The presentation brings about the concept of 'Agricultural knowledge information system', a concept given by 'Niels Rolings'.

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Presented By: Course Instructed by:
Saurav Singla Dr. Basavaprabhu Jirli
1st
yr Ph.D.(Agricultural Statistics) Associate Professor (Agricultural Extension)
Dept. of Farm Engineering Dept. of Agricultural Extension
Institute of Agricultural Sciences Institute of Agricultural Sciences
BHU, Varanasi BHU, Varanasi
A presentation for the course of EXT601 Advances n Agricultural Extension
on the topic
Agricultural Knowledge Information System(AKIS)

2. Agricultural Knowledge
Information System
(AKIS)
AN EMERGING APPROACH FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT

3. What is AKIS?
 An agricultural knowledge and
information system (AKIS) is a
network made up of
organisations and people who
are linked by commercial,
professional or social relationships
(Röling 1988). Such a network
may consist of producers
researchers consultants and
extension professionals common
interest a particular production
technology.
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4. “An AKIS is a set of agricultural organizations and/or
persons, and the links and interactions between them,
engaged in such processes as the generation,
transformation, transmission, storage, retrieval, integration,
diffusion and utilization of knowledge and information,
with the purpose of working synergically to support
decision making, problem solving and innovation in a
given country's agriculture or a domain thereof.”
NIELS RÖLING (1988)
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5. Contd...
 The AKIS concept has been developed out of the old
AKS (Agricultural Knowledge Systems) concept, that
originated in 1960s in scholarly work on agricultural
advise and extension.
 That system was driven by an interventionist agricultural
policy that sought to coordinate knowledge and
innovation transfer in order to accelerate agricultural
modernization.
 In many countries this was reflected in a strong
integration of public research, education and extension
bodies, often under the control of the Ministry of
Agriculture
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6. Contd...
 In the 1970’s an ‘I’ was added to the AKS:
“Agricultural Knowledge And Information Systems”
(AKIS).
 This addition was linked to the increased attention to
information, probably also in connection with the
large scale introduction of computers.
 The term AKIS popped up in policy discourses at
FAO. Later and rather silently the I was redefined in
Innovation: Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation
systems.
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7. Contd...
 Röling argues that
 the effectiveness of AKIS depends critically on
the existence of a system of incentives for
network members
to communicate with each other
to develop, manage and adapt the network as
technology transfer proceeds
 The term (AKIS) is a concept to describe the is the entire
system that produces the knowledge used in agriculture.
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8. Why we need AKIS
 Earlier farming system, extension, agricultural
technology development, research and policy
making were considered as separate entities
each with its own set of issues, managed by
groups of researchers and professionals.
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9. Why we need AKIS
 A good number of communication approaches are
available such as
Farming System Research (FSR)
Training and Visit (T & V),
 Unable to achieve synergy as they are
centralized,
default to wealthier rural elite,
do not build farmers’ capacity and ignore
informal demands.
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10. Why we need AKIS
 Hence system management in the knowledge
system will be required to
hold all formal and informal elements together
coordinate interaction build concerns and
monitor outcomes of synergy.
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11. Contd…
 Within an AKIS, the research-technology transfer
interface is an especially important one in
determining the performance of the whole system
 The AKIS is vulnerable at this interface because
major transformations of knowledge, information
and technology have to take place there and
because bottlenecks in their flow have grave
consequences.
 All too often, the interface suffers from both an
institutional and a functional vacuum
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12. Contd…
 Historically, research has stopped too early in what
should be a continuous and dynamic process of
developing and diffusing new technology. Researchers
have been physically and mentally isolated from farmers
and have handed down an unfinished, untested
product to extension staff.
 Extension contact staff, squeezed between the farmers
they live among, who often ridicule the technologies
they bring, and their superiors, who demand results in line
with policy directives -have been caught in a crisis of
morale (Collinson, 1985).
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13. Developmental Issues
 1. Technology Advancements
 Early birds get benefits
 Farmers who cannot keep up with innovation and technology
are eventually squeezed out
 Decreasing real income of farmers
AKIS management should concentrate on targeting
technology development to support the livelihoods of
resource-poor farmers, and on human resource
development programs to help such farmers become
effective users of technological opportunities (Roling,
1986b). Improving the efficiency of an AKIS increases the
degree to which technology drives agricultural
development.
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14. Pros and Cons of Tech Driven
Development
 Pros
 When a large proportion of a country's working
population is engaged in subsistence farming, the
surplus labor and capital required for industrial
development are scarce. By becoming more
efficient, farmers free these vital resources and create
the capacity to feed people doing non-agricultural
jobs
 Another benefit of technology-driven development is
that it enhances competitiveness. Technology-driven
development implies that one must stay ahead of the
game if one is to stay in business.
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15. Contd..
 Thu technology stream -note the "one-way" metaphor
--is seen as the product of a sophisticated AKIS
dedicated to technology-driven development
 Cons
 Rural livelihood. As technology-driven development
occurs, many developing countries find it impossible
to expand alternative employment fast enough to
accommodate those leaving the land. Moreover,
their rapidly growing rural populations increase the
pressure on land, reducing farm sizes with each new
generation
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16. Developmental Issues
 2. Rainfed areas
 3. Heterogeneity
 4. Sustainable Agriculture
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17. Basic Processes of AKIS 17

