Publications

This workshop was a follow-up to the study, Georgia: ICT Infrastructure and Use in Agriculture, Agricultural Policy, Research, and Education Organizations (T. Temel, A. Maru, 2003), commissioned by the Sustainable Development Group (REUS) of the FAO Regional Office for Europe (REU). Ten presentations and discussions on information and communication systems (ICS) in their respective organizations showed relative strength in technologies and databases at institutional levels, but weak connectivity to the local user levels.

This new publication aims to provide a preliminary response to the question: How can developing countries encourage the various systems, organizations and producers concerned with agricultural research, education and extension, and operating in the public or private sector, to behave as one system with regard to the agricultural development component of rural development? In other words: what do developing countries need to establish and maintain an Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS) that targets agriculture – broadly conceived as crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry – as a main component of rural development (RD)?

This publication addresses the challenges faced by agricultural extension services in their provision of support to food security initiatives . The content of this booklet has been drawn from a major paper, “Agricultural Extension, Rural Development and Food Security Challenge”, written by William M. Rivera, Visiting Scholar, University of Maryland, College Park, USA and M. Kalim Qamar, Senior Officer (Agricultural Training and Extension), FAO Extension, Education and Communication Service. The authors address the dynamic role of agricultural extension services today.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir is located in the north of Pakistan. Male migration in the region has resulted in crop farming and livestock raising and management becoming increasingly women's domain. According to a senior administrator at Azad Jammu and Kashmir's Department of Agriculture, livestock care and management is entirely in the hands of women in almost 90 percent of households. Similarly, women's participation is significant in farming-related operations such as harvesting and the cleaning and storing of major crops (wheat, maize, fodder, etc.).

In view of the future trends in agricultural extension worldwide (pluralism, decentralization, etc.), the purpose of this study is primarily to review and analyze the national policy and strategy of the public extension system, the on-going programmes and the various approaches to provide farming communities with necessary assistance. Based on the innovations in agricultural extension identified in different states of the country, it was possible to draw some preliminary lessons and make suggestions for policy reform taking into consideration emerging support needs of farmers in India.

The mandate of extension services, whether public or private, has always been rural human resources development with an aim to increase food production through the introduction of improved agricultural technology. The very survival of these human resources, both within the extension organization and among the clientele, however, is currently at stake due to the HIV/AIDS menace. Urgent and major efforts are needed by the extension services to prepare themselves for battle against the epidemic, to educate the farming population about the disease, and to develop new strategies to serve the extension needs of thousands of new entrants in farming.

This study examines the extension and training needs of disabled farmers in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The idea for the study arose when extension workers in the region noted the large number of Iran-Iraq War-disabled veterans returning to their villages to continue their earlier activities in the agricultural sector. In speaking to local extensionists, it became apparent that there was no special training for extension workers to assist these farmers with disabilities with their adjustment back to the agricultural sector.

The World Food Summit held in Rome in 1996, followed by the World Food Summit: five years later, in 2002, and the Millennium Development Goals, all underline the importance of food security. The obligation to eradicate food insecurity requires several actions, involving various public and non-public institutions. The purpose of this publication is to highlight the important role of agricultural and rural extension in the fight against hunger. Extension is seen as a broad effort directed at rural development linking with other sectors, and not just as an agricultural technology transfer service. This paper touches upon the global trends in ...read more

This comprehensive report includes an overview and analysis of all public and private extension service providers, a targeted strategy to enhance co-ordination and collaboration between both public and private extension providers.

This study provides an overview of the theoretical discussions about the changing balance between public and private goods and roles in research and extension as related to the agricultural knowledge system. These discussions are used for an analysis of developments in The Netherlands.