Gnaegy Suzanna (author / Winrock International) and Anderson, Jock R. (author / Winrock International)
Format:
Publication
Publication Date:
1991-06-30
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 114 Document Number: D11012
Notes:
World Bank Discussion Paper 126. Washington, D.C. 158 pages., Studies from a workshop. Includes evidence that research and extension had contributed to a decline in agricultural production. "There is a broad consensus about the many factors that have contributed to failures to boost land and labor productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Both technological options and agroecological and socioeconomic circumstances in this vast region are diverse, thus creating a complex matrix of impacts and explanations. The central explanation is that research and development activities, whether public or private, national or international, have produced innovations that farmers find variously unprofitable, too risky, or impossible to implement in a timely and useful fashion. These problems lead, in turn, to often declining agricultural productivity and a deteriorating agricultural resource base, particularly of soil and forest resources. Stepping back further from the farmers themselves to the institutions that are supposed to have assisted, the difficulties are several including the poor (often irrelevant for resource-poor farmers) siting of much past experimental and testing endeavor, inadequate and temporally inconsistent staff and budget support for national research and extension organizations.
Johnson, Jane S. (author / University of Illinois)
Format:
Book
Publication Date:
1985
Published:
USA: International Program for Agricultural Knowledge Systems (INTERPAKS), Office of International Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: Byrnes1 Document Number: C12100
Ragona, M. (author), Raley, M. (author), Sijtsema, S.J. (author), and Frewer, L.J. (author)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
2013-06
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 190 Document Number: D02468
Notes:
Paper presented at the 2nd Associazione Italiana di Economia Agraria e Applicata (AIEAA) Conference, Parma, Italy, June 6-7, 2013. 10 pages., Conference theme: "Between crisis and development: which role for the bio-economy"
This article originally was a paper presented at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions' (IFLA) General Conference, Aug. 18-24, 2002, in Glasgow, Scotland., 10 p., Often funding agencies and donor governments face the question should they support information and communication technology (ICT) activities in their development projects. Should the money be invested in computers and communication devices or will it be better spent on food, shelter, health and education? The choice need not be "either/or." If used intelligently and innovatively, ICTs can form an integral component of developmental projects, as is shown by the award-winning Information Village project of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. The important point to remember is that one does not have to use technology because it is there, but one uses it if there is a genuine advantage. In any developmental program, people and their contexts should decide how one goes about implementing developmental interventions. The needs of the people and the best means to satisfy them should determine the whole program. Often ICT-based development projects do not bring in the expected results because of undue emphasis on technology. Against this background, the factors that led to the success of the Pondicherry experience are analyzed.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C25423
Notes:
Proceedings from a conference, "Science and technology in Third World development," at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, April 5-7, 1993. 307 pages.
