After 20 years of neglect by international donors, agriculture is now again in the headlines because higher food prices are increasing food insecurity and poverty. In the coming years it will be essential to increase food productivity and production in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and with smallholders. This however requires finding viable solutions to a number of complex technical, institutional and policy issues including land markets, research on seeds and inputs; agricultural extension; credit; rural infrastructure; storage; connection to markets; rural nonfarm employment and food price stabilization. This paper reviews what the economic literature has to say on these topics. It discusses in turn the role played by agriculture in the development process and the interactions between agriculture and other economic sectors; the determinants of the Green Revolution and discuss the foundations of agricultural growth; issues of income diversification by farmers; approaches to rural development; and finally issues of international trade policy and food security which are at the root of the crisis in agricultural commodity volatility in the past few years.

Agriculture and Development: A Brief Review of the Literature

User acceptance of a digital library system in developing countries: An application of the Technology Acceptance Model

Transition towards sustainability in agriculture and food systems: Role of information and communication technologies

A framework for implementing information and communication technologies in agricultural development in India

This paper provides a contribution to theorizing information and communication technology (ICT) and development by applying a livelihoods approach. This is found to provide the basis not only for an information-centered understanding of ICTs but also a means for broad and systematic analysis of poverty. The specific development issue analyzed is the role of ICT in microenterprise because microenterprise represents a viable route out of poverty through increased and more diversified income streams for poor households. A case study of Botswana is presented to demonstrate how the livelihoods framework can be applied. This suggests that ICT applications may only bring marginal direct benefits for poverty reduction. Viewed from the perspective of a livelihoods approach, greater benefits for the poor may be derived from ICTs if they are applied to strengthen a broader range of social and political assets and if they are able to assist in building more effective structures and processes that favor the poor. The livelihoods approach is therefore able to identify information and ICTs as only one part of a much broader development picture, and it avoids the overemphasis on technology that can beset some development informatics/ICT for development (ICT4D) research. Mainstream application of livelihoods ideas tends not to engage explicitly with either information or ICT issues but the framework developed in this paper shows how such engagement can occur. It identifies both an analytical role for information/ICTs that helps understand livelihoods of the poor, and a functional role that uses these assets within livelihood strategies.

Using the Livelihoods Framework to Analyze ICT Applications for Poverty Reduction through Microenterprise

This is a discussion paper on the role that ICTs potentially have to play in rural areas of the developing world. Its stated aim is to look beyond the current ‘digital divide’ debate which focuses on information disparities to assess the potential role of ICTs in the context of current rural development paradigms. The first section considers some alternative approaches that are being pioneered to harness ICTs for development goals including private sector, public sector and NGO-based initiatives. This leads on to a discussion of changing approaches to technology transfer drawing on lessons from agricultural extension experience to illustrate how ICTs could be harnessed for rural development.The concept of building partnerships at the community level based around information exchange is explored in the second section, using ICTs to improve systems for the exchange of information sources that already exist locally and also providing established information intermediaries with the facilities to enhance their capacity for information sharing. The paper looks at how simple and 'off the shlef' technologies, rather than large scale expensive infrastructure, could have a greater role in future rural development strategies through the integration of available technologies and the diverse institutional and knowledge landscapes that exist in developing countries.The paper concludes that there are numerous, well established barriers to improving information exchange. Knowledge capture, the high cost of information access and infrastructure constraints all affect the equitable distribution of information in rural areas. However, technological advances in ICTs have reduced the cost and increased the quantity and speed of information transfer dramatically. This is set to continue and the technologies are already being designed to accommodate a wide range of user choices. To pursue ‘universal access’ and one size fits all applications to ‘bridge the digital divide’ is to ignore the real potential of ICTs to be used locally, in order to enable those individuals and institutions that are the priorities of rural development strategies to access the information that is relevant to their own multi-dimensional livelihoods. The need for a concerted effort to build knowledge partnerships and to engage the private sector and technology drivers in the pursuit of rural development goals is paramount if ICTs are to have a role in future strategies. [authors]

ICTs and Rural Development: Review of the Literature,Current Interventions and Opportunities for Action

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ICTs and Rural Development: Review of the Literature,Current Interventions and Opportunities for Action