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Importance of Agriculture – Asia-Pacific

APAN’s Potential Role in Leading a Partnership eLearning Initiative to Promote Sustainable Agriculture in the Asia-Pacific APAN 2003 Conference Fukuoka, Japan 22-24 January 2003. Importance of Agriculture – Asia-Pacific. Economic contributions of agricultural production

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Importance of Agriculture – Asia-Pacific

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  1. APAN’s Potential Role in Leading a Partnership eLearning Initiative to Promote Sustainable Agriculture in the Asia-Pacific APAN 2003 Conference Fukuoka, Japan 22-24 January 2003

  2. Importance of Agriculture – Asia-Pacific • Economic contributions of agricultural production • 27% of the GDP of South Asian developing countries • 14% of the GDP of East Asian and Pacific countries • Employment in agriculture • 63% of South Asia’s workforce are farmers • 69% of East Asia and the Pacific workforce are farmers (World Bank, 2001)

  3. Challenges • More People • Increasing demand for food and fiber • ~ 7 billion by 2015 • 80% in developing countries • 95% of all growth in developing countries • Less arable land (developing countries) • 1961 – .5 ha per capita • 1992 – .2 ha per capita • 2050 – .1 ha per capita • 2 billion ha of arable land suffer from moderate to severe soil degradation. 5 to 10 million additional hectares become too degraded to use annually. • Globalization

  4. If nothing is done we can expect… • More negative exploitation of natural resources. • Continuing degradation of land leading to erosion, and watershed deterioration. • Lower productivity by the farming poor. • Increased rural-urban migration compounding already serious urban poverty and social problems. • Deepening of rural poverty. • More widespread under-nourishment • Social unrest. • Postponement of sustainable rural development. (FAO, 2002)

  5. Knowledge is Key • “More than natural resources, more than cheap labour, more than financial capital, knowledge is rapidly becoming the key factor of production. The rapid increase in knowledge provides a new potential for developing countries to grow faster and improve welfare faster.” • Requires, “investing in the people, institutions and networks that will permit them to tap the growing global knowledge base and harness knowledge for their needs. (World Bank, 1992)

  6. Knowledge Intensive Agriculture “The declining productivity of traditional technologies has led to a critical consensus among many international organizations that the agriculture of the future must be much more "knowledge intensive." Instead of simply adding to the quantity of resources utilized, farmers must learn to manage the same or fewer resources in more sophisticated and efficient ways.” (Agrivista)

  7. Knowledge Dissemination • “An emphasis on improved resource management implies that better methods of disseminating up-to-date technical, economic, and environmental information will need to become a high priority at all levels of the agricultural establishment.” (Agrivista) • “The appropriate mechanisms to organize and manage research and technology dissemination for knowledge-intensive agriculture is still being debated.” (World Bank)

  8. ICTs “New forms of electronic communication, especially the Internet, can play a key role in shortening the time between the announcement of scientific findings and the availability of results to end users. Electronic communication technologies will also make it possible to develop new ways to create more immediate, interactive links between the suppliers and demanders of information.” (Agrivista)

  9. APRTC • Asia-Pacific Regional Technology Centre • U.S. registered non-profit corporation (August 7, 2001) • Focus on promotion of sustainable agriculture • Works with multi-sectoral partners to target multi-sectoral clients • Sees agricultural professionals (knowledge intermediaries) as key players in bringing about needed behavioural changes at the farm level • Uses ICT-based eLearning to upgrade the skills and knowledge of agricultural professionals - agLe@rn Programme

  10. Participants Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cambodia, China, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, USA,Vietnam, Zimbabwe (22 countries)

  11. 2003 Course Calendar

  12. Global Reach – Vegetable IPM

  13. APRTC ? Knowledge Intermediaries Industry CGIAR FAO Academia NARCs 1.3 billion farmers in the Asia-Pacific APRTC’s Model Global, National and Local Sources of Information and Knowledge Smallholder Farmers Government Extension NGOs Development projects International federations Private sector initiatives Input retailers

  14. Justification “ICTs are proving their value in helping to deliver information to and from intermediary information providers such as universities, government offices, telecenters, NGOs and libraries. Some of the most successful ICT for development projects are focused on supporting the work of intermediaries who are relaying information to and from farmers and others at the grassroots level who do not themselves have access to the technology.” (Morrow, 2002)

  15. Existing Official Partners • CropLife International • CropLife Asia • WorldView International Foundation • Tamil Nadu Agricultural University • University of Agricultural Sciences – Bangalore • GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology • Asia Pacific Advanced Network Agricultural Working Group • ITC’s e-Choupal Initiative

  16. Invitation • Invitation to other APAN members to join • Invitation to APAN (AG-WG) to take the lead in • organizing partners • promoting agLe@rn learning opportunities • representing the effort to governments and donors • managing the Centre’s operations (Board membership)

  17. Can APAN help? • APAN AG-WG could make a valuable contribution to sustainable agriculture in the Asia-Pacific • APAN has widespread membership, respect and influence with governments and donors • APRTC is a member of APAN’s AgWG • Taking the lead in managing APRTC would give APAN a high profile and a valuable “application” based on ICTs

  18. Lessons • It works and students enjoy the experience • Requires dedicated partners • Current levels of knowledge about sustainable agricultural practices is extremely low • Participants indicate that knowledge gained is important in their professional lives and they are passing it on to the farmers and students they serve • Difficult to attract donor funding

  19. Contact Us Asia Pacific Regional Technology Centre (APRTC) 28th Floor, Rasa Tower 555 Pahonyothin Road Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900 Thailand Tel No: (66) 2937-1321 Fax No: (66) 2937-0491 Email: info@aprtc.org URL: http://www.aprtc.org

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