Panel 137: The Political Economy of Agricultural Technical Change

Poverty is widespread in Sub-Saharan Africa, and much of it is located to rural areas. Since agriculture is the economic activity that involves a majority of the population in many African countries, and since productivity is generally low in African staple crop cultivation, there is wide agreement that productivity increases is central to poverty reduction in this region.
Several research traditions have tried to explain the lack, or low level of, productivity change in African staple crop agriculture. The theory of induced technical change, the theory of innovation diffusion and the innovation system approach have all made limited contributions. However, there seems to be lacking understanding in how all these approaches relate to the political economy of innovation. Hence, a fundamental question to ask is technology on whose terms?

The purpose of the panel is to dwell on political economy analysis, stakeholders and relations between actors in innovation systems in order to enhance the understanding of innovation possibilities for poverty reduction in African staple crop agriculture.