Climate change and variability present new challenges for agriculture; particularly for
smallholder farmers who continue to be the mainstay of food production in developing
countries. Its effects, while widespread, will be locally specific and socially differentiated,
exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and uncertainties. In such situations, the innovations
and adaptive strategies of communities living in conditions of rapid change can provide
valuable lessons for those seeking to shape agricultural innovation systems responsive
to food insecurity and climate change.
This paper draws lessons from selected country experiences of adaptation and
innovation in pursuit of food security goals. It presents three case studies of systems of
innovation operating in contrasting socio-economic, geographical and agro-ecological
contexts and facing different challenges. In Southeast Asian post-Green Revolution rice
cultivation we trace innovations responding to unintended consequences of rapid
technological change. In India we focus on attempts to recover degraded semi-arid lands
and the degraded livelihoods, lands and lives bypassed by the Green Revolution in a
rapidly developing now middle income economy and a functioning democracy; in
Southern Africa we explore responses to similar social and environmental challenges to
those in the Indian context, but in low income economies with less developed institutions
and democratic practice. We review each case in terms of four features of innovation
systems more likely to build, sustain and/or enhance food security in situations of rapid
change and uncertainty: a) recognition of the multi-functional nature of agriculture and
the opportunity to realize multiple benefits; (b) access to diversity as the basis for
flexibility and resilience; (c) concern for enhancing the capacity of decision makers at all
levels; and (d) perseverance and continuity of effort aimed at securing well-being for
those who depend on agriculture and its outputs. Finally we draw implications of this
analysis for policy makers and other stakeholders in agricultural innovation systems.