ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN TRANSFORMING
AGRICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS FOR DEVELOPMENT
Knowledge Management: Leveraging Technology and Knowledge
Networks to Promote Innovation for an Increasingly Knowledge
Intensive Agriculture
at
XI Agricultural Science Congress, Bhubahneswar, India
9th February 2013
Presentation for Session on:
Ajit Maru
GFAR Secretariat, Rome
India Needs a New Agriculture
An agriculture that goes beyond production, productivity and
profit.
An agriculture that must be sustainable, resilient and able to
improve the quality of life of all its people and incomes of all
those engaged in agriculture and related occupations,
especially the resource poor, small and marginal farmers and
producers.
And, this New Agriculture needs to come rapidly to
make a difference!
For this New Agriculture:
This New Agriculture cannot be brought
without improving efficiency in entire
agricultural chains for both food and non-food
commodities.
Consumer
Fertilizer
Supplier
Farmer
Local
Transporter
Storage
Packaging
Bulk
Transporter Retail Processing
Retail Marketing
Retail Packaging
Seed
Supplier
Pesticide
Supply
Market
Processing
Agricultural Market Chains
The entire population of > 1.2 billion will need to learn
how to improve efficiency of production and utilization of
agricultural commodities and the resources that are
needed to produce the commodities
This needs both formal education and informal learning
We have to address the learning needs of all actors
and stakeholders who have an interest in efficient
agricultural chains from input to consumption.
Farmers
Extension Support
NARO
Researcher
Research
Manager
Policy Makers Stakeholders
Re-envisioning Agricultural Education and Learning
Re-envisioning Agricultural Education and Learning
Farmers
Extension Support
NARO
Researcher
Research
Manager
Policy Makers Stakeholders
Conventional
Agricultural
Universities Graduates
Post Graduates
Teachers
Other Occupations
Information, Knowledge, Skills, Technology
Consumer
Fertilizer
Supplier
Farmer
Local
Transporter
Storage
Packaging
Bulk
Transporter Retail Processing
Retail Marketing
Retail Packaging
Seed
Supplier
Pesticide
Supply
Market
Processing
Agricultural Universities,
Innovation and
Agricultural Market Chains
Extension Support
NARO
Researcher
Research
Manager
Policy Makers Stakeholders
Re-envisioned
Agricultural
Universities ?
Information, Knowledge, Skills, Technology
Consumer
Fertilizer
Supplier
Farmer
Local
Transporter
Storage
Packaging
Bulk
Transporter Retail Processing
Retail Marketing
Retail Packaging
Seed
Supplier
Pesticide
Supply
Market
Processing
Agricultural Universities,
Innovation and
Agricultural Market Chains
Extension Support
NARO
Researcher
Research
Manager
Policy Makers Stakeholders
Re-envisioned
Agricultural
Universities ?
Information, Knowledge, Skills, Technology
THREE NEW ROLES
• ENABLE AND SUPPORT INFORMATION AND
KNOWLEDGE FLOWS TO ALL
• ENABLE LEARNING IN COMMUNITIES
• TRIGGER INNOVATION
The challenge in agriculture education to
shape India’s future of enabling learning,
which is intertwined with formal education,
is huge
We cannot do this by conventional
approaches
ICTs offer a potential but are Indian
Agricultural Institutions at this moment
prepared to use ICTs to meet this
challenge?
Even a cursory glance that only 2 abstracts in this National
Congress relate to research and use of ICTs in agricultural
education and learning – both are generic and discuss
potential of ICTs not applications in agricultural education.
At a recent December 2012 consultation on ICT use and
Development of Knowledge Platforms in Agricultural
Education and Extension organized by ICRISAT and Infosys
at Hyderabad revealed that most information on websites in
India for farmers, if accessible, is still in the form of
electronically delivered pamphlets. Many of the platforms
developed by various agricultural Institutions have not
progressed beyond “proof of concept” and have found it
difficult to be sustained.
What ails the Agricultural
Universities in using ICTs for
Education and Learning? So far, in the context, technology is an enabler not a
constraint. However, the constraints are:
• Capital
• Capacity
• Content
• Collaboration
• Connectivity
• Culture of the Organizations
• Control/Governance of Information Flows
• Community participation
Thank You