Beyond the supply chains of technology and commodity. Challenges to strengthening mango innovation systems in Andhra Pradesh, India
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20425941211250534 |
| Pages | 175-193 |
| Published date | 26 July 2012 |
| Date | 26 July 2012 |
| Author | Laxmi Prasad Pant,Helen Hambly-Odame,Andy Hall,Rasheed Sulaiman V. |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Environmental technology & innovation |
Beyond the supply chains of
technology and commodity
Challenges to strengthening mango innovation
systems in Andhra Pradesh, India
Laxmi Prasad Pant and Helen Hambly-Odame
School of Environmental Design and Rural Development,
University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
Andy Hall
Learning, Innovation and Knowledge Network (LINK) South Asia, Hyderabad,
India and United Nations University Maastricht Economic and Social Research and
Training Centre on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), Maastricht,
The Netherlands, and
Rasheed Sulaiman V.
Learning, Innovation and Knowledge Network (LINK) South Asia, Hyderabad,
India and Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy (CRISP),
Hyderabad, India
Abstract
Purpose – Despite favourable agro-ecological conditions and being the largest international mango
producer, India still struggles to build competence in sustainable mango production and post-harvest.
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on innovation capacity development, and to
explore aspects of innovation systems ideas in the analysis of mango production and marketing by
small-scale farmers in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses case study research methods to an analysis of
the sector’s recent history combined with an empirical account of systems thinking on integrating
technology supply chains and commodity supply chains.
Findings – Findings suggest that the case of mango production and post-harvest in the Krishna
district is a dismal one and the remedial actions to strengthen mango innovation systems in the
district relate to aspects of capacity development to promote upward spiral of learning and
innovation, and involve multistakeholder processes to integrate the supply chains of technology
and commodity.
Originality/value – This paper, with its aim to contribute to the literature on innovation capacity
development, brings together conventionally distinct bodies of literature on strengthening innovation
systems and developing stakeholder capacity. The value of this paper lies on how it addresses
technology supply and commodity supply issues in the analysis of competence challenges to
strengthening mango innovation systems performance.
Keywords Complex systems, Innovation, Mango, High-value, National competence,
Supply chain management, Learning, South Asia, India
Paper type Research p aper
1. Introduction
This paper explores aspects of innovation systems ideas in the analysis of sustainable
mango production and marketing by poor farmers in India, a part of the world where
agro-ecological conditions are highly favourable for this type of crop (Zeven and
Zhukosky, 1975). Indian subcontinent is known as the centre of diversity of mango
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WorldJour nal of Science, Technology
and Sustainable Development
Vol. 9 No.3, 2012
pp. 175-193
rEmeraldGroup Publishing Limited
2042-5945
DOI 10.1108/20425941211250534
175
Mango
innovation
systems
with a host of cultivated and wild varieties of mangoes. In fact India has maintained
over 650 mango variety accessions, exceeding 500 varieties in a single research farm in
Andhra Pradesh, and is ahead of most middle and low-income countries in terms of
technological innovations in horticulture and related disciplines (Vijaya et al., 2003;
Mattoo et al., 2007). Nevertheless, despite being the largest producer of mangoes and
accounting about 43 per cent of the world’s production, India still struggles to build
momentum in rapidly-emerging export markets. This paper argues that very probably
the root of the problem lies in a dysfunctional innovation system wherethe p atterns of
interaction needed to stimulate innovation and growth are either absent or much more
poorly developed than is required. In this way weak capacity to innovate has severely
undermined the comparative advantages provided by otherwise favourable ag ro-
ecological conditions for sustainable mango production and post-harvest management.
The next section reviews and summarises the relevant innovation systems
literature paying particular attention to those properties felt to be central to integrated
technology development and supply-chain management in smallscale agricultural
production in poor countries. Then the methods section outlines how reviews of
secondary material published by the Crop Post-Harvest Programme (CPHP) under the
British Department for International Development (DFID)’s eleven-year Renewable
Natural Resources Research Strategy between 1995 and 2006 supplements the
empirical material presented in this paper, which has been derived from interviews
with key stakeholder groups and direct observation in the Krishna district of southern
Indian state of Andhra. Its focus is on an investigation of learning and innovation
around the Vijaya Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (hereafter referred to as
Vijaya), a farmers’ organisation that went through two successive restructuring
periods since its establishment in 1992. For ease of exposition we call the grouping of
smallholder farmers and other actors surrounding this network of mango producers in
the Krishna district the “sector”. Then Case study provides a short historical account
of the sector’s development from a relatively low point in the 1980s and setting out
institutional changes that it was hoped would allow the sector to capitalise on growing
export markets. Despite a number of o rganisational and institutional changes,
innovation systems performance remained poor, but as a result of this failure,
mango stakeholders turned to recognise the role of produce (e.g. premium quality and
organic mangoes) and market (e.g. domestic supermarkets) differentiation strategies to
capture emerging regional and domestic markets than indiscriminate integ ration of
smallholder mango growers in the inter national export markets. Then the paper
discusses systemic issues of interactive learning and innovation that se em to have
adversely affected the sector’s overall innovative systems performance, offers a series
of policy relevant learning lessons, and finally draws conclusio ns.
2. Review of relevant innovation systems literature
The idea of an innovation system is now widely used to explore the innovation process
and capacities at national (e.g. Edquist, 1997; Freeman, 1987; Lundvall, 1992), regional
(e.g. Asheim et al., 2011; Cooke, 1992) and sectoral (e.g. Malerba, 2004; Klerkx and
Leeuwis, 2008, 2009) levels. More recently innovation systems ideas have gained
attention of international development researchers and practitioners (e.g. Hall et al.,
2002; Pant and Hambly-Odame, 2009; World Bank, 2006). At its simplest, the concept
departs from earlier notions of innovation as a research-driven process of technology
transfer and, instead, views it as a social process where different sources of knowledge
and ideas are put into use. The concept gives centre stage to two interconnected
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