18. Generation
 This process is typically attributed only to research
 Many types of farming are even now not served by
public research
 E.g. Rainfed Production System
 Knowledge generation appears to be more
effective when carried out in groups than when
attempted by individuals. Empirical studies have
shown that the productivity of researchers is related
to the extent to which they participate in networks.
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19. Transformation
 The essence of an AKIS is that knowledge generated in one part of
the system is turned into information for use in another part of the
system
 Rolings’ suggested some transformations
 From information on local farming systems to research problems
 From research problems to research findings
 From research findings to tentative solutions to problems (technologies)
 From technologies to prototype recommendations for testing in farmers'
fields
 From recomd. to observations of farmer behavior (male, female, children)
 From tech. recomd. to info affecting service (inputs and marketing)
behavior
 From adapted recommendations to information dissemination by
extension
 From extension information to farmer knowledge
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20. Integration
 Like the other basic processes, integration is carried out by all
participants in an AKIS
 The leaders of multidisciplinary research teams are engaged
in a continuous effort to integrate the research results
produced by different disciplines. However, little is known
about how farmers integrate knowledge and information. We
assume that research results are simply turned into
technologies for farmers' use but the reality is more
complicated. Often, pieces of information that have been
available in different fields for some time are combined to
form useful new ideas. Farmers must integrate external
information from many sources -other farmers, specialist
literature, scientists, technology transfer services, etc -with
their knowledge of their own circumstances.
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21. Storage and Revival
 These processes would seem to be typically the task of
specialized libraries, but most scientists have their own
collections of materials which they access more or less
satisfactorily.
 Extension workers and farmers also store and retrieve
information.
 Apparently, village-level workers in Sri Lanka seldom act
immediately to pass on to farmers the information they
receive through the fortnightly meetings organized under the
T and V extension system, because it is often not relevant at
that time; instead, they store the information for use in the
future. The storage device they use is, simply, memory. Few
hand-outs are given to village-level workers and they do not
have manuals to which to refer.
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23. Fig.:
AKIS in
Greec
e
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24. Fig.3
AKIS in Netherlands
(Source: M. Caggiano)
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25. Rationale
The total impact of an AKIS should be
more than the sum of the impacts of its
constituent parts: an important goal of the
analysis, design and management of an
AKIS is to increase the synergy of its
components.
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References
 Röling, N.G., 1990. The Agricultural Research-Technology Transfer Interface: A Knowledge Systems Perspective.
In: Kaimowitz, D. (ed). Making the Link: Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer in Developing Countries.
Westview Press with ISNAR Cooperation, Boulder, San Francisco and London.
 Röling, N.G. and Engel, P.G.H., 1991/a. The Development of the Concept of AKIS: Implications for Extension. In:
Rivera, V. M. and Gustafson, D.J. (eds). Agricultural Extension: Worldwide Institutional Evaluation and Forces for
Change, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
 International Conference on Communication for Development in the Information Age: Extending the Benefits
of Technology for All. 07-09 January 2003 Eds. Basavaprabhu Jirli Editor in Chief, Diapk De, K. Ghadei and
Kendadmath, G.C., Department of Extension Education, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi, (India).
 EU SCAR (2013). Agricultural knowledge and innovation systems towards 2020 - an orientation paper on linking
innovation and research, Brussels. http://ec.europa.eu/research/agriculture/scar/groups_en.htm
 Knierim, A., Boenning, K., Caggiano, M., Cristóvão, A., Dirimanova, V., Koehnen, T., Labarthe, P. & Prager, K.
(2015).
 The AKIS concept and its relevance in selected EU member states. Outlook on Agriculture 44(1), 29-36.
 Knowledge Centre for Agriculture; V.Erhart; A. Koutsouris; M. Caggiano (2014) - see respective PRO AKIS
country reports for diagrams