Identifying technology innovations for marginalized smallholders-A conceptual approach

•An ex-ante approach for identification of idle potentials of marginal rural areas and small holders by means of agricultural technology and institutional innovations.•The approach is divided into three main parts (mapping, surveying and evaluating) and several steps.•It guides actions to overcome current barriers to technology access and adoption for improving agricultural productivity.

This paper adds a contribution in the existing literature in terms of theoretical and conceptual background for the identification of idle potentials of marginal rural areas and people by means of technological and institutional innovations. The approach follows ex-ante assessment for identifying suitable technology and institutional innovations for marginalized smallholders in marginal areas-divided into three main parts (mapping, surveying and evaluating) and several steps. Finally, it contributes to the inclusion of marginalized smallholders by an improved way of understanding the interactions between technology needs, farming systems, ecological resources and poverty characteristics in the different segments of the poor, and to link these insights with productivity enhancing technologies.