Articles in Periodicals & Books

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Browsing Articles in Periodicals & Books by Subject "Agriculture"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Communication and capacity building to advance adaptation strategies in agriculture in the context of climate change in India
    (2015-04) Balaji, Venkataraman; Ganapuram, Sreedhar; Devakumar, C
    Climate change is perhaps the most serious issue that affects food security of a very large number of human beings and animals. Impacts of climate change will be particularly significant in South Asia where most of food production comes from smallholder farms. Vulnerability in this region is two-fold: production of important food crop varieties may be affected by developments such as rise in temperature; smallholder farmers have low economic resilience when large variations in crop outputs occur. Both adaptive and anticipatory measures based on research in agricultural sciences are being proposed. What is important is also to build the capacity of smallholder farmers to cope with the impact of climate change-induced phenomena. Key guides to large scale action such as the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change propose integrated action for capacity building involving both top-down and bottom-up inputs. In this paper, we provide an overview of accepted impacts of climate change on agriculture and food security in South Asia, and the proposed and ongoing agronomic adaptation strategies in India. Our focus is on capacity building at a micro-level which can augment adaptation efforts. We offer two case studies that provide pointers for integrating novel communication and capacity building processes for smallholder farmers that can considerably improve their ability to engage in action for adaptation.
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    Contemporary information and knowledge management: impact on farming in India
    (2011) Kumar, R Ajith; Balaji, Venkataraman; Guntuku, Dileepkumar; Prabhakar, T V; Yaduraju, N T
    Farming is an important part of Indian economy and it involves a wide range of stakeholders, of whom the small holder farmers are the largest group. Information sharing on new production processes with farmers was prominent in the ‘sixties which was key to the success of the Green Revolution. Agricultural extension, the process of enabling farmers and experts to exchange information with each other, has since been institutionalized to a high degree and is assessed to be not as effective as it had been a generation back. The advent of digital, technology-mediated information and knowledge management was thought to offer significant new opportunities for knowledge exchange in Indian farming as a whole. These hopes led to the launching of a number of initiatives in different parts of India, which has emerged as the host of the largest number of rural development projects where contemporary information and communication technology (ICT) play a pivotal role. While analyzing the outputs of such initiatives, many studies have pointed out that farming is not a priority concern of most of them. On the other hand, we can notice a noncomplimentary strand of ICT in agriculture projects operated by a number of institutions with ICT resources playing a key role in some of them. These efforts, generally speaking, do not promote user participation in information flows quite unlike the contemporary trends. Almost two decades later, the original hope remains unfulfilled. The nation-wide availability of digital content in relation to the farming sector is small when compared to equally important development sectors such as public health. This has considerably limited the opportunities for various stakeholders to build viable online services on production, marketing and meteorology for farmers and other stakeholders. What we now have is a collection of projectized activities that are fragmented in their overall understanding and approaches. What we need is an approach that can bring together the two strands, namely, of ICT in rural development and ICT in agriculture. Such an effort, however, needs a new IT architecture to be developed for aggregation of content and to make services available in multiple modes. Two groups of projects in India, namely, the Agropedia and the KISSANKerala, have built large prototypes and human capacities using unprecedented innovations in web technology areas and in integrated services delivery (including mobile telephony). With their advent, a wider range of solutions to the challenge of developing a novel architecture for information services for farming in India are now feasible and need to be researched upon. Countries that offered extension models for India in in an earlier generation do not require innovations for mass outreach for prosperity through farming and are thus in position to offer models for the present India needs to build solutions, processes and structures of its own so that the advantages accruing from its rapidly advancing ICT and mobile telephony infrastructure and export-oriented IT sector can flow to the benefit of its farmers. Formation of synergies with non-traditional partners such as those in ICT sector will be essential. There is a task to be accomplished, and it is contrary to the prevalent understanding in the leadership of farm education, research and extension sector that all the ICT solutions needed are available.
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    Open Access
    Knowledge Transfer for a Horticultural Revolution: The Lifelong Learning for Farmers Model
    (2012) Balasubramanian, K; Daniel, John
    This paper examines the relevance of the current theoretical perspectives in extension for promoting horticultural revolution in developing countries. At present agricultural education and extension occurs within a framework inspired by the green revolution. This paper analyses the inadequacy of this approach from two theoretical perspectives and proposes an alternative framework. It describes the relevance of the alternative framework of the Lifelong Learning for Farmers initiatives of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in developing countries. In particular it stresses the role of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in enabling extension systems to address the dynamics of horticulture.
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    ODL Embedded with Innovative Communication and Digital Media to Empower All Levels of Farm Sectors to be Smart Farmers
    (2022-03-19) Intaratat, Kamolrat; Panda, Santosh
    This research shows how innovative communication and digital media could help empower any level of farm sector in Thailand and be embedded into ODL to serve their most effective demands. Qualitative research was used via case-based studies among eight key farm leaders from four success farms with data mapping and an interview form. Content analysis was also used. Tangible results of how ODL embedded with innovative communication and digital media can empower all levels of farm sectors under “SDGs” is described. The main findings are “ODL embedded with Innovative communication and digital media must be: 1) undertaken for the right reasons; 2) sensitive to real demands and problems; 3) fit with the existing context such as existing infrastructure, i.e., farms and ICT; 4) best engaged among all stakeholders with all kinds of participatory processes; and 5) an appropriate design to fit with all farmers’ contexts, i.e., friendly relationships, pedagogical, administrative, and all kinds of participatory channels and opportunities.
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    Successful Delivery of a MOOC via Basic Mobile Phones: A Case Study of Mobile Learning in India for Increasing Awareness of Science-Based Production Practices Among Semi-skilled Horticultural Farmers
    (2018) Moloo, Raj; Prabhakar, T V; Venkataraman, Balaji; Khedo, Kavi; Yu, Shengquan; Ally, Mohamed; Tsinakos, Avgoustos
    Increased concerns about food security in the context of increasing climate variability and globalized trade in agricultural commodities have led to a realization that scalable and technology-enabled methods of learning are necessary to help farmers access new science-based information. We have proposed an innovative Mobile Learning System based on simple (dumb) phone technology, which enables learning through voice calls. In Hindi, the word Mali refers to a semi-skilled horticultural worker. A series of Mobile for Malis (MfM) Audio MOOCs were developed and delivered to open up access to learning materials and processes to the unreached usually hindered by limitations such as data connectivity, distance from experts, and limited literacy. We conducted two large-scale trials, the objectives being three-fold: to test our system to see if all the different components behaved as expected in a live situation. Second, we wanted to observe the human response and behavior to such an innovative learning system. Third, we wanted to confirm some of the pedagogical hypotheses we had assumed during the design of our audio lessons. A total of 1900 learners were involved. Audio materials were in Hindi language as spoken in the State of Uttar Pradesh, which is the largest province of India. The results proved that the innovative arrangement involving basic cell phones, telephony infrastructure, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, Hindi speech recognition and a web-based course management system was highly effective. Our trials have also opened up to some major research avenues in mobile learning which need to be further investigated. // Chapter from book titled, "Mobile and Ubiquitous Learning: An International Handbook"