{"title":"Actor roles and linkages in the agricultural innovation system: options for establishing a cocoa innovation platform in Ghana","authors":"J. Onumah, F. Asante, R. Osei","doi":"10.1080/2157930X.2021.1965752","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Innovation platforms promote interactions among actors in an innovation system. Given the importance of the cocoa sub-sector to the Ghanaian economy, having an innovation platform is imperative for increasing innovative performance. Using qualitative data collection tools we obtained in-depth information on the roles and linkages of actors to provide options for the establishment/strengthening of the cocoa innovation platform in Ghana. Findings from the thematic and social network analysis suggest that stimulating the participation of farmer groups, actors in research, extension, policy, and the private sector is important as they have the power to attract and sustain relevant actors to the network and hold the structure of the cocoa innovation platform together. The study contributes to the literature by being the first study that has applied the SNA tool to the cocoa innovation system in Ghana and also by emphasizing the prominent role farmers and private sector actors play in such networks.","PeriodicalId":37815,"journal":{"name":"Innovation and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"9","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Innovation and Development","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2157930X.2021.1965752","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"DEVELOPMENT STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 9
Abstract
ABSTRACT Innovation platforms promote interactions among actors in an innovation system. Given the importance of the cocoa sub-sector to the Ghanaian economy, having an innovation platform is imperative for increasing innovative performance. Using qualitative data collection tools we obtained in-depth information on the roles and linkages of actors to provide options for the establishment/strengthening of the cocoa innovation platform in Ghana. Findings from the thematic and social network analysis suggest that stimulating the participation of farmer groups, actors in research, extension, policy, and the private sector is important as they have the power to attract and sustain relevant actors to the network and hold the structure of the cocoa innovation platform together. The study contributes to the literature by being the first study that has applied the SNA tool to the cocoa innovation system in Ghana and also by emphasizing the prominent role farmers and private sector actors play in such networks.
期刊介绍：
conomic development and growth depend as much on social innovations as on technological advances. However, the discourse has often been confined to technological innovations in the industrial sector, with insufficient attention being paid to institutional and organisational change and to the informal sector which in some countries in the South plays a significant role. Innovation and Development is an interdisciplinary journal that adopts a broad approach to the study of innovation, in all sectors of the economy and sections of society, furthering understanding of the multidimensional process of innovation and development. It provides a forum for the discussion of issues pertaining to innovation, development and their interaction, both in the developed and developing world, with the aim of encouraging sustainable and inclusive growth. The journal encourages articles that approach the problem broadly in line with innovation system perspective focusing on the evolutionary and institutional structure of innovation and development. This focus cuts across the disciplines of Economics, Sociology, Political Science, Science and Technology Policy, Geography and Development Practice. In a section entitled Innovation in Practice, the journal includes short reports on innovative experiments with proven development impact with a view to encouraging scholars to undertake systematic inquiries on such experiments. Brief abstracts of degree awarded PhD theses in the broad area of concern for the journal and brief notes which highlight innovative ways of using internet resources and new databases or software are also published.
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