A strategy for strengthening participatory technology development in agricultural and natural resources innovations systems: the case of Nepal

The underlying features of agricultural and natural resource research and technology systems operating in low-income countries have changed over the last couple of decades. New actors have emerged in the form of non-governmental and community-based organisations and private-sector agro-entrepreneurs to take part in agricultural technology development and promotion - an area of activity which was generally the preserve of public institutions. This has resulted in the development of alternative institutional models for participatory technology development that involve new types of linkages between actors. The shift of paradigm in the conceptualisation of agricultural and natural resource innovation systems has been occasioned by, amongst other things, changes in partner/client relationships and funding sources and mechanisms for science and technology systems at local, national and international levels. Set against this background, the paper explores issues that the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) would need to consider while drawing up and developing new strategies for participatory technology development in Nepal.