The AKIS/RD concept needs to be understood because it is very important to agricultural and rural development and, more generally, to national economies. The first task is to promulgate throughout the agricultural knowledge triangle of (sub)systems the idea that the main actors (agricultural educators, extensionists, researchers, the private sector, and farmers) can interact with each other for their mutual benefit. In short, the concept of AKIS/RD needs to be understood, nurtured and expounded.
Given an AKIS/RD policy, the next step is to plan strategically the best direction and approaches for developing an integrated AKIS/RD. Recognizing the value and importance of the idea of AKIS/RD, agricultural institutions need to promote linkages, technology transfer, knowledge sharing and the exchange of relevant information. This impetus must be supported by adequate financial commitment. However, as the case studies point out, there are various funding sources other than the State. For example, funds for AKIS/RD may be acquired from the local communities that benefit from agricultural knowledge and information, from public and semi-public corporations, from private estate farms and trade organizations, from sundry cess arrangements for exportable goods, and from RPOs and individual producers. Research, extension and education must stop competing with each other for limited government resources and must begin to strengthen linkage mechanisms that will improve the flow of technology to agricultural producers.
Government also needs to create the conditions necessary for developing AKIS/RD. Investment in market development and support to input providers, especially credit and supply institutions, are needed to stimulate the agricultural community, and attention to the rural physical infrastructure is needed to make the environment attractive and safe. Agricultural producers, especially women and poor farmers, require education and training to bring them into the modern world of labour-saving technologies and more productive practices. Joint planning between producers and institutional operators can provide the platform for advancing a demand-driven system of technological innovation for agricultural development.
System leaders and managers need a better understanding of the dynamic nature of both national and international technology systems, and should be able to identify those areas where the public system has a comparative advantage over private sector R&D firms. First, the publicly funded technology system needs to focus more attention on those sustainable development activities that will maintain the natural resource base of each nation - R&D activities that are not likely to be undertaken by the private sector. The public sector also needs to give greater attention to intensifying and diversifying the farming systems of small-scale farmers, both to increase the productivity and incomes of these farm households and to slow rural-urban migration. In addition, public research and extension systems must develop more active partnerships with farmers’ organizations, private sector firms and NGOs so that technology assessment and transfer can be undertaken in a coordinated and effective manner, with each institution concentrating on those activities where it has a comparative advantage, while jointly planning activities where the goal requires concerted action.
The development of AKIS/RD is attractive to the private sector. Major roads that link towns will almost certainly have to be built, or at least funded, by government. The benefits from roads will be widely spread and accrue as much to the public as to the private sector regarding access to clientele, or potential clientele. In the short and - especially - the long terms, private sector issues of distribution and dynamic efficiency promise to be enhanced as a result of government commitment to AKIS/RD.
As a consequence, partnerships for effective institutional cooperation with the private sector and producers need to be combined with the effective use of communication, both traditional and modern technologies. Computer technology, online and interactive mechanisms have a huge potential to develop the system. Investments are needed to support the enabling of the private sector and, in particular, the encouragement of RPOs. The commodification of agricultural knowledge has gradually become a reality, and this means that producers must begin to recognize the value of information and to share in paying for it, just as farmers are beginning to accept that water carries a cost.
Key to understanding and strengthening an AKIS/RD is recognition of the limitations of a top-down "technology transfer" approach to rural innovation. Public sector policy-makers and managers need rather to focus on the diverse uptake pathways for innovation, client education and information delivery, and facilitating local innovation. Technology transfer will remain important, but is unlikely to be sufficient to stimulate the sustainable transformation of rural livelihoods. Two-way, interactive, participatory models of AKIS/RD are crucial for the involvement of producers and other stakeholders in the AKIS process. Effective links between information providers and user communities cannot be adequately established unless there is continuing communication and shared decision-making within the system.
Ultimately, the adoption of AKIS/RD as a nationwide concept and general practice depends on each government’s interest and determination to foster agricultural knowledge and information for the contribution it can make to growth and equity in the rural sector. Long-range political support, strong leadership and adequate investment are crucial to its success.
The case studies provide a wealth of data on what governments and their institutional leaders are doing to move towards integrated AKIS/RD. In some cases, the reforms are deliberately based on an understanding of the principles underlying an AKIS/RD. In others, they are the result of reaction to crises. Global trends and the failure of top-down programmes are forcing countries to confront the problems and promise of developing effective, integrated AKIS/RD.
The studies bring into sharp relief the instruments and commitment needed to realize AKIS/RD. They underline the importance of AKIS/RD and AKIS/RD-related policy, revitalized institutional arrangements, advanced system and programme management, the necessary conditions for supporting innovations, the partnerships and networks that contribute to concerted agricultural development efforts, and the "bottom-line" importance of sustainable funding. They stress the integration necessary to make AKIS/RD successful. They also suggest the value and importance of agricultural knowledge and information in the promotion of innovation that contributes to a nation’s economic and social development. They highlight that an integrated AKIS/RD requires the strategic alignment of AKIS institutions, in cooperation with relevant private sector organizations, and the participation of the rural sector’s agricultural producers and other stakeholders with the shared aim of developing the agriculture sector and, thereby, advancing rural development.
Investing in agriculture and its knowledge institutions is a long-term proposition, but few developing countries will reduce poverty significantly if they ignore it. In fact, few if any countries will achieve the Millennium Development Goals without growth in their agriculture sectors. Some 70 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their livelihood, either directly or indirectly. Accordingly, FAO and the World Bank have made agricultural growth and poverty reduction a central pillar of their rural strategy - FAO with its Special Programme for Food Security and the World Bank with its Reaching the Poor Programme. Both organizations are committed to promoting the idea and practice of AKIS/RD. In general, the case studies underscore that the idea is being transformed into action, albeit at different stages of development.
