The need for Institutional Innovation in Agricultural Extension and Education

Infusing new information and knowledge in agricultural systems:

A small farmer ploughing his field in Rajasthan, India

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The need for Institutional Innovation in Agricultural Extension and Education

In my previous blog I referred to the need for change and innovation in agricultural education and extension organizations and Institutes if they are to continue to contribute to infuse information and knowledge meaningfully in agricultural systems.

Apparently conventional extension and education systems are already obsolete or will become so in the way they are contributing to and enabling information flows for farming and agricultural development.

My reasons for this contention are:

First of all the users of agricultural information are now not only farmers as these conventional systems were designed to target but now include a wide array of actors in agricultural production chains.

Second, the needs of information of these users have changed. The users need a broad spectrum of information related to agriculture to make decisions and they need it just in time and not as pre-planned packages that the conventional extension systems are designed to produce and deliver.

Third, the flow of information has changed. There are now pluralistic flows of information from several sources, many of them competing with each other in the information they provide and not uni-directional linear flows from research to extension agent to farmer.

Fourth, users can access information from a multiple of information channels that provide information through a wide range of media and not only face to face meetings and printed material and a single source, the extension agent.

Fifth, in many cases, users are both producers and consumers of information and new channels are needed for this duplex communication.

Sixth, the role of extension agents who at one time conveyed information as a package has changed. They are now to act as information and knowledge intermediaries who guide users to information and facilitate the user’s decision making through their knowledge. This requires new skills and change in educational systems that provide skills to extension agents.

Finally, users have replaced Agricultural Universities and Research Institutes as being centres and being in control of agricultural information systems. Universities and Research Institutes generated new information and trained extension agents to convey it to farmers. Because of this they were at the centre and in control of conventional agricultural extension systems. Now these Institutions are only one of the many actors which include non government organizations, farmer organizations, agribusiness and trade organizations, the private sector especially farm input providers, processors, transporters and market intermediaries, consumer organizations and individuals with interests in agriculture who are sources of and provide information actively.

Agricultural Universities and Research Institutes now face active competition in their traditional role as generators and disseminators of agricultural information from other actors and this competition is increasingly becoming stiffer. To avoid being rendered irrelevant, these Institutions have to change to match and better the competition in providing information to agricultural communities for agricultural development.

Extension and education systems have to innovate their Institutional frameworks rapidly if they wish to significantly contribute to agricultural information flows and development. A major problem is in their vision and goals. The vision of these Institutions is primarily towards generation of agricultural graduates who would contribute to agricultural development when they work in the field as extension agents or research. Contributing directly to agricultural development through sharing information, knowledge and new skills is not the main goal for these Universities. The Universities are thus designed to provide on-campus, face-to-face education that is structured around static curricula and syllabi, text books and evaluation through examinations. The vision and goals of these Universities have to change if they are to contribute to learning for agricultural communities and not only produce agricultural graduates. These Universities have to become dual mode, offering both formal and informal, on and off campus learning through structured (with set curricula and syllabi) and unstructured programs. They have to cater to a wide range of learners from young farmers to students who will be researchers.

Another major issue in envisioning is the overt focus of agricultural universities on farming rather than on agribusiness. For example, in India, agriculture since late 1990s has moved towards agribusiness and has greater linkages with markets. Agriculture Universities have not been able to envision themselves towards this trend and change themselves to be in tune with the transformation of agriculture in the country. I believe that the rest of the developing world is also going through a similar experience.

Significant re-engineering is required in the design of agricultural universities to become dual mode. These Universities need to envision afresh and set new goals such as to contribute to human capacity for national agriculture and agribusiness development. This human capacity is not only graduates with degrees but also vocational training for youth to be farmers capable of participating in agribusiness and supporting the vast array of actors in agricultural production and value addition chains. These Universities will need to build close links with agribusiness through contributing to their innovation. I do not yet see these concepts and ideas being implemented in Agricultural Universities of the South.

To generate information and knowledge intermediaries who work with agricultural communities, as many of their graduates will fill this role, a significant change will also be required in their curricula, syllabi and skills base especially of the teachers. There will be a need to reformulate linkages between research, education and extension in the Universities and how they contribute to innovation for agricultural development.

In many countries, Agricultural Universities are under Education Ministries. This cuts them off from real agricultural issues. These countries therefore require significant changes in their policies and structures to bring agricultural education in line with the needs of their agriculture and its development.