An Agricultural Knowledge and Informatoin System for Rural Development links people and institutions to promote mutual learning and generate, share, and utilise agriculture-related technology, knowledge, and information. The system integrates farmers, agricultural educators, researchers, and extensionists to harness knowledge and information from various sources for better farming and improved livelihoods. This integration is suggested by the "knowledge triangle" displayed below.

Rural people, especially farmers, are at the heart of the knowledge triangle. Education, research and extension are services - public or private - designed to respond to their needs for knowledge with which to improve their productivity, inclomes and welfare and manage the natural resources on which they depend in a sustainable way.

A shared responsiveness to rural people and an orientation towards their goals ensures synergies in the activities of agricultural educators, researchers and extensionists. Farmers and other rural people are partners within the knowledge system, not simply recipients.


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