Farmer-Led Innovations, Agricultural, and Economic Development in Developing Countries

Abstract

For farmers to explore and contribute to the growing needs of agricultural technologies, farmer-led innovations have been supported by mainstream research activities through donor funding. This research aims to identify different innovations introduced by farmer innovators and determine their impacts and challenges in its implementation. Through a systematic review, a multi-database approach was used to source relevant scientific publications key to the topic of review. Articles originating from developing countries, on farmer-led innovation and mostly peer-reviewed journal sources were used. The findings revealed several specific farmer-led innovations under broad category of livestock, crop husbandry, agro-processing and storage and post-harvest innovations. In some cases, productivity and incomes were improved due to the adoption of farmer-led innovations. Challenges in farmer-led innovations in developing countries include low education, a lack of donor interest, limited research capacity and lack of cost sharing. These challenges can negatively impact food security improvement in smallholder farm households.