Proof of Use Grants Embedding first users in sustainable agricultural innovation
BY PROFESSOR IBROKHIM Y. ABDURAKHMONOV
This Perspective proposes a public grant model that brings intended users into agricultural innovation from the outset. It explores how grants can support first-use platforms, share early-stage risk, build local capability, measure social and environmental outcomes, and plan a path beyond public funding. An Uzbekistan programme is presented as a preliminary administrative illustration, not as an impact evaluation.
Professor Abdurakhmonov is affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Centre of Genomics and Bioinformatics at the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. His full biography can be found here.
Central Asia is often viewed mainly through the constraints of being landlocked, water-stressed, and climate-exposed. You have argued that food systems can help transform the region from landlocked to land-linked. What does that future look like, and what practical policies can ensure that science and innovation reach farmers across national borders?