Web 2.0 Technologies for Agricultural Knowledge Management and Sharing

India is an Agricultural country; one-third population depends on agriculture sector directly or indirectly. Agriculture continues to be the mainstay of the Indian economy. Indian Agriculture contribution to the National Gross Domestic Product is about 25 per cent. The most serious back-log in Indian Agriculture is in the process of information flow. In current scenario we have poor infrastructure and mechanisms for sharing and exchanging agriculture knowledge generated from research at national and regional levels, which results in repetition of research activities. Researchers can find research papers published in international journals and conferences more easily than finding research papers published nationally in local journals, conferences, thesis and technical reports. The National Agriculture Research and Extension System publishes many extension documents to inform growers about the latest recommendations concerning different agricultural practices however these documents are neither effectively disseminated nor updated or managed to respond as per the needs of extension workers, advisers and farmers. The Agricultural Knowledge Management (AKM) in developing countries like India is a major issue. There is an urgent need to address the issues of AKM in Indian Agriculture System. This issue can be tackled by a blend of participatory development approaches comprising of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) & Web 2.0 tools. Now-a-days Web 2.0 technology has started gaining popularity in India. When Web 2.0 experts talk about Web 2.0 technology for enhancing agriculture services, they mainly look at the Agriculture Knowledge Management and Sharing through Web 2.0 technology.