Eco-efficiency and agricultural innovation systems in developing countries: Evidence from macro-level analysis.

Agricultural innovation is an essential component in the transition to more sustainable and resilient farming systems across the world. Innovations generally emerge from collective intelligence and action, but innovation systems are often poorly understood. This study explores the properties of inno...

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Main Authors: Christian Grovermann, Tesfamicheal Wossen, Adrian Muller, Karin Nichterlein
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2019-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214115
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spelling doaj-60d7fc3df1b0494ba295e9a2d6bb0b642021-03-03T20:45:33ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-01144e021411510.1371/journal.pone.0214115Eco-efficiency and agricultural innovation systems in developing countries: Evidence from macro-level analysis.Christian GrovermannTesfamicheal WossenAdrian MullerKarin NichterleinAgricultural innovation is an essential component in the transition to more sustainable and resilient farming systems across the world. Innovations generally emerge from collective intelligence and action, but innovation systems are often poorly understood. This study explores the properties of innovation systems and their contribution to increased eco-efficiency in agriculture. Using aggregate data and econometric methods, the eco-efficiency of 79 countries was computed and a range of factors relating to research, extension, business and policy was examined. Despite data limitations, the analysis produced some interesting insights. For instance public research spending has a positive significant effect for emerging economies, while no statistically significant effect was found for foreign aid for research. However, foreign aid for extension is important in less developed economies. These and other results suggest the importance of context-specific interventions rather than a "one size fits all" approach. Overall, the analysis illustrated the potential of a macro-level diagnostic approach for assessing the role of innovation systems for sustainability in agriculture.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214115
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Christian Grovermann
Tesfamicheal Wossen
Adrian Muller
Karin Nichterlein
spellingShingle Christian Grovermann
Tesfamicheal Wossen
Adrian Muller
Karin Nichterlein
Eco-efficiency and agricultural innovation systems in developing countries: Evidence from macro-level analysis.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Christian Grovermann
Tesfamicheal Wossen
Adrian Muller
Karin Nichterlein
author_sort Christian Grovermann
title Eco-efficiency and agricultural innovation systems in developing countries: Evidence from macro-level analysis.
title_short Eco-efficiency and agricultural innovation systems in developing countries: Evidence from macro-level analysis.
title_full Eco-efficiency and agricultural innovation systems in developing countries: Evidence from macro-level analysis.
title_fullStr Eco-efficiency and agricultural innovation systems in developing countries: Evidence from macro-level analysis.
title_full_unstemmed Eco-efficiency and agricultural innovation systems in developing countries: Evidence from macro-level analysis.
title_sort eco-efficiency and agricultural innovation systems in developing countries: evidence from macro-level analysis.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2019-01-01
description Agricultural innovation is an essential component in the transition to more sustainable and resilient farming systems across the world. Innovations generally emerge from collective intelligence and action, but innovation systems are often poorly understood. This study explores the properties of innovation systems and their contribution to increased eco-efficiency in agriculture. Using aggregate data and econometric methods, the eco-efficiency of 79 countries was computed and a range of factors relating to research, extension, business and policy was examined. Despite data limitations, the analysis produced some interesting insights. For instance public research spending has a positive significant effect for emerging economies, while no statistically significant effect was found for foreign aid for research. However, foreign aid for extension is important in less developed economies. These and other results suggest the importance of context-specific interventions rather than a "one size fits all" approach. Overall, the analysis illustrated the potential of a macro-level diagnostic approach for assessing the role of innovation systems for sustainability in agriculture.
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214115
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