Bertus Wennink

Staff

Bertus Wennink (MSc) is an agro-ecologist with 25 years of experience in advisory, training and applied research in sub-Saharan Africa. His fields of expertise include: farmer entrepreneurship and value chain development; research and extension services; rural development policies and strategies; and natural resource management. He is also an experienced trainer, workshop facilitator and conflict mediator.

Publications

West African Food System Resilience

The West African region supplies most of the food for its growing population, which now exceeds 400 million. West African countries meet most of the region’s needs for coarse grains, tuber and root crops, vegetables, fruits, and meat (excluding some areas of fast-growing consumption such as chicken).

Authors

B de Steenhuijsen Piters, J Nelen, B Wennink, V Ingram, F Tondel, F Kruijssen, J Aker

Year of Publication

2021

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L’essor des petits producteurs agricoles au Burkina Faso

L’approche du Projet d’Amélioration de la Productivité agricole et de la Sécurité Alimentaire.

Authors

Dr. S Sawadogo-Kaboré, JM Kambiré, G Tapsoba-Maré,, AN Ouattara, AL Aouya, A Kaboré, T Zongo, R Traore-Carabiri, N Kaboré, G Somé, E Zouré-Da, Z Nébié, U Belemsobgo, DK Somé, PJLV Kafando, D Zongo, G Baltissen, B Wennink

Year of Publication

2020

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The governance of agricultural extension systems

Can agricultural extension systems deliver quality services to smallholder producers, often in remote areas? Yes, there is evidence that this is achieved in some developing and emerging economies. But this is by no means a common practice, and many extension systems continue to struggle with weak performance. This is the first paper on this subject in a series of six: The governance of agricultural extension systems.

Authors

Verena Bitzer , Bertus Wennink , Bart de Steenhuijsen Piters

Year of Publication

2016

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Farmers in the driver’s seat

Authors

B. Wennink, M. Mugoya, L. Kimenye, H. Posthumus

Year of Publication

2014

Links
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La gouvernance du foncier rural au Bénin

Authors

Abibath H. Idrissou, B. Wennink, Francine Obura, Gerard Baltissen (ed.)

Year of Publication

2014

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Bringing New Ideas into Practice

Authors

P Gildemacher, R Mur, R. Bymolt, B. Wennink

Year of Publication

2013

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La Filiere Coton Tisse Sa Toile Au Benin

Authors

B. Wennink, J.W. Meenink, M. Djihoun

Year of Publication

2013

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Do all roads lead to market?

Smoothly functioning food markets are vital for food security. They give smallholder farmers incentives to generate a surplus they can sell, and to invest in new production and postharvest management technologies. They also ensure that food reaches consumers in deficit areas. In doing so, they contribute to food security and higher incomes, the main goal of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Authors

Mariana Wongtschowski, B. Wennink, E. Kambewa, M. Konlambigue

Year of Publication

2013

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Bâtir l’entrepreneuriat paysan au Mali

Authors

B. Wennink, B Togola, T. Hilhorst

Year of Publication

2012

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Bulletin 380 – Outsourcing agricultural advisory services

Authors

W. Heemskerk, E. S. Nederlof, B. Wennink

Year of Publication

2008

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Bulletin 376 – Access of the poor to agricultural services

Authors

B. Wennink, E. S. Nederlof, W. Heemskerk

Year of Publication

2007

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Bulletin 373 – Stakeholder-driven funding mechanisms for agricultural innovation

Agricultural development aimed at poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) requires greatly accelerated technological, organizational and
institutional innovation. Emphasis on strengthening the demand side for
agricultural service provision and the call for a separation of responsibilities for policy making, funding and implementation have resulted in alternative funding mechanisms for agricultural research and development (R&D) at national and local levels. The new financing arrangements aim at enhancing multi-stakeholder resource control, increasingly involving research clients and the end-users of agricultural production and processing technology in decisions concerning the allocation of staff, money and infrastructure. It is envisaged that the reorganized funding mechanisms for agricultural innovation will combine greater efficiency in resource management with improved effectiveness in innovation development, through stronger client control, thus better addressing the agricultural and natural resource management needs, particularly of small-scale farmers and processors.

