Heres’s an interesting reading for TechTuesday from the DevelopmentGateway about how ICT are becoming essential tools in providing agricultural extensions services.

This paper reports on the 6th Consultative Expert Meeting of the ACP-EU Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation Observatory (CTA) on ICTs. The summary report provides an outline of the main issues, developments and trends in agricultural extension, as they relate to ICTs, with a special emphasis on improving rural livelihoods. The report draws on the presentations, case studies and discussions from the CTA Observatory.
Participants drew attention to the fact that extension is being compelled to change from a process of technology transfer (research to farmer) to a process of facilitating and brokering a wide range of communication, information and advocacy services.
Given these trends, participants focused on the following topics:

• Assessing the role and potential of modern ICTs in the context of changing paradigms and emerging new actors
• Identifying challenges and constraints on the increased use of ICTs in agricultural extension
• Articulating common principles, and developing a framework for the application of ICTs to improved pro-poor extension
• Establishing an inventory and state-of-the-art assessment of the use of ICTs in agricultural extension, including a collection of success stories and examples of good practice from ACP countries
• Specifying the implications for CTA’s priorities and future interventions.

download the paper on how ICT is transforming agricultural extension…