By Andy Hall. United Nations University Institute for New Technologies UNU-INTECH

The agricultural sector of many of world.s poorest developing countries is experiencing a largely unnoticed renaissance. This time it is not the international community that has intervened with high yielding crops to win the race to produce enough food to feed "the starving millions". Instead it is home-grown good news from countries like Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana. Here a mixture of entrepreneurial flair, far-sighted national planning and good old-fashioned luck and serendipity are creating a new type of dynamic agriculture notable for a diversity of products that includes cut flowers, shrimps, pineapples, medicinal herbs and processed foods.

Recent research at UNU Institute for New Technologies (UNU-INTECH) is exploring how countries can build on the vitality and dynamism of these New Agriculture sectors. The central question for farmers, processors and exporters finding them selves increasingly exposed to the turbulence of regional and international markets is how to innovate in order to cope, compete and survive. UNU-INTECH.s research on this topic, which it is doing in collaboration with the World Bank, is focusing on how the capacity to innovate can be most effectively developed in ways that contribute to the poverty reduction and sustainability targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Paper available for download at http://update.unu.edu/downloads/37New%20Agriculture.pdf [1]