOSTAT, 2022). Production has increased exponentially by 450% between 1961 and 2020. Most of the increase in production was achieved by exploiting newly created areas through progressive deforestation from 1961 to 1993. Between 1985 and 1993, a regional agricultural research program developed a technological innovation for plantain propagation: plants from stem fragments (“PIF”) (Kwa, Temple, 2019). This technique increases the yield of plantain material a hundred fold compared to traditional methods and is simple and frugal compared to in vitro propagation (Sadom et al., 2010). It rapidly spreads beyond the frontier of Central Africa to West Africa, Latin America, the West Indies, and the Caribbean. It meets the demand of small producers and nurserymen to reduce their planting costs. Not only that, but it also allows for homogeneity in the age of the plants and the time of harvest. However, over the past decade, the absence of a regulatory framework for the certification of “PIF” plants has reduced the credibility of the technique and the closure of the Centre Africain de Recherche sur le Bananier et le Plantain (CARBAP) in 2017 coincided with a drop in plantain production at the national level. In consequence, producers' needs for healthy seedlings remain unsatisfied. Furthermore, there is still a lack of professionalization of nurserymen, as with the stabilization of seedlings' production and distribution outside the support mechanisms subsidized by the public authorities and by international cooperation. These three limiting factors, i.e., unsatisfied demand for healthy seedlings, non-professional supply, and the lack of sanitary certification of seedling production, questions the ability of the technique to sustain itself over the long term beyond the support raised to develop it. This sustainability is needed to maintain alleviation of the cost burden for farmers, to increase their productivity, and to favor preservation of the environment. Using the functional analysis from Technological Innovation System' literature (Hekkert et al., 2007; Suurs, 2009), we question the mechanisms of the “PIF” technology process. What are they? And what are the hindrances? Is the process performant? Functions are defined as the purpose of the activities undertaken by the actors in a system (Hekkert et al., 2007; Bergek et al., 2008). According to the literature, technological innovation processes are characterized by the building of the system, a functional loop that requires the coordinated action of actors to strengthen the guidance of the search (orientation of the system toward a technical choice adapted to the innovation) and the advocacy coalition to support its development, market formation, and resource mobilization (Suurs, 2009). Considering the disappearance of the main actor of the technique's lobby and the absence of the regulatory framework for technique certification, we assume that, with the facts presented, it is the weakness in forming an innovation system which hinders the success of this agricultural technological innovation. Our work hypothesis is that innovation support services (ISS) (Faure et al., 2019; Mathé et al., 2019), are activities which activate innovation process functions. Based on our result, we draw policy implications. The second section presents a theoretical and conceptual framework of functional analysis. the third section then presents the materials and methods. The data were collected through a qualitative survey conducted with different categories of actors involved in the process, and the consultation of secondary sources. Our analysis combined a historical and a functional approach to identify the history and mechanisms of this agroecological innovation process. The results and a brief discussion are stated in the fourth section. We end the article with a discussion and a conclusion. Our work highlights the hindrances involved in the process, with regard to the delay in guidance concerning the search and the lack of system building. Appropriate policy recommendations were provided and a contribution was made to the definition of functions.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : innovation, agroécologie, adoption de l'innovation, pauvreté, développement durable, Theobroma cacao, changement technologique, changement climatique, banane plantain

Mots-clés géographiques Agrovoc : Cameroun, Afrique centrale

Mots-clés libres : Banana plantain, Appropriate technology, Innovation support services, Event History Analysis, Developing countries

Classification Agris : F02 - Multiplication végétative des plantes
E90 - Structure agraire

Champ stratégique Cirad : CTS 2 (2019-) - Transitions agroécologiques

Agences de financement européennes : European Commission

Agences de financement hors UE : African Union, Agence Française de Développement, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, National Research and Innovation Fund for Development in Burkina Faso, Ministère de la Recherche scientifique et de l'Innovation du Cameroun

Projets sur financement : (EU) Strengthening Innovation Support SERVices to enhance INNOVations for sustainable food production, (EU) A long term EU-Africa research and innovation partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture

Auteurs et affiliations

• Soule Adam Nawalyath, CIRAD-ES-UMR INNOVATION (FRA)
• Temple Ludovic, CIRAD-ES-UMR INNOVATION (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0001-8723-4245
• Mathe Syndhia, CIRAD-ES-UMR INNOVATION (GHA) ORCID: 0000-0002-6981-514X
• Kwa Moïse, CARBAP (CMR)

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/606072/)

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