From technical advisory to innovation support services: coexistence and transition of support models in the agricultural sector in Madagascar

Résumé fourni par la source

Purpose The dual provision of technical advisory services and functional capacity development (FCD) services is not sufficient to support agricultural innovations, and needs to be enriched with other services. We explore the coexistence of support models implemented by organisations, in particular to what extent technical advisory services and FCD are combined with other innovation support services (ISS).Design/Methodology/Approach Based on a pre-established typology, we conducted 115 semi-structured interviews with agricultural service providers in Madagascar. Qualitative content data analysis was used to characterise the set of ISS they provide.Findings The results show that technical advisory services remain the most common type of ISS offered, while FCD is less common and is always combined with other ISS. We observed three support models implemented by organisations, depending on the type of organisation. Farmers’ organisations, NGOs and R&D projects have progressed the farthest in the transition by diversifying their offer of ISS.Practical implications We provide policy implications for the national Malagasy advisory strategy that will better account for the pluralism of organisations able to provide different kinds of advisory services and ISS.Theoretical implications We identified three different support models used by organisations that reveal their strategy for supporting innovation.Originality/Value We provide new insights into the pluralism of services offered and identify the organisations that have made the transition from providing ‘classic’ advisory services to providing innovation support services.

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