Transcript Document

Mechanisms for Knowledge Sharing
on
Rights and Access to Information
-- Capabilities and Limits
By
DR. K. V. SUNDARAM
Founder & Chairman
Bhoovigyan Vikas Foundation
New Delhi
WHAT THE MECHANISMS ARE ???
Mechanisms are :

basic and pivotal to stimulate the delivery and
receipt of information and other services related
to agriculture.

the agri-support activities which refer to those
infrastructure and institutions that facilitate or are
in some sense, basic to the carrying on of a wide
variety of economic activities, implied in
progressive agriculture, which include the
provision of inputs for Precision Farming,
Processing and Marketing activities (See Figure).
FIG : ORGANIZATIONAL MECHANISMS : THE AGRI-SUPPORT ACTIVITIES
Sources of
Supplies &
Equipment
A
A
Farm
Supplies
&
Equipment
Local
Verification
Trials
B
B
B
National
Research
Locality
B
Extension
Education
Production
Credit
B
A
National
Banks
A
Markets
For Farm
Products
National
Extension
Service
A – To National Organizations of the
Same Activity
A
B – To Other Agri-support Activities in
Each Locality and District
Central
Market
Cont………….

For deriving the maximum advantage from these
various mechanisms or agri-support activities,
each one of them must be effectively coordinated
with all the others of different types within each
locality in order that the complementarities
among them may be fully exploited.
MECHANISMS & THEIR TYPES

In Agricultural Economics, two categories of
Infrastructure Mechanisms viz. :



Capital Intensive, and
Capital Extensive.
Capital Intensive Mechanisms include:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)


Irrigation and Drainage Systems;
Transport Facilities;
Storage Facilities;
Processing Facilities;
Utilities : Electricity & Power, Drinking Water System,
Gas etc.
Cont………….
MECHANISMS & THEIR TYPES…….

Capital Extensive Mechanisms include:
i)
ii)


iii)


iv)


The specialized research and education services i.e.
new knowledge that is developed and transmitted for
improving agricultural productivity through extension
mechanisms. These constitute Technical Information;
Some social services delivered such as Plant & Animal
Protection and Soil Conservation Techniques;
Credit and Financial Institutions, which provide the
essential funding for modern agriculture. ; and
Health and Education for Human Resource
Development.
THIRD CATEGORY OF MECHANISMS
Include:

the formal and informal institutions of a legal, political and
socio-cultural nature, which affect agricultural economic
activity including such items as :
~ general law and order,
~ property & land rights, and
~ personal safety.

by and large, Governments in Developing Countries have
been concentrating on the problems of land tenure and
agrarian – reforms.

the choice of institutions for the operation of these
mechanisms, formal or informal, in most Developing
Countries is a reflection of the socio-cultural values of
the societies.
CENTRAL MECHANISM - EXTENSION

Extension : both in terms of technology transfer and
human capital development

The earlier view about ‘Extension’ related to technology
transfer and increasing agricultural productivity.
This viewpoint ignored its role in human resource
development, particularly the needs of many low-resource
farmers operating on marginal land and the needs of small
farmers, women farmers and land-less families.

Now, we are at a crucial juncture, when the benefits of
revolutionary new technologies are within the grasp of Rural
Communities. The needs and aspirations of the neediest and
marginalized communities could be accommodated by
leveraging the full benefits of ICT’s through “Rural Knowledge
Centres”.
LOCAL LEVEL MECHANISMS

At the Local Level, how the Delivery and Receiving
Mechanisms are organized is important

The driving forces here are :
~ decentralization and the roles of local bodies (Panchayat
Raj Institutions),
~ Community-based organizations,
~ Volunteers or Self-help Groups, and
~ Cooperatives

They are the essential tools, which are involved in the action
process of planning and implementing things to be done

These mechanisms are also meant to induce some important
values, such as self-help, diligence, cooperation and
participation; to foster village leadership and participatory
organizations and to improve the physical and social
environment of villages
Cont………….

They are the Action Agents, which play the role of
Change Agents

They are “Partners in Progress” (Figure) in advocating and
bringing Modern Science and Information and Communication
Technologies to the rural areas

With their support, the ICT-led Development will become a
powerful mechanism for reducing knowledge-gaps and
increasing knowledge-sharing among farmers.

