This document discusses the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) in agricultural education and capacity building. It notes that ICT has replaced traditional teaching methods with smart classrooms, e-learning, and remote teaching. ICT provides access to updated information through multimedia and helps build the professional competence of teachers. Key aspects of ICT that help with capacity building include educational content, e-resources, teaching portals, and institutional repositories. The goals of ICT-enabled capacity building programs are to help agricultural scientists and teachers keep updated on new developments and improve their skills and career prospects. Both formal education through university courses and informal education through activities like workshops are discussed.

1. Dr. K. VEERANJANEYULU
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN & CCPI, e-Granth Project
Head, University Computer Centre
ANGR AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
HYDERABAD – 500 030
veeru_1963@rediffmail.com

2. When India gained Independence, our agriculture system was
underdeveloped. Food grains production was not enough to feed
every citizen. Before Independence, in 1943, our country faced one
of the world's worst food disasters - the Bengal Famine - wherein an
estimated four to five million people died of hunger. During 1946 to
1952, we imported on an average 3 million tone of food grains
annually. National food security became naturally a priority agenda
for national development. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru once
remarked “everything else can wait but not agriculture”. In the
Sixties, the Government took multi-directional initiatives to
strengthen agriculture. Research and development programmes lead
to launch new technologies; seeds of high yielding rice and wheat
varieties were procured and adopted. As a result, food grain
production started increasing, and food imports ultimately ended.

3. As a very big part of Indian population is
dependent on agriculture for their source of living, it
plays an immense role in development of the country.
Thus, there is no doubt to say that ‘Development in
Agriculture leads to Development of a Nation’.
Agricultural education is the basic foundation for
developing manpower for research, education,
training and extension. Agricultural education is the
teaching of agriculture, natural resources, and land
management through hands on experience.

9. Due to Information technology, Indian economy has witnessed several
revolutionary developments, Viz. Green (food grains), White (milk), Yellow (oilseeds),
Blue (fishery) and now Rainbow Revolution in Agriculture, Bio-technological
Revolution, Industrial Revolution and Information Technology (IT) Revolution etc.
Country has made considerable progress in the communication systems,
telephony and digital audio/video processing etc. These technologies have in fact
coverage to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which is defined as the
technologies involved in collecting, processing, storing, retrieving, disseminating
telecommunications and computers. In the wake of rapidly growing internet connectivity,
accessing world-wide information, on any desired aspect and providing the same at the
click of a button on the desktop along with the e-mail facility already replacing the postal
communication all around the world coupled with the internet telephony, web-portals
with discussion formus, on-line chatting, video conferencing etc., the world has really
bridged the gap in the terms of the reach.
The use of multimedia technology has made the interactions through computers
livelier with images, video clips and stereo-sound capability. ICT provides access to the
latest updated information on a particular technology clearly outlining the benefits of the
adopting that technology through multimedia graphics and video-clips.

10. Earlier, only a few traditional tools and techniques were being
followed for educating farmers, researchers and extension workers.
There were only class room teaching with using chalk and blackboard,
lectures delivered to only a restricted number of people in fields which
was not clear audible to all. But with the advent of IT, various latest
tools, techniques and learning methods have replaced the old ones.
The traditional class rooms have been replaced with new smart class
rooms and online lectures, traditional course content with e-contents,
traditional information resources with e-resources and restricted place
teaching with remote teaching, oral presentations with multimedia
presentations, etc.
Further, it is also well-known that without a sound capacity
building framework, the financial resources spent on anything will go
to waste. Thus, the need for capacity building in agricultural education
principally arise due to high initial cost associated with setting up the
suitable infrastructure, lack of trained faculty, lethargy on part of
management, faculty to upgrade themselves, initial resistance to
change by the teachers, lack of bandwidth and other technical support
functions across geography, and above all the lack of awareness with
regard to utility of ICT for agricultural education.

11. The real meaning and power of ICTs for “capacity building” would be to
enable the ability of the administrators, teacher and the student to use ICTs in
their own processes of administration and teaching-learning in a manner they
deem fit arising from their engagement with ICTs, facilitated by Academic
Institutions, teacher-educators, and teachers, respectively. The key components
of the capacity building of the teachers include a clear understanding and
appreciation of the pre-service and in-service training institutions, their vision,
coverage, the methodologies, and the extent to which their interventions are
effective. The capacity building is not restricted to improving the ICT skills of
the teachers but more importantly the intention is to exploit the potential of ICT
to build the professional competence of teachers, to develop their proficiency in
classroom management practices, to enhance the quality of instructions, and
others. In this context following ICT affected initiatives have been adopted:
 Smart Class Room Teaching
 Video Conferencing
 Multimedia labs
 Teleconferencing
 Virtual Classes
 Webinar
 Video Labs.

12. Educational content is a key element of ICT use in
education. It is basically the information that is offered to the
intended beneficiary through telecenters, multimedia, or Web.
The intended information may be textual, oral or visual, or a
combination of them, and the importance of relevant content
development can be easily assessed by the fact that any
Website or a community centre can draw interested groups
only if information provided is useful to them, is passed to
them in an interesting way, and is made user friendly. It
includes:
e-Courses/online tutorials
e-Resources
e-Tutorials
Teaching/Learning Portals
Information Portals
e-Databases
Institutional Repositories

13. The objectives of the capacity building programmes for
agricultural scientists and teachers are outlined below.
To help the agricultural scientists and teachers to keep abreast of
the new development in the field.
To make them fit and competent in the ever changing technology
field.
To help them in improving their career prospects.
To help them in learning new ideas and concepts.
To help them to improve services.
To update professional knowledge.

14. Formal Education:
Formal Courses : SAUs and ICAR Institutions should undertake
the responsibilities in offering formal courses in handling
Information Technology.
Extension Courses : Summer Schools run by the
Universities/Institutions should offer extension courses. They
provide practical demonstration of different aspects of
agriculture.
Refresher Courses : SAUs and ICAR Institutions should organize
refresher courses to scientists and teachers:-
To brush up all and recall acquired knowledge.
Increasing of work efficiency.
In-service Training : In-service training programmes should be
organized to improve knowledge and to improve Job efficiency.

15. Informal Education Obtained Through:
Reading, writing and editing.
Attending lectures, professional meetings,
conferences and workshops.