Improving the effectiveness of agricultural extension services in supporting farmers to adapt to climate change: Insights from northeastern Ghana

In the past decade, many information and communication technology (ICT) projects in Indian agriculture have emerged, either substituting or supporting extension services by providing farmers with access to agricultural information. ICTs have the potential to reach many farmers with timely and accessible content. But the content that the ICTs deliver has more relevance if it is localized and context specific, as this improves the value and actionability of the information, which can have important impacts on farm management. The localization of content is influenced by how the ICT projects access, assess, apply, and deliver content. This paper examines the content development and management processes occurring in six well-known ICT projects in Indian agriculture. There are important lessons to be learned from a case study of this process. Content management and development through ICTs is important to examine because public extension services may be able to increase their efficiency and effectiveness by using these tools to support their work with farmers. Though there are differences in scale and mechanisms of delivery and feedback, all of the case study projects use a network of experts in relevant fields to provide content, though the extent of localization varies. Despite the best efforts of these and many other e-agriculture initiatives in India, there is no easy way for their collective knowledge to be tapped, tracked, and put to use across the different platforms. In fact, there is a critical missing link to bridge the gaps between local or parochial access and serving public needs. To mainstream such ICT efforts and knowledge management in agriculture for rural livelihoods, it is necessary to put in place a centralized search engine, or harvester, to access the decentralized and dispersed digital agricultural information repositories and network of experts.

The relevance of content in ICT initiatives in Indian agriculture

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to reach many farmers with timely and accessible content. This article highlights the importance of ICTs in promoting agricultural transformation. It recommends the establishment of agricultural communication networks, which involve active participation of all stakeholders in agriculture and highlights the need for a participatory approach, the monitoring and evaluation of end users, and the integration of farmer knowledge and information needs into the content management system. Public institutions in agriculture should also be involved in developing a curriculum in ICTs for agricultural development and support ICT platforms to facilitate farmers’ access to quality agricultural information.

Promoting the Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Agricultural Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Policy

The need for improved agricultural extension throughout the developing world has never been greater. Agricultural and rural development and hence rural extension continue to be in a phase of transition in this part of the world. The vulnerability of farming in the developing world to climate change, to changes in natural resources quality (including desertification over large tracts),and lack of coping and adaptation strategies at micro and macro levels of decision making are all well documented, while globalization of commodity trade offers a mix of opportunities as well as challenges. The role of extension and support systems in this background is undergoing profound changes while no unified alternative framework has emerged (Eicher, 2007). In this paper, we offer some suggestions on building new and more effective linkages between research and extension sub systems in agricultural knowledge systems, with a range of information and communication technologies offering platforms and mediation services. The focus is on assessing the effect of improved information access and development of human capacity in supporting extension processes at the micro-level.

/pdf/ict-enabled-knowledge-sharing-in-support-of-extension-2lo0a09rr7.pdf

ICT-enabled knowledge sharing in support of extension: addressing the agrarian challenges of the developing world threatened by climate change, with a case study from India

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe selected Caribbean extension officers' technology preferences and examine factors that may affect their technology preferences.Design/methodology/approach: The sample consisted of extension officers (N = 119) participating in professional development training sessions in Grenada, Belize and Saint Lucia. A 29-item instrument with a four-point scale was used to gather data on technology preferences. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data.Findings: Extension officers used Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for personal benefits and increased professional productivity but then would use traditional interaction methods with farmers. Education levels of extension officers played a part in technology acceptance; higher levels of education earned led to an increase in technology use.Practical Implications: An increase in awareness is important for the further adoption of ICTs for extension purposes. Organisations i...

Exploring the Use of Information Communication Technologies by Selected Caribbean Extension Officers

Drought is increasingly becoming a cause for concern in many regions of South Asia, because recurrent droughts often cause large-scale water and food deficits, hunger, famine, exodus of people and animals, diseases, deaths, and many other severe, chronic socio-economic problems. The degree of vulnerability to the impact of drought varies significantly from one nation to another. Many of the rural communities appear to forget the miseries of one drought season with the onset of good rains; and those miseries usually continue from one drought to the
next. This is due to lack of awareness and non-availability of the relevant information. There is an urgent need for sustained information, communication, education and social mobilization among strategic sectors, especially the most vulnerable rural communities and their intermediaries, to improve agriculture and to mitigate the effects of drought.
Drought preparedness is preferable to relief, and information is the backbone of drought preparedness.

/pdf/agricultural-extension-with-information-and-communication-2ozv4qv7nk.pdf

Agricultural Extension with Information and Communication Technology (ICT)Mediated Open Distance Learning (ODL) Methods: A Case Study from Rural South India

There are various names and descriptions for rural knowledge centers, but their main role is facilitate the access to managed or direct information services for rural families. India is home to a very large number of pilot projects in this sector over the last about ten years. The number of internet-connected rural knowledge centers varies but is believed to be close to 10000 as of mid-2006. The recent decision of the Government of India to establish about 1,00,000 Common Service Centers has generated altogether new possibilities and opportunities to design and make available a wide range of information services for the rural poor in India.
Earlier studies indicated that the access to government information, and information on education were the two priority information demands. A number of projects include provision of governance-related information as a key service. Education mostly relating to IT literacy is offered on many projects although systematic efforts to measure the importance and impact of such information are not yet available.
One of the significant challenges that India faces is the recurrence of disasters that lead to large scale disruption of economic and development activities and causes considerable distress among the victims. Over a period of time, relief measures have become affordable in many situations but the cumulative losses are staggering. The Disaster Management Authority of India has identified drought and earthquakes as among the phenomena that can cause deep and lasting distress among the victims while generating massive economic losses to the system as a whole. There is a need to identify new systems that combine early warning arrangements with access for appropriate support services.
Over the last two years, ICRISAT has made an effort in partnership with CRIDA to study the possible use of rural knowledge centers in enhancing drought preparedness at the micro-regional level among the rural families. The pilot is premised on the assumption that a country such as India has reasonable arrangements for early warning communication in a top-down manner. International experience shows that such top-down flow of important information must combine with a bottom-up process for its rapid and effective use by the intended recipients, namely the rural families. The rural knowledge centers, operating in an interactive hub-and-spokes model for local value-addition and dissemination and capture, could provide the right interfaces to generate such blended communication.

Rural Knowledge Centers as Facilitators of New Learning Opportunities for the Rural Families: a case study

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ICT-enabled knowledge sharing in support of extension: addressing the agrarian challenges of the developing world threatened by climate change, with a case study from India

Agricultural Extension with Information and Communication Technology (ICT)Mediated Open Distance Learning (ODL) Methods: A Case Study from Rural South India

Rural Knowledge Centers as Facilitators of New Learning Opportunities for the Rural Families: a case study