Updated: January
2009
South
Africa Country Programme
Country Programme Coordinator Information:
Contact person: Ms Brigid Letty (Institute of Natural Resources)
PO Box 100 396, Scottsville 3209
South Africa
E-mail: lettyb AT ukzn.ac.za
Farmer Access to Innovation Resources (FAIR)
Contact person: Mr Anton Krone
E-mail: antonkrone AT wol.co.za
HIV/AIDS and PID (HAPID)
Contact person: Mr Maxwell Mudhara
E-mail: mudhara AT ukzn.ac.za |
The Institute of Natural Resources (INR) is the facilitating NGO for PROLINNOVA-South Africa, which aims to build and strengthen partnerships between the various stakeholders involved in agricultural research and development in South Africa.
A National Steering Committee (NSC) is responsible for overall strategic direction of the South African programme, with provincial task teams (PTTs) driving activities at a provincial level. The NSC and PTT members come from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Farmer Support Group at University of KwaZulu-Natal, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs, Limpopo Department of Agriculture, the NGOs Ecolink and CAP, University of Limpopo and PELUM (Participatory Ecological Land Use Management)–South Africa.
The programme in South Africa was launched in 2004. Sub-programmes include:
- The HIV/AIDS and PID (HAPID) initiative that is investigating the role that local innovation (LI) and participatory innovation development (PID) can play in terms of either preventing infection or overcoming the challenges associated with HIV/AIDS.
- Farmer Access to Innovation Resources (FAIR), which has involved the establishment of a local innovation support facility to promote LI and PID.
- Farmer-led documentation (FLD) pilot, taking place in North West Province, that is looking at the advantages of FLD as a tool for facilitating sharing and communication.
The focus in 2008 has been on the establishment of three PID pilots (in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces). The pilots in Limpopo and Mpumalanga are both based on testing various indigenous methods of controlling pests on crops. The pilot in KwaZulu-Natal is investigating an alternative method of growing potatoes, which involves the use of a thick grass mulch rather than placing the seed potatoes below the soil surface. The PID pilots are all partnerships between farmers and other organisations, including NGOs, provincial departments of agriculture and ARC.
Other activities that have been undertaken since the establishment of the network include:
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Documenting cases of local innovation identified through the PID workshops that have been held in various provinces – this led to the publication of a number of brochures and catalogues
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Holding a National Stakeholder Workshop on experiences in participatory research and development in South Africa and joint action planning
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Capacity building of development practitioners and farmers in the concepts of LI and PID
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Integration of the concepts of LI and PID into curricula at a number of tertiary institutions in an effort to mainstream these development approaches.
A key concern of the programme is how to protect farmers' intellectual property rights and maintain their competitive advantage, while encouraging them to share innovations so as to stimulate dynamic innovation processes that bring together different knowledge systems.
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