UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, RAICHUR

RE-DESIGNING THE FARMER-EXTENSION-AGRICULTURAL

RESEARCH / EDUCATION CONTINUUM IN INDIA WITH ICT-
MEDIATED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Dr. L. B. HUGAR
Dean (Agri.)
College of Agriculture
UAS, Raichur
KARNATAKA, INDIA
Email:lbhugar@gmail.com
Details of the programme /Project / Initiative

a. Brief description of the programme/ project/ initiative

In this project, a consortium of partners from agricultural research and education sector
and ICT for development area (ICT4D) have worked together to organize a national pilot project
in “Re-designing the farmer-extension-agricultural research / education continuum in India with
ICT-mediated knowledge management”.

The partners have developed new and revived linkages between research and education
sectors with agricultural extension, through the use of ICT mediation and contemporary practices
in knowledge and information management. The engagement with farmers was through online as
well as offline methods. The emphasis was on providing information support services to the
extension personnel and farmers in a seamless fashion. This integration of back-end digital
services to generate an access and delivery system for different stake holders in online and
offline notes was at the core of this action-research effort.

The overall architecture and the access and delivery modes were developed in this
project. The idea was to build a comprehensive knowledge base that can combine a host of
generic and location- specific information emerging from various National Agricultural Research
and Extension System (NARES) and international partners and organize them using an interface
(Agropedia indica), pattern after the Wikipedia (read / write web sites). FAO’s AGROVOC, a
global thesaurus of agricultural terms, has served as a tool in content organization. It is also made
use of a forum (online / offline) to receive queries and to support discussions, enabling dynamic
information captured in the main content organization.

The system also enabled to capture and use of dynamic data on weather or commodity
prices or map / imagery information for rapid processing in support of decision making at local
or institutional level.

Similarly, a process to blend the knowledge organization with readily available processes
for digital library management and e-learning were developed. The integrated process were
connected to the users through a series of software interfaces to enable delivery in different
modes, involving PC’s or mobile phones / broad cast media.
 The seamless integration of multiple digital technologies to deliver value to the different
stake holders was a key challenge in this project that was addressed. It has also addressed the
challenge of developing rigorous methods for the impact assessment using the tools of
contemporary communication besides those of economic and sociology.

b. Why was the project started?

The National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES) organizations in

India over the time developed content in English and regional language in support of extension
and education. The content in effect covered almost every aspect of practical agriculture in
regions of India. However, its availability in the digital format or media was highly limited at
present. There was thus a compelling need for content digitization and new creation in the
digital mode. Significant amount of knowledge was generated in direct interactions among
experts and with farmers and this was often not captured for analysis and codification for re-use.
The extension system required regular, dependable access to updated and accurate content for
its personnel to provide effective services to the farmers. Many ICT- for- development partners
required such a support as well. Contemporary knowledge management approaches when
ingrained with advanced content organization and delivery and exchange methods based on
ICT, can help stake holders to overcome this challenge. Hence, this project was initiated to
address the above challenge.

c. Objectives

1. To build, demonstrate and sustain a model agricultural knowledge organization and

system in support of extension in India;

2. To develop and manage an online and offline forum for management of farm level Q & A
and discussions which is integrated with knowledge generation and organization;

3. To build and demonstrate an online as well as offline multi-modal information delivery

arrangement linking online content and expert knowledge with query services;

4. To build and sustain geospatial data and knowledge organization systems to support
agricultural research, education and technology transfer;
5. To build capacity among agricultural experts in the advanced management of highly
integrated information services in support of education, research and extension.

6. To develop methods for viable integration of back-end digital system and processes to
foster autonomous, long term collaboration between the ICT sector and the NARES
organization in India.

d. Target group

Progressive farmers, extension personnel, research scientists, teachers and students in

agriculture

e. Geographical reach

 Global reach platform with regional and national level content

f. Date from which the project became operational

 January, 2008

g. IS the project still operational

Completed but still operational with revised Agropedia II and eKVK / e-EXTENSION

h. 10 points that make the programme / project innovative?

1. Developed knowledge models for eight important crops (mention crops if possible)

2. Agropedia indica platform developed with Symantec web search technology

3. aAQUA platform has interactive Q & A facility in agricultural and allied field in 5
languages with other facilities like crop doctor, audio forum etc.
4. AKMIndia portal facilitates online fertilizer recommendation, weather forecasting and
soil nutrient information and crop videos.

5. Facilitates social networking with scientists, farmers, students and public.

6. Capacity building on use of ICT in agriculture to scientists, department officials,

students, NGOs and farmers.

7. Providing crop tips in the form of SMS and audio through mobiles to the farmers on
free of cost.

8. Sensitization and awareness on use of ICTs in agriculture to the different stake holders.

9. Knowledge management through geo-spatial library and rural GIS.

10. Digitization and development of multimedia content for knowledge management and
its delivery

i. List the 5 achievements of the programme / project?

1. Agropedia indica portal is a robust platform and not crashed since its launch

2. Developed and uploaded 500 photographs, 40 video clips, 250 audio clips, 250 SMS
and text of 8 different crops.

3. Adoption of online fertilizer recommendation in 26 crops by 1243 farmers covering

38 taluks of 17 districts in Karnataka.

4. Dissemination of need based relevant extension / crop tips to 10,000 registered

farmers across the Karnataka state (India)

5. Created awareness on effectiveness and utility of ICTs in extension, research and teaching in
agriculture

j. List the 5 key challenges faced while implementing the programme / project /
initiative and how they were over come ?
 key challenges overcome by

1. Development of knowledge models Developed KM for different crops by

suitable for symantic web search expert domain

2. Development of relevant need based Through training in multimedia

content in multimedia mode agricultural domain aspects

3. Delivery of extension/ crop tips using by creating regional content in English

regional language alphabets alphabet

4. Creating awareness and utility of by awareness and capacity building

ICTs mediated technology for research programmes

5.

k. List the 5 points how can the programme serve as a model that can be replicated or adopted
by others?

1. Knowledge models developed can be replicated for other crops relevant to the agro-
ecological location specific situation in other parts of the country in the world.

2. Soil fertility map developed using web GIS based KM can be used for other areas.

3. Online weather information can be extended to other location of the state or country.

4. Need based relevant extension / crop tips can be extended to the farmers or other state /
region / country.

5. Multimedia content developed in English can be translated / dubbed in other regional

language of the country.

l. List 5 points to elaborate on the scalability of the programme / project / initiative

1. The need based certified and credible content in multimedia mode can be uploaded on
specific crop / subjects across India and globally by the concerned scientist /
technologists.

2. The delivery and utility of knowledge can be managed by increasing the number of
beneficiaries and other stake holders utilizing the platform can be enhanced over years.

3. Online nutrient advisory services can be extended to all the agro-climatic regions of the
country.

4. Similarly agro-weather advisory services can be extended to other agro-climatic regions

5. Virtual Krishi Vignana Kendra (vKVK) and eEXTENSION activities to widen the
transfer of technology