This weeks topic about demand led information interests me because there are two things that come to my mind - there are more than two but in my head I like to simplify it to two :) The first implies we take a 'systems' approach, like links in a chain - consumer-retailer-farmer-extension-research could be considered one system. In this example we see that each tier requires their own information inputs and means to communicate - admittedly consumers communicate passively, they don't speak out but they register their desires through point of sale figures in local as well as supermarkets. The second topic, one that interests me personally but has received little focus lately amidst the buzz that surrounds ICTs (predominantly Internet and mobile phones), is that of farmer capacities to communicate their knowledge. The fact, for it is a fact, that farmers are knowledge brokers, innovators and entrepreneurs themselves has not had a lot of attention in the e-ag debate. For me, providing support for farmers to document and articulate, even copyright, their knowledge is one exciting area and where ICTs make this all the more possible. Are there others sharing this interest?

Dear all, For those posting with innovative systems could you perhaps elaborate more on what are the features that makes it innovative? What ingredients do we need to have to maintain effective I&C systems. I know in my experience in VERCON Egypt, some of the key ingredients had nothing to do with ICTs per say but had a lot to do with 1. creating a win-win situation for all stakeholders so they were motivated to participate and 2. to establish an efficient management structure so that problems were quickly highlighted and address as the project evolved. What was your experience? Clare

This week we have been invited to share experiences of - innovative systems in information and communication for agriculture -: FAO has been working with Research and Extension Institutions to improve communication and access to information between these two large stakeholders - what I find innovative about this system is that through the pretext of coming together to create a communication and information sharing platform the two intuitions begin to change the way they work and use this platform as a springboard for more collaborative work. What I also find innovative, especially in Egypt where the VERCON project has been running the longest, is that over time the demands from the field are beginning to influence the research agenda [ftp://ftp.fao.org/sd/SDR/SDRE/Vercon.ING.pdf].