An Integrated Agricultural Information and Communication System for Management and Extension: A Comprehensive Framework

Electronic culture (e-culture) and the applications of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are continuously increasingly in every sphere of human life. It play much bigger role in industry and service sector as compare agriculture sector, to transfer information and knowledge rapidly over large distances through communications networks efficiently and cost-effectively. As agricultural sector is multifaceted in nature and require information from different sources and disciplines of agricultural technology. There is a high demand for agricultural information at global, national, regional levels for farmers, skilled farm-workers, suppliers, agricultural scientists and technologists, extension officers etc. However, agricultural information/data is currently collected and archived by different stakeholders leading to problems of overlapping and duplications, among others. Hence, there is a current need for an integrated information and communication system for agricultural management and extension. However, the credibility and acceptability of any information system in agriculture will depend upon “how much accurate, cost-effective, reliable, timeliness, aggregate information produced” and also its user-friendly form, easy to access and well protected from unauthorized accesses. In this paper, we have presented comprehensive framework of an integrated information and communication system for agricultural management and extension which minimizes duplication in information storage and improves flow, quality and quantity of information provided to different community of farmers and scientists.