Leveraging Multi-Stakeholder Networks in mainstreaming ICTs into Agricultural Research and Development: Lessons for developing economies (output prize)

Agriculture plays a great role in alleviating poverty, increase food sufficiency and the economic development of developing nations. However, the insufficient investment, inappropriate and unimplemented policies are giving rise to low productivity. Few years ago, Oxfam initiated a multi stakeholder network (MSN) to bring in the civil society, public, private and other agricultural stakeholders into addressing the challenges of agricultural research, innovation and development. The multi stakeholder network approaches are vital in today’s agriculture and aim to achieve research for development outcomes. However, for the approaches to be successful and effective, there is need for a paradigm shift in the area of information and communication technology (ICT) to align with what is obtainable in other sectors. This paper uses developing economies as case study to explore the impact and benefits of the application of ICT in MSN to address the challenges of agricultural research and development in developing nations. In doing so, it provides critical review of the trending and future roles of MSN in adapting ICT-driven approach to agricultural research and development. Preceding this
review is a conceptual insight into the intersecting MSN between Agriculture and ICT sectors. The paper also tries to examine the various challenges hindering its success as well as proffers solution on how the ICT tools can be used more collaboratively and efficiently for the development of the network. Finally, a generic framework for integrating ICT into MSN for agricultural research and development was proposed.