Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges

The central argument in this report is that most policy research on African agriculture is irrelevant to agricultural and overall economic policy in Africa, and that the policy research community-and the agricultural economics profession in particular-must shoulder a significant part of the blame fo...

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Autor principal: Omamo, Steven Were
Formato: Informe técnico
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Service for National Agricultural Research 2003
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/136354
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author Omamo, Steven Were
author_browse Omamo, Steven Were
author_facet Omamo, Steven Were
author_sort Omamo, Steven Were
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The central argument in this report is that most policy research on African agriculture is irrelevant to agricultural and overall economic policy in Africa, and that the policy research community-and the agricultural economics profession in particular-must shoulder a significant part of the blame for this state of affairs. A wide-ranging review of recent research reveals that agricultural economists have failed to put Africa's agricultural problems on the policy agenda in more than abstract fashions. We have failed to come to grips adequately with the real problems facing agricultural policymakers, namely, how to assess the operational feasibility of alternative policy options, and how to promote the feasibility of the most highly valued alternatives. A different approach to agricultural policy research is therefore suggested, built more on 'how' questions and less on 'what' questions and 'why' questions. Implications of such an approach for research design and conduct are drawn. Piloting action research in case studies of initiatives involving promising institutional innovations offers scope for identifying convincing 'how' answers. To implement such approaches, agricultural economists and other policy researchers require new skills and partnerships
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spelling CGSpace1363542025-01-09T06:04:14Z Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges Omamo, Steven Were agricultural economics agricultural policies economic policies research policies research policies innovation The central argument in this report is that most policy research on African agriculture is irrelevant to agricultural and overall economic policy in Africa, and that the policy research community-and the agricultural economics profession in particular-must shoulder a significant part of the blame for this state of affairs. A wide-ranging review of recent research reveals that agricultural economists have failed to put Africa's agricultural problems on the policy agenda in more than abstract fashions. We have failed to come to grips adequately with the real problems facing agricultural policymakers, namely, how to assess the operational feasibility of alternative policy options, and how to promote the feasibility of the most highly valued alternatives. A different approach to agricultural policy research is therefore suggested, built more on 'how' questions and less on 'what' questions and 'why' questions. Implications of such an approach for research design and conduct are drawn. Piloting action research in case studies of initiatives involving promising institutional innovations offers scope for identifying convincing 'how' answers. To implement such approaches, agricultural economists and other policy researchers require new skills and partnerships 2003-03 2024-01-04T07:48:24Z 2024-01-04T07:48:24Z Report https://hdl.handle.net/10568/136354 en Open Access application/pdf International Service for National Agricultural Research Omamo, S.W. 2003. Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges. ISNAR Research Report 21. The Hague: International Service for National Agricultural Research.
spellingShingle agricultural economics
agricultural policies
economic policies
research policies
research
policies
innovation
Omamo, Steven Were
Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges
title Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges
title_full Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges
title_fullStr Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges
title_full_unstemmed Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges
title_short Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges
title_sort policy research on african agriculture trends gaps and challenges
topic agricultural economics
agricultural policies
economic policies
research policies
research
policies
innovation
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/136354
work_keys_str_mv AT omamostevenwere policyresearchonafricanagriculturetrendsgapsandchallenges