In an issue located in a chronological file entitled "INTERPAKS - Newsletter" from the International Programs records of the Agricultural Communications Program, University of Illinois., From the International Programs records of the Agricultural Communications Program, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign., Review of a book, Farmer first: farmer innovation and agricultural research, edited by Robert Chambers, Arnold Pacey, and Lori Ann Thrupp, Intermedia Technology Publications, London, 1989.
AGRICOLA IND 92017545; Presented at the VIII World Congress of IAALD, May, 1990, Budapest, Hungary, The mid-term review of the Fifth Malaysia Plan (1986-1990) has stated that emphasis will be placed on accelerating transfer fo technology to small holders to improve their productivity and efficiency. Technology transfer can be achieved through publications, newspapers, radio and television networks and interpersonal methods as exemplified by the Agricultural Information Dissemination Programme launched in 1983 by the Ministry of Agriculture which has contributed to increased farmers' awareness of new agricultural technologies. Communication through the printed media can be tailored to specific clientele needs if their demography, psychological response, literacy and real information demands are understood. The advent of information technology has benefited Malaysia in the transfer of technology by reducing costs in terms of time. This is seem in the rapidity with which information can be mass produced for dissemination by using desktop publishing which further allows information transfer though the printed media to be expedited, thus bringing to the farmers new information quickly. This approach to publication is not only more cost effective, but faster.
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.
Located in a chronological file entitled "INTERPAKS - Newsletter" from the International Programs records of the Agricultural Communications Program, University of Illinois., From the International Programs records of the Agricultural Communications Program, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign., An invited reassessment by the author of a book, Hard Tomatoes and Hard Times, in which he faulted U.S. land grant universities for abandoning the original intended focus on serving small, low-resource farmers. Emphasized farmers' need for neutral, unbiased assessment of new, often very specialized, technologies. "...and at the same time they will need generalists who can assist in developing comprehensive, integrated farming systems that can depend on lessons learned decades ago as well as new knowledge."
