Abstract

Multi-stakeholder platforms facilitate interaction between stakeholders in the agricultural innovation system. A multi-stakeholder platform is essential to enhance the innovation of avocado value chain stakeholders and avocado planting as a climate-smart practice. Avocados can make a significant contribution to food security and nutrition. Research has shown that research on climate-smart agriculture mainly focuses on scientific and technological solutions, rather than attempting to comprehend the economic and social dimensions of this study. The study's goal was to identify the interactions between stakeholders in the avocado value chain. The data for this study were gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire and focus group discussions. The study employs the concept of an innovation systems perspective and investigates social network analysis in the context of stakeholders. Information sharing, roles and functions of stakeholders were used as proxies to denote communication. In this study, the multi-stakeholder platform's role in fostering a supportive forum was interpreted as access to information, knowledge, and resources. Findings indicate that smallholder farmers, support service providers and market stakeholders need to be strengthened and empowered to adopt and implement inclusive innovations. This was essential to ensure that stakeholders throughout the value chain had access to tools and resources to promote avocado yield for food, industry, and climate-smart practices. The study concludes that there are distinctions in the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in the avocado innovation system. Farmers have been discovered to innovate using relevant expertise, even though they are primarily considered users of innovation. The study's recommendation is that smallholder farmers be empowered through capacity building to influence agricultural value chain development and environmental sustainability through information technology.

Key words: Avocado value chain, Centrality measure, Domain, Linkages, Multi-stakeholder, Social networks