The possible reasons for weak agri-knowledge dissemination tools could be

1. Mostly intensive agriculture, small holdings each farmer and wide crops/cultivars/cropping systems followed, inputs for growing of crops varies quite widely

2. Diverse agro-ecological environments, for which the agri-knowledge contents are also different

3. Wider variations (spatio-temporal) in soil characteristics (physical, chemical, physico-chemical and biological)

4. Micro-nutrients and secondary nutrients deficiency appearing and level varies quite widely within a production environment, so the knowledge dissemination for sustained growth becomes difficult

5. Water availability (surface and ground water) in terms of  quantity and quality has large gradient of variations

6. The envelope of cultivars choice is very wide, associated inputs management also variant, so the knowledge base for dissemination becomes too complex

7. Problems of land degradation (industrial effluents/solid wastes/mine spoils), rapid land use and land cover change are increasing and knowledge dissemination content has to change rapidly with time

8. The problems associated with early warning systems, weather based agro-advisories becomes difficult in tropical and sub-tropical regions

9.Market intelligence systems and tools for yield forecasting needs to be strengthened

10. Overall infrastructure (central/regional hubs) need to be strengthened

11. Public/private partnership need to be introduced

regards 

Sometimes technologies are developed without considering the need of people of a certain agro-ecological zones. Moreover, communication both in terms of roads and education do not match its dispersal from the research centers. Market price also play an important role in disseminating technologies. All these can be answered easily.  Most of the times farmers pay the price- the loser.

Dear Dr. Kalra,

1). It is important to note that the farmers learn from their own and others successful experiences, through social networking. These observations point to the importance of effective agricultural extension services in diffusing new and profitable technologies.

2). Profitability of a technology often varies to a great extent across regions and with time. An un-tailored technology will not bestow benefits upon every farmer in every place. Technologies for dissemination may need to be chosen with on-the-ground knowledge of their suitability and profitability.

3). For this reason, the local private stakeholders such as input suppliers who can both deal with agricultural-input technologies and have knowledge of the commodity market may be the more competent and effective providers of extension services than the public provider.

There is ample opportunity for the private sector to play a significant role in this service area.

Hope you find this input interesting and useful.

Dear Dr Kundu

agreed, i furthermore add the word public-private partnership, with research institutes and universities innovating the technologies and corporate/private sectors aiding in disseminating the technologies

regards

naveen kalra

Our f inance minister provided budget for public-private (PP) partnership- the output is not satisfactory. The private sector is mostly driven by profit, but then all enterprises are not highly profitable for their attraction. We want the profit, but not the prosperity of all.

Agreed Dr Biswas, same situation in India with few exceptions but I feel innovating the newer and suitable products/services should be through public institutions as they have well defined infra-structure and the implementation could be through private / corporate sectors with association through public-private partnership.

regards

naveen kalra

Dear Dr. Kalra,

Agricultural technology dissemination in the developing countries is not only weak but also slow. Farmers often do not receive expert advices on urgent crop production and protection measures on time and in personalized manner. Application of the latest information technologies in dissemination of agricultural technologies may be answer to the problem. Available data on all the agricultural technologies may be stored in high-speed computers and can be disseminated instantly to the farmers through internet technology. The information may be accessed simultaneously by millions of the farmers and/stakeholders. Application of the cost-effective IT-based systems will make the dissemination of agricultural technologies stronger and faster in the developing countries.

Agreed Dr Kundu, but we have to take some initiative through network programmes with public private interactions

regards

naveen kalra

An interesting question that many ask everyday who are involved in R&D is about the slow rate of technology dissemination. A question that has been posed to the technology dissemination system and the low reach is right. My concern on the other hand is about the decoding of information and knowledge  tools like yield forecasting and many others are quite far reach to even extension workers and related stakeholders. Initiatives are there we cannot deny like web portals for each crop and ICT applications. The realities of extension system and the inadequacies with investment and manpower also has to be taken into consideration. In my personal opinion in India the number of extension agencies over the period of time established has been with the concern over the system to be effective. But I have another issue to raise on the National Agricultural Research System about the end to end technology generation  process which is more effective in the private compared to that of the public. Reach to Indian NARS technologies is an uphill task why it is so? when there is no dearth of investments in R&D. There has been a take off by the private sector in extension services overriding the challenges by the way moving in a pathway that public extension will be suitable for ecosystem services. The 360 degree farmer connect programme of Pepsico is an example to this nation how extension needs to be with farmer needs. Pepsico never reached the farmers with only Contract farming concept but had a full package to take care of the complete crop life cycle.  Of the 119 million farmers today only 6% is the reach of public extension. The reality is that the mechanism to reach every farmer is not an easy task. We need to expect that everyday we need technologies that are appropriate for farmers from NARS. The two sides for this slow reach have to be debated.

Dr Ananth, you raised a very imp point, agri-knowledge dissemination content to be pooled, simplified and mode of transmission through simple means so that it could be conveniently handled by the extension agencies, say country like India numerous agro-ecologies and numerous decision making options for optimum agri-production, that a common extension worker gets confused and not able to communicate appropriately to the farmers. Many options suggested, even farmers get confused which one to adopt, appropriate technologies and knowledge dissemination bank need to be prepared and through conventional and e-methods, dissemination process needs to be evolved

regards

Can we stop dissemination activities of different agencies? Profit earning organizations disseminate knowledge and product in their own way and aggressively than government agencies. Sometimes control is not there, as in Bangladesh. Mobile technology can be utilized. But then input suppliers play a vital role at the grass root levels, because farmers community sometimes buy inputs on debt.