The World Agroforestry Centre is an example of one international institution which is providing training to farmers, through mentorship programs with Farmer Training Schools, scholarships for women's education, support of young professionals in partner countries and the development of Networks for Agroforestry Education, e.g., ANAFE (124 institutions in 34 African countries) and SEANAFE (70 institutions in 5 South East Asian countries) (Temu et al., 2001). Similarly, agencies such as the International Foundation for Science (www.ifs.se), and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (www.aciar.gov .au), provide funds to allow graduates trained overseas to reestablish at home. At IITA in West Africa, the Sustainable Tree Crops Program is training groups of Master Trainers, who then train "Trainers of Trainers", and eventually groups of farmers in the skills needed to grow cocoa sustainably (STCP Newsletter, 2003). The results of this initiative are promising (Bartlett, 2004; Berg, 2004), but there still remain crucial problems related to (1) the need for strong farmers' governance to monitor and assess extension activities, (2) sustainable funding with fair cost sharing between the stakeholders including the State, private sector, farmer organizations, and farmers, and (3) the need for Farmer field training to evolve into community-based organizations, to enable the community to continue benefiting on a sustained basis from the momentum created (Mancini, 2006).

Environmental and sustainable development issues are being included in extension programs.

Extension services are now including a larger number of stakeholders that are not farmers in their target groups. Increasingly environmental and sustainable development issues are being incorporated into agricultural education and extension programs (FAO, 1995; van Crowder, 1996; Garforth and Lawrence, 1997).

3.2.3.3.2 Information management

ICTs are increasingly being used to disseminate agricultural information, but new techniques require new forms of support.

Proper information management is frequently a key limiting factor to agricultural development.

Information access is limited in low-income countries, but farmers have an array of informal and formal sources (extension leaflets, television, mobile films, etc.) from which they obtain information (Nwachukwu and Akinbode, 1989; Olowu and Igodan, 1989; Ogunwale and Laogun, 1997). In addition, village leaders, NGO agents and farmer resource centers are used as information hubs so that information and knowledge about new technologies and markets diffuse through social networks of friends, relatives and acquaintances (Collier, 1998; Conley and Udry, 2001; Fafchamps and Minten, 2001; Barr, 2002). Inevitably, issues of equitable

access and dissemination arise as marginalized populations tend to be bypassed (Salokhe et al., 2002). The challenge is how to improve accessibility of science and technology information to contribute to agricultural development and food security. This challenge is multidimensional, covering language issues as well as those of intellectual property and physical accessibility (World Bank, 2002; Harris, 2004).

ICTs are propelling change in agricultural knowledge and information systems, allowing the dissemination of information on new technologies, and providing the means to improve collaboration among partners.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are revolutionizing agricultural information dissemination (Richardson, 2006). Since the advent of the internet in the 1990s, communications technologies now deliver a richer array of information of value to farmers and rural households (Leeuwis, 1993; Zijp, 1994; FAO, 2000c); extension services deliver information services interactively between farmers and information providers (FAO, 2000c) via rural telecenters, cellular phones, and computer software packages. Important ICT issues in rural extension systems include private service delivery, cost recovery, and the "wholesaling" of information provided to intermediaries (NGOs, private sector, press, and others) (Ameur, 1994). In rural areas, ICTs are now used to provide relevant technical information, market prices, and weather reports. The Livestock GuruT software program was created as a multimedia learning tool which enables farmers to obtain information on animal health and production and has had greater impact than more conventional media, illustrating the potential of these tools to help meet global agricultural and poverty alleviation objectives (Heffernan et al., 2005; Nielsen and Heffernan, 2006). ICTs help farmers to improve labor productivity, increase yields, and realize a better price for their produce (www. digitaldividend.org/pubs/pubs_01_overview.htm). A market information service in Uganda has successfully used a mix of conventional media, Internet, and mobile phones to enable farmers, traders, and consumers to obtain accurate market information resulting in farmer control of farm gate prices (http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/ st2004/thinking-579.html). Similar services exist in India, Burkino Faso, Jamaica, Philippines and Bangladesh (www. digitaldividend.org/pubs/pubs_01_overview.htm). ICT also provides the opportunity to create decision support systems such as e-consultation or advisory systems to help farmers make better decisions. ICT facilitates smooth implementation of both administrative and development undertakings. However with these ICT advances comes the task of managing and disseminating information in an increasingly complex digital environment.

Advances in information technology are providing more tools for agricultural information management.