Arpita Sharma

Ph.D. Research Scholar

Dept. of Agricultural Communication
G. B. Pant University of Ag.& Tech. Pantnagar,
Uttarakhand
Agriculture
Knowledge
Information
System
Content-
• What is Agricultural Knowledge and
Information Systems ?
• Knowledge Triangle
• AKIS for rural development
• Case study
• Models of AKIS
• Challenges for AKIS
• Conclusion
 Agricultural Knowledge and
Information Systems

An AKIS is a system that links rural people and

institutions to promote mutual learning and generate,
share and utilize agriculture-related technology,
knowledge and information. The system integrates
farmers, agricultural educators, researchers and
extensionists to harness knowledge and information from
various sources for better farming and improved
livelihoods.
Knowledge Triangle
Contd..
AKIS/RD systems that are financially, socially
and technically sustainable; relevant and
effective processes of knowledge and
technology generation, sharing and uptake;
AKIS/RD systems that are demand-driven
through empowerment of farmers such that
programmes and activities are responsive to
their needs; the interface between and
integration among the various education,
research, extension and farming activities; and
accountability to assure that stakeholders
assume their respective responsibilities.
 Concept and Practice of
AKIS/RD
The AKIS/RD concept and practice hold significant
promise for the advancement of agricultural and rural
development and more generally, national economies. In
order to realize the value and importance of the AKIS/RD
concept, agricultural institutions need actively to promote
linkages, technology transfer, knowledge sharing and the
exchange of relevant information and such an impetus to
the development of pluralistic innovation systems must
be supported by adequate financial commitment.
Fundamental to the development of an AKIS/RD is
recognition of the role of a plethora of private sector
actors (seed and input supply companies, produce
buyers, chemical companies, radio and television, etc.)
playing different roles within the system.
Contd…
Rural people, especially farmers, are at the heart of the
knowledge triangle. Education, research and extension
are services - public or private - designed to respond to
their needs for knowledge with which to improve their
productivity, incomes and welfare and manage the
natural resources on which they depend in a sustainable
way. A shared responsiveness to rural people and an
orientation towards their goals ensures synergies in the
activities of agricultural educators, researchers and
extensionists. Farmers and other rural people are
partners within the knowledge system, not simply
recipients.
Agriculture Knowledge Information
System: An Emerging Approach for
Sustainable Development

Saha and Mukhopadhyay (2007) reported that

there is conceptual progression from looking at
various institutions and practices such as
farming system development, extension and
research in isolation to considering the linkages
between the pairs of these elements as an
Agricultural Knowledge Information System.
AKIS could involve providing farmers with a
basket of opportunities and helping them to
choose the right opportunity for their situation.
 The AKIS/RD vision and
principles
 To set forth a shared vision for an integrated approach to
agricultural education, research and extension that would respond
to the technology, knowledge and information needs of millions of
rural people, helping them to reach informed decisions on the better
management of their farms, households and communities.
 To facilitate dialogue with decision-makers, in both government and
development organizations, ensuring that proposals for investment
in AKIS/RD are well founded and receive due consideration.
 To provide the staff of FAO and the World Bank, and their
counterparts in client countries, with a common set of principles to
guide their work in agricultural education, research and extension.
 To ensure synergies from complementary investments in education,
research and extension, resulting in more effective and efficient
systems.
 An idealized AKIS/RD
model
This model suggests the numerous elements in AKIS/RD. In fact, it
could be made messier in that the policy, physical and human
resources, communications and institutional elements should be
connected to each of the four main sets of institutions - research,
extension, education and support systems - which themselves should
include both public and private sector entities.
A comprehensive AKIS/RD
model
Extension contributors in the
AKIS
Research and technology transfer links
among private and public institutions
Factors in technology transfer
 Challenges of AKIS
• Most poor people depend on Agriculture
• Food needs call for steady growth in
Agricultural Production
• Improving rural incomes and raising
Agricultural production will often require
Agricultural Intensification
• Agricultural intensification must be
balanced with environmental sustainability
Contd----
• Rural people also look to knowledge and
information systems for guidance on how
to bring about general improvements in
their livelihoods
• For people living in this environment,
Knowledge is key
Contd----
• Many farmers fail to benefit from
technological and other advances
• The AKIS/RD institutions have not been
responsive enough in addressing the
problems and opportunities facing farmers
New opportunities exist for raising
AKIS/RD effectiveness
Advances in the Agricultural sciences are crucial
but other advances are also needed
1) Communication and Information
Technologies are advancing rapidly
2) New concepts are emerging for participation
in learning and problem solving
CONCLUSION: FROM IDEA INTO ACTION

Government also needs to create the conditions necessary for developing

AKIS/RD. Investment in market development and support to input providers,
especially credit and supply institutions, are needed to stimulate the
agricultural community, and attention to the rural physical infrastructure is
needed to make the environment attractive and safe. Agricultural producers,
especially women and poor farmers, require education and training to bring
them into the modern world of labour-saving technologies and more
productive practices. Joint planning between producers and institutional
operators can provide the platform for advancing a demand-driven system
of technological innovation for agricultural development. System leaders
and managers need a better understanding of the dynamic nature of both
national and international technology systems, and should be able to
identify those areas where the public system has a comparative advantage
over private sector R&D firms. The development of AKIS/RD is attractive to
the private sector. Major roads that link towns will almost certainly have to
be built, or at least funded, by government. The benefits from roads will be
widely spread and accrue as much to the public as to the private sector
regarding access to clientele, or potential clientele. In the short and -
especially - the long terms, private sector issues of distribution and dynamic
efficiency promise to be enhanced as a result of government commitment to
AKIS/RD.