Fertile ground : opportunities for greater coherence in agricultural information systems

This study examines the current landscape of Internet-based agricultural information services, to identify gaps and inconsistancies, and to suggest avenues for bringing greater coherence to the system as a whole.

As the number of ICT-enabled information services increases, the intended user risks being swamped with possibilities to address his or her information needs. The challenge faced by donor-supported agricultural information services is to make it easier for those who need information to find what they are looking for by working together to build a more coherent total system.

This report looks at the issue of coherence among agricultural information services from three perspectives:

• Service providers: institutions providing development-oriented information services in the agriculture sector
• Agriculture stakeholders in the South: information workers addressing the needs of the main clients for the services provided, such as extension workers, researchers and policymakers
• Donors: providing financial support to many of the major agricultural information services and systems.

What emerges is a picture of an overall system in which there are striking gaps, areas of inefficiency, and duplications, as well as a certain mismatch between the information needs of the South and what is being provided by the current donor-supported services. To address these issues, the authors suggest both practical and policy-oriented actions that all three stakeholder groups can take to ensure a more coherent approach to matching supply and demand. Technical options for ensuring greater flexibility in mixing and matching information from different sources are explored in some detail.

The survey and analysis as well as the recommendations presented in this report were verified in a stakeholder workshop hosted by the United Kingdom Department for International Development in London, June 2003. [author]