Meeting the challenges to agricultural research and extension

1990 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 184-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Sauer

AbstractThe public agricultural research and extension system has provided the foundation for great improvements in U.S. agricultural production. However, our incomparable productivity has brought with it serious problems. These problems have also led to a rapidly changing perception about both agricultural scientists and today's conventional agriculture. Critics are placing high on the agenda of the agricultural research and extension establishment the need for alternative technologies that are more sustainable and less exploitative of our resources. The growing demand for alternative systems offers challenges for every part of the establishment-research and extension administrators, branch station/research center directors, and faculty. These challenges and how they should be met are discussed. Alternative systems will become the conventional agriculture of tomorrow.

HortScience ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 1461-1470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian M. Alston ◽  
Philip G. Pardey

Specialty crops have become increasingly important relative to other categories of agricultural production in the United States over the past 50 years, especially during the past 25 years. The growth in the value of production of specialty crops has not been matched by commensurate growth in public agricultural research spending. The specialty crops' share of spending on crops research (or on all agricultural research) has remained approximately constant during a period when the specialty crops' share of the value of production has increased significantly. This article reviews trends in the economic importance of specialty crops, and public funding for specialty crops research, and examines arguments and evidence about whether the total funding for specialty crops research is too little and whether the share of agricultural research funding allocated to specialty crops should increase. Although the evidence is mixed, we conclude that specialty crops research is underfunded and that a case can be made for increasing the share of agricultural research funding going to specialty crops. A producer check-off program with a matching government grant could be developed to give incentives to both the industry and the government to help enhance research funding.


1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-99
Author(s):  
Barkat Ali Quraishi ◽  
Muhammad Jameel Khan

Reliable knowledge about the contribution of various factors responsible for increasing agricultural production is indispensable for planning. This holds particularly for the fertilizer use, which has been recognized as one of the quickest and, perhaps, the cheapest means for increasing agricultural produc¬tion. In Pakistan the emphasis on planned development is gaining momentum and for this purpose more data and fuller information on fertilizer response are becoming increasingly essential. The Agricultural Research Stations in the country have been conducting experiments with a view to determining the extent to which the cropped yield may increase due to the application of fertilizer. But such experiments, because of their somewhat controlled nature in respect of certain factors, obviously can¬not tell us with a desired measure of accuracy as to what is actually happening at millions of private farms throughout the country. And, as such, the planning in this regard is apt to be wrong.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 2776-2780
Author(s):  
Valentina Constanta Tudor ◽  
Ionela Mituko Vlad ◽  
Diana Zamfir Vasca

Pollution in agriculture plays a major role. One of the sector affected by this phenomenon is the perennial plants, such as fruits sector. This sector is an important part of agricultural production in Romania, mainly because of the areas that have been dedicated; that is why the sector should be reconsidered because it could be one of the engines of the agriculture. This have to led to important efforts and increased attention in managing the opportunities offered by the development of the associations and producer groups involved. The present paper aims to address certain aspects of the national, macro-regional and European aspects of these fruits productions and the impact of the degree of pollution in agriculture. In this respect, data derived from the public databases dedicated to this field, namely Eurostat, the National Statistics Institute, DG Agriculture / FADN database and the Ministry of Agriculture, were used. The methods used to analyze and interpret the results are descriptive statistics, dynamics and comparisons between target areas and indicators. The results highlighted in the first part of the paper the Romania�s position upon the European average in what concern the fruit sector but also upon a competing country on the fruit market, Poland, which is considered to have a European top position.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (04) ◽  
Author(s):  
M S MEENA ◽  
R B KALE ◽  
S K SINGH ◽  
A K SINGH

A study was undertaken in collaboration with eight Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and five Learning and Experience based Advisor (LEAD) farmers were selected by each KVK, employing socio-metric technique. Hence, data were solicited from 40 LEAD farmers from eight districts who were trained by KVKs. Role of KVKs were determined based on their Index Value (IV). Study reveals that KVKs played an important role in skill development of LEAD farmers through organisation of need based and skill-oriented trainings (IV=62) followed by front-line demonstrations on location specific agricultural technologies at farmers’ fields (IV=59.42), and developing linkages between LEAD and fellow farmers (IV=58.33). Key determinants accountable for enhancing effectiveness of this model were enhanced technology adoption (IV=60.13) followed by enhanced agricultural production (IV=57.48) and productivity (IV=57.10). Study reveals that one LEAD farmer adopted 5 agricultural technologies from KVKs. Further, fellow farmers adopted 2 agricultural technologies from LEAD farmers. Hence, it was concluded that this approach may play a significant role in complementing Indian public extension system through reducing cost and coverage of more farm families. This model needs community as well as government support for sustainability and its scalability.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 92-96
Author(s):  
Terefe Dechasa ◽  
Wondimu Anteneh ◽  
Teshome Abinet

Author(s):  
Jock R. Anderson ◽  
Regina Birner ◽  
Latha Najarajan ◽  
Anwar Naseem ◽  
Carl E. Pray

Abstract Private agricultural research and development can foster the growth of agricultural productivity in the diverse farming systems of the developing world comparable to the public sector. We examine the extent to which technologies developed by private entities reach smallholder and resource-poor farmers, and the impact they have on poverty reduction. We critically review cases of successfully deployed improved agricultural technologies delivered by the private sector in both large and small developing countries for instructive lessons for policy makers around the world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 117862212098002
Author(s):  
Pouria Ataei ◽  
Hassan Sadighi ◽  
Thomas Aenis ◽  
Mohammad Chizari ◽  
Enayat Abbasi

Different countries face diverse challenges for Conservation Agriculture (CA) development. The main purpose of this study was to examine the challenges of applying CA in Iran from the perspective of experts and farmers. A focus group method was used to investigate the challenges. The research sample consisting of farmers and experts of CA in different provinces includes those 19 experts and 15 farmers. Inductive content analysis and coding (open, axial, and selective coding) were employed to analyze the farmers’ and experts’ discussions. The findings showed that the challenges of applying CA in the studied provinces could be divided into 6 general categories: institutional-infrastructure (7 concepts), economic (5 concepts), training-research (2 concepts), environmental (4 concepts), mechanization (2 concepts), and cognitive (2 concepts) challenges. The economic and institutional-infrastructure challenges were the most frequent related to applying CA. It can be concluded that to solve the challenges of applying CA, it is necessary to link various sectors of government (the Ministry of Agriculture), education and research (Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization), and industry together. But farmers themselves are also a major contributor to meet the challenges of CA development through participation in planning CA project and training-extension programs. Therefore, farmers’ communities should also pave the way for a transition from conventional agriculture to CA with their participation.


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