saarcagri - About SAARC AgriNet

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The last decade has witnessed digitization of information resources by many agricultural institutions in the SAARC region, and making these digitized information available in a variety of forms of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Especially during the last five years or so, several important information and knowledge systems have emerged from government, NGO and private sector initiatives that are highly relevant for agricultural development in SAARC countries.
Information explosion in the form of portals, electronic journals, digital libraries, electronic discussion forums, knowledge networks, information repositories etc. has accelerated the speed of transfer of results of research and scholarship across nations. Essentially these digital information services and information systems use the Internet technologies and are characterized by dynamic delivery of information. This information explosion nonetheless poses increasing difficulty to potential users especially in accessing relevant information in usable format from innumerable, scattered sources.
This is also the challenge the SAARC Information Centre faces in its every effort to provide access to information to its users ranging from ministries to various institutions / organizations to the end-users (farmers) in different member countries of the SAARC. In particular, the challenges for the Centre in the digital era are: How to manage digital information for the users of the SAARC region? How to provide access to networked information that is relevant for stakeholders? How to enhance coherence and collaboration in agricultural knowledge and information systems in the SAARC countries?
Need for networking In order to strengthen the efforts of National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems of the countries in the information management and knowledge sharing, for effective transfer of technology to the farmers, there is the need for networking of the information systems of the member countries. This would require improving the coherence and collaboration of information and knowledge systems of the countries. Realizing this need, the Centre initiated the SAARC AgriNet Project to establish efficient information networking which will address the gaps and inconsistencies of the current the agricultural information and knowledge systems.
The Conceptual Framework of SAARC AgriNet The term "SAARC AgriNet" is used to denote the Regional Agricultural Information Network of SAARC Agriculture Centre to realise the first objective of 'establishing regional information network on agriculture and allied discipline'.
SAARC AgriNet it is a network for `individuals’, `institutions’ and `information’ in the field of agriculture and allied subjects in the SAARC region. Individuals - covers farmers, scientists, extensionists, educationists, policy makers, administrators, development agents, agri-entrepreneurs. Institutions - covers organization in the field of research, extension, education, marketing, finance, networks, NGO, business institutions / agencies in agriculture. Information - covers networked information and knowledge resources in or on agriculture relevant to SAARC Member States. SAARC AgriNet operates through the Internet, web technologies and any other new ICTs that emerge from time to time.
The development of SAARC AgriNet will build on the significant networking foundation already in place. This infrastructure can be generally divided into access to telecommunication networks (the conduits) and access to information (the content) via these networks.

The evolving network will not be a single network. Such a structure is neither feasible nor desirable in the age of decentralized and distributed networks or at a time when repositories of information and knowledge are similarly decentralized and distributed. Rather, SAARC AgriNet will most likely be an interconnected network of individuals, institutions and networked information resources in the field of Agricultural Research, Extension and Development (ARED) in the SAARC Member countries. The following diagram describes the type of linkages and flow of information in SAARC AgriNet and also highlights the areas of action by red circles.

The degree of interconnection will be highly dependent on the technology used which will, in turn, be determined by commonalties of services, governance, geography or a combination thereof. And the nature of access to the content is dependent on the nature of content, the level of its use, the delivery format and the intended audience.

A region wide network like SAARC AgriNet will seek to enhance the network conduits and access to contents. It will also seek to provide access to the conduits and content for agricultural practitioners now isolated from the networked world, ensuring them a basic level of network participation, with a marked increase in access to information and knowledge. SAARC AgriNet can enhance existing agricultural knowledge and information system of SAARC region and assist in developing new services for resource sharing.

In summary, SAARC AgriNet aims to help the agricultural community of SAARC Member countries move one step closer to realizing a better life through agricultural development.

SAARC AgriNet understands that the potential use of ICTs can take information and knowledge directly to the farmers. This cannot be thought of avoiding farmers accessing information directly. Keeping the potentials of ICTs in view, SAARC AgriNet will follow a farmer-centric approach in its development. Emphasis on tools and services that address the farmers’ needs will be made throughout the development of SAARC AgriNet.

SAARC AgriNet believes that besides land, water, labour, capital etc., the information and knowledge are vital resources for agricultural development. It is axiomatic that 'informed farmers' are better farmers. And 'knowledgeable farmers' are the successful farmers in a competitive world. SAARC AgriNet at the regional level believes that empowering farmers with knowledge can take place through empowering agricultural extension departments, other government departments, agricultural universities, NGOs, marketing agencies, agricultural input suppliers like seed companies, fertilizer companies, pesticide companies, mass media etc. in each SAARC Member State who are the front liners in the transfer of information and knowledge on the latest technologies and problems. This, however, does not preclude poor and subsistence farmers and their information needs. In fact SAARC AgriNet puts these farmers at the forefront in identifying, organising and disseminating information and knowledge. Based on this premises the beneficiaries of SAARC AgriNet are as follows:

1. Primary beneficiaries: scientists, extensionists, educationists, policy makers, administrators, development agents, information / knowledge providers, agri-entrepreneurs and students.

2. Secondary beneficiaries: Farmers, farmers’ groups, farmers’ cooperatives, commodity specific groups and rural groups.

SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC)
BARC Complex, New Airport Road Farmgate, Dhaka -1215, Bangladesh.
Phone:+880-2-8115353 Fax: +880-2-9124596 E-mail: info@saarcagri.net
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