History and Impact of AKST | 43

ippines, a network of farmers, academics and researchers, opposes introducing genetic engineering technology.  Or­ganizations in research and extension might link with net­works to enhance innovation.
     The linear model of technology development and pro­motion—research to extension to farmer—continues to set patterns of interaction and alliance. However, the concept of a national innovation system offers a novel framework in how institutions help innovations feed into economic growth. Partnerships remain important in agricultural devel­opment. Forging partnerships, however, requires resources. Nonetheless, new modes of partnerships contribute to insti­tutional change.
     Although there is no blueprint for promoting partner­ships, supporting stakeholder meetings or holding collab­orative activities may help develop them. These partnerships have to be supplemented with effort to evaluate progress and outcomes, and participants must have the vision and willingness to make needed institutional changes (Table 2-4).

2.3.2     Capacity of AKST organizations in generating, accessing, disseminating and adapting knowledge and information
Science and technology drive economic growth. Yet ESAP countries struggle to increase research spending, upgrade their scientific workforce and improve agricultural research

 

facilities. While accomplishing these aims reflects capabil­ity, it does not guarantee contribution to knowledge and economic development without support systems that en­courage public access, dissemination and application of the knowledge and information gained (Tables 2-5, 2-6).
     Agricultural research in ESAP still suffers from lack of political support, insufficient funding, minimal links be­tween researchers and users, and inadequate library and information services (Rao, 1994). Most of the research in­frastructure and institutional capacity is also weak (Demb-ner,  1994). The World Competitiveness Yearbook 2006 placed many developing countries at the lower rung because of inadequacies in science and technology infrastructure and capability. Korea and Singapore had relatively high scientific infrastructure, compared with the lower-ranked Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. From 2003 to 2006, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand did not improve in the overall world competitiveness ranking. India made a significant upgrade, from 50 to 29. These results stressed the strong need for ESAP countries to develop their own agricultural research capability.

2.3.3     Investment in AKST
Throughout the 1900s, growth in agricultural productivity considerably reduced poverty and hunger and fueled eco­nomic progress. Technological advances over the past 50 years have allowed farmers to feed twice as many people

Table 2-4. Potential ways to facilitate institutional change.

What to do

How best to encourage adoption to change

Learning from the emerging institutional arrangements in the region

This would necessitate a detailed analysis of cases where the various actors in specific contexts come together and collaborated to solve particular problems or address new challenges. What kind of institutional changes were made? How were these sustained?

Develop a culture of learning within the organization

Institutional learning cultivates new ways of doing things. It specifically asks questions such as what rules, habits and conventions have to be changed to do a new task or to do an old one better? (Hall et al., 2005). Organize "capacity development" programs to address the institutional barriers. Opportunities could be created and if need be specifically funded to bring about change. Bring staff together to reflect on lessons learned and assess the required elements for improvement.

Develop long-term mutually beneficial relationships

Create opportunities to bring different actors together and develop joint activities. Development of collaborative projects and the necessary resources to be mentored over a period of time. Funding could be used to facilitate the development of collaborative projects.

Use better framework of analysis

Similar to the "innovation systems approach": Analyze the patterns of interaction as a framework for planning interventions (World Bank, 2006). This would necessitate detailed exploration of the innovation systems and organization of capacity development programs.

Source: Authors' elaboration.