They are the front-line agencies for increasing productivity
and boosting growth in rural areas

They also promote what is called “Development from Within”
FIG : PARTNERS IN PROGRESS
Village Level
Villagers
 Men, Women
 Rich, Poor
 High Caste, Low Caste
Village Institutions
 Poly-Centric Institutions
 Viz. VPF, SDC, VKCSC
 Village Panchayat (Elected Representatives)
 Village leaders
Govt. and Development Agencies
(Development Personnel)
Research &
Planning Group



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 Policy-makers
 Planners
 Extension officers and Agencies
 Other Village Officials
Social Scientists
Technologists
Researchers
NGO’s (Social Animators)
Surveys/Studies
Dialogues
Negotiations
Consensus on Development
Issues / Future Outlook
Formulation of
Projects, Programs &
the Village Plan
TAD-Mix MECHANISM

To achieve a spatially-oriented village cluster paradigm
of development, a new rural renaissance movement in
the
country,
Engineered
through
“technocratic,
Academic & democratic mix – TAD-mix” (Kundrakudi model)
needed

Its relevance in today’s scenario : underlines the importance
of associating academics, particularly in the disciplines of
Agriculture, Economics and Geography (the spatial science)

For a vast country like India with more than 6,00,000
villages, if we can motivate student power for various types
of activities like Biodiversity Mapping, Land Use Mapping,
Neighbourhood Mapping, Natural Resource Mapping, using
IC Technologies including RS, GIS and GPS, it will be a great
venture to initiate a low cost solution to Rural
Development Planning
MECHANISMS : A CLARIFICATION

Whether these mechanisms initiate development or they
arise from development itself ???

Problem of Causality : the ‘Chicken-Egg Question’

The establishments of necessary mechanisms always go
hand-in-hand with agricultural development

Some mechanisms affect solely the cost side, such as
improved roads and transport facilities, which reduce
transport losses and factor input costs at the farm-gate level.
Cont………….

Others like academic research, for instance, may directly
affect the shape and position of the production function.

There are also others, such as :
~ improved crop protection programmes that increase the
effective harvest, reduce storage losses and the like and
consequently alter the levels of effective market supply
and returns.

On the whole, in Agricultural Planning, careful consideration
must be given to the dynamic inter-dependence of
investment decisions between ‘propelling mechanisms’
i.e. infrastructures and external economies, otherwise
known as ‘Public Good Externalities’.
ROLE OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE, INNOVATIONS & PRACTICES

Measures for protecting traditional knowledge,
innovations and practices through appropriate legal and
other mechanisms are necessary.

In the Indian context, three legal instruments have been
cited:
~ The Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers’ Rights Bill
2000
~ The Patents (Second Amendment) Bill 1999
~ The Biodiversity Bill, 2000

Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge should be brought into
the mainstream concerns and programs of development,
thereby enriching both the modern and the traditional
systems
KNOWLEDGE CONNECTIVITY


through : Flows and Interactions
Flows : should be absorbed by the Rural Community and
rendered dynamic through:
~ Vertical Flows providing bottom-up connectivity;
~ Top – Down Flows providing macro – micro linkages; and
~ Horizontal Flows establishing inter and intra community
information flows

Interactions : constitute the lifeblood of this dynamic system,
encouraging polycentric institutional interactions with a
large number of “Partners in Progress”, which is
the hallmark of integrated rural development.
AUTO-KINETIC MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT

The Bhoovigyan Vikas Foundation has proposed a
‘Village Cluster Mechanism’ to bring about an
“Auto-kinetic Model of Development”, which will
induce flows and interactions through ‘Circular
Effects’, ‘Chain Effects’ and ‘Recycling’ as well
as linking production, processing and marketing
activities in the agriculture sector (Figure).
FIG : MODEL OF AUTO-KINETIC DEVELOPMENT
L
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C
A
L
L
Y
Integration into Regional/National Markets
Flow to Specialised processing/manufacturing Centres
Flow To
I
N
T
E
G
R
A
T
E
D
Nearest Town
F
L
O
W
For Large Scale Processing
T
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M
E
E
T
S
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M
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Circuit within and local
Value added through:
E
C
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N
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M
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C
C
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R
C
U
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T
Principle
of
Subsidiarit
y
Flow of Commodities
P1
P2
Pn
LOCAL PRODUCE
(COMMODITIES)
-Processing
-Small Industries
based on
Local skills
-Locally Adapted Technology
L
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C
A
L
N1
N2
Nx
NEEDS
N
E
E
D
S
P1 to n : LOCAL PRODUCE
(COMMODITIES)
N 1 to x : LOCAL NEEDS