Authors

W. Heemskerk, B. Wennink

Year of Publication

2006

Links
KIT Bulletin Series
Downloads
Download 884_Bull373-web-text
Bulletin 374 – Farmers’ organizations and agricultural innovation

Since the 1990s Sub-Saharan African countries have embarked on major
agricultural sector reforms, which led to changing and innovative roles for the public and private sectors as well as civil society organizations. Farmers’ organizations (FOs) now increasingly voice the needs of their members in various fora on policy-making and orienting service provision. They are solicited by the private sector to enhance chain development, including those for new markets, and they play a role in local development planning. FOs are now, more than ever, actively involved in agricultural development, which requires institutional, organizational and technological innovation in order to be successful. Providing user-oriented research, extension, and training services is therefore a prerequisite for technological innovation. Institutionalizing participatory methods, decentralizing services, creating multi-actor platforms and multi-stakeholder driven funding mechanisms all enhance demand-driven agricultural services. The private-sector and/or public-private arrangements currently play an increasing role in research and extension. FOs are thus evolving in an environment where stakeholders’ interests diverge and/or converge. However, the effective use of new technologies to become innovations is often defined by conditions other than simple access to knowledge and information; it often requires appropriate, innovative institutional and organizational settings. The agricultural innovation systems concept therefore considers links between actors, interactive learning processes, and the policy and institutional contexts that govern the system in order to better understand the generation, dissemination and application of knowledge. The agricultural innovation systems concept also emphasizes the need for all stakeholders to work together towards innovation for development

Authors

B. Wennink, W. Heemskerk

Year of Publication

2006

Links
KIT Bulletin Series
Downloads
Download 913_Case-Study-Tanzania2
Bulletin 368 – Building social capital for agricultural innovation

Renewed attention exists for agricultural development in SSA as the engine for rural development. This results in part from the drive for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and in particular MDG 1: a 50% reduction of (predominantly rural) poverty in SSA. It is realized that in order to achieve the MDGs, a more effective approach to innovation for agricultural development is needed. The opportunities presented through the World Trade Agreements have led to changing roles of the three main groups of actors (i.e. public, private and civil society), in agricultural service delivery. At the same time, urgent demands for technological innovation have led to important organizational and institutional innovations in the local Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems (AKISs). Decentralization of public administration and deconcentration of service delivery have encouraged empowerment of FGs and farmer organizations in agricultural innovation. Slowly the local innovation system is shifting from a linear ‘Transfer of Technology’ (TOT) process (from research to extension to farmers) to a more systemic partnership-based co-innovation process. FGs and farmer organizations are to play a stronger role at different levels in the national and local innovation systems with a formalized farmer representative role at national and meso-levels.

Authors

W. Heemskerk, B. Wennink

Year of Publication

2005

Links
KIT Bulletin Series
Downloads
Download 761_Bull368-Building-web

Other publications

Farmers’ organizations and agricultural innovation. Case studies from Benin, Rwanda and Tanzania (2006).
Access of the poor to agricultural services. The role of farmers’ organizations in social inclusion (2007).
Building social capital for potato production and marketing: producer organizations’ initiatives in north-western Rwanda. In: Producer organizations and market chains. Facilitating trajectories of change in developing countries (2007).
Outsourcing agricultural advisory services. Enhancing rural innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa (2008).
Designing innovation platforms. In: Putting heads together. Agricultural innovation platforms in practice (2011).
The Malawi pig sector innovation platform. In: Bringing new ideas into practice. Experiments with agricultural innovation. Learning from Research Into Use in Africa (2012).
FUPRO-Benin: preparing the ground for value chain links and sector policies. In: Empowering smallholder farmers in Markets. Experiences with farmer-led research for advocacy (2013).

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