[ABIDJAN] More than a dozen agricultural research institutes in Côte d'Ivoire have agreed to open up access to their research results and raise farmers' awareness of their work through a shared online platform.
"In Africa, the agricultural sector's low productivity is mainly due to the weak adoption of available technology, and the inefficiency or lack of mastery of technological resources," Koudougnon commented.
The Guardian called the recent government announcement that all UK-funded research will be open access within two years, "the most radical shakeup of academic publishing since the invention of the internet". That's not an exaggeration: the web will finally achieve what it was initially created for: the free exchange of research. The payoff is literally incalculable: as a rough guide, the Human Genome Project's decision to make its results similarly open has yielded economic benefits exceeding 200 times the project's costs. As research outputs that were previously only available to academics become available for uses we can't even imagine yet, we can expect significant advances in medicine, education and industry.
Agricultural researchers in developing countries are keen to communicate their research to non-experts, but often feel hampered by institutional barriers and a lack of support, according to a survey published in the current issue of Agricultural Information Worldwide.
The results are based on responses from 1,500 researchers, the majority working in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and will be presented at the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) in Uruguay this October.
Ouagadougou — Burkina Faso plans to launch an organisation to enhance communication among young researchers, following recommendations generated at a forum for young scientists held last month (6-7 July) in Ouagadougou.
DES MOINES, Iowa – Deb Brown bristles when she hears people suggest that farmers and other rural residents lag when it comes to social media.
She said the social aspect of farm life, where neighbors and farmers gather at local establishments to share news, long served as its own kind of "social media."
The scientific community can, and must, solidify the knowledge base on food security in a changing climate. There are key areas where scientific knowledge is needed to help pave the way for strategic, sustainable investments in climate-resilient agricultural production systems and low-waste supply chains that also deliver adequate nutrition. The priorities for researchers and research funding organizations are highlighted in a new journal article on “The role for scientists in tackling food insecurity and climate change” authored by members of the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change.
Published in Agriculture and Food Security, the article distils specific messages from the Commission’s major report released earlier this year, Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change. The Commission, which was set up by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, recognized the essential roles to be played by scientists and global donors in achieving a food-secure future. As such, it called upon a constellation of governments, international institutions, investors, agricultural producers, consumers, food companies and researchers to implement transformative changes in policy, finance, agriculture, development aid, diet choices and food waste, as well as revitalised investment in the knowledge systems to support these changes.
THE University of New England’s rising stars of agriculture gained a glimpse into their career futures at two events held on Friday.
Agricultural students had the chance to mingle with industry representatives at the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Farming Futures dinner on Friday night after Armidale’s new Agricultural and Agribusiness Careers Fair was held earlier that day.
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