Shalaby, M.Y. (author), Baig, M.B. (author), Al-Shaya (author), and Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, King Saud University, P O Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2010-12
Published:
Egypt
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08184
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 195 Document Number: D07951
Notes:
John L. Woods Collection, Folder for International Program for Agricultural Knowledge Systems, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana. Two folds.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 195 Document Number: D07955
Notes:
John L. Woods Collection, Folder for International Program for Agricultural Knowledge Systems, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana. Two folds.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 195 Document Number: D07954
Notes:
John L. Woods Collection, Folder for International Program for Agricultural Knowledge Systems, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana. Two folds.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 195 Document Number: D07956
Notes:
John L. Woods Collection, Folder for International Program for Agricultural Knowledge Systems, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana. Two folds.
10 pages, via online journal, Model farmers are a common feature of many developing world agricultural extension networks within which they demonstrate new cultivation techniques and technologies to local communities. The diverse political-economic and socio-cultural roles that such farmers assume, however, are rarely afforded critical scrutiny. To do so, we emphasise the ways in which model farmers facilitate not only the production and transfer of knowledge but also of materials and legitimacy. These transfers occur both horizontally to community members and vertically through linkages with extension agents, research institutions and private sector interests. We establish how these transfers have important impacts upon both efficiency and equity. To illustrate, we use examples of model farmers drawn from research on hybrid rice dissemination in Mandya district, Karnataka. Despite having the same official functions within the extension network, the model farmers we surveyed assumed strongly different roles with notable implications for the effectiveness of knowledge transfer alongside equity considerations.
