Study on Knowledge Generation and Transfer in Ethiopian Agricultural Researches

Abstract

Knowledge management in the agriculture sector is about the systematic connection of all stakeholders to the best practices, knowledge and expertise they need to create value by supporting creation, acquisition, transfer and utilization of knowledge. In Ethiopia, various research institute play significant roles in the generation and transfer of agricultural knowledge, but in the country the sector is one of the lowest levels of productivity in the world which suggests there are inadequate linkages between the Research Institutes and the practitioners. The main aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge generation and transfer practices that some Agricultural Research Institutes in Ethiopia have in place and assess the affecting factors involved in these processes. A mixed methods research methodology, encompassing questionnaires and interviews, was used to achieve this objective. Quantitative data were collected using questionnaires from both research institutes and their stakeholders using SurveyMonkey. Qualitative data were collected by means of interviews which were conducted with 15 key informants from both the research institutes and the stakeholders. The finding of this study indicates that in Ethiopia not all agricultural researchers and institutes fully perform end user demand analysis before generating and transferring agricultural knowledge This study confirmed that researchers and their institutes did not fully carry out assessment on their research output’s impact. The result of this study disclosed that most of research institutes (84.2%) used scientific papers and professional journals to transfer their knowledge while majority of stakeholders (67.5%) acquire through both research /information reports and (67.6%) orally in conferences and workshops through both structured and unstructured processes. Easily accessibility of research knowledge, noninvolvement of research institutes stakeholders fully in their research works, using effective media and channels to communicate with the stakeholders were some of the major factors which hindered the acquisition of agricultural knowledge. In order to make agricultural knowledge effectively applied and utilized by the practitioners, it is recommended that researchers should primarily specify the recipient target groups and investigate their needs through the implementation of appropriate demand analysis techniques. To make the research institutes and stakeholders closer to each other, there should be a formal partnership established on common interest and goals with shared responsibility. The researchers have to utilize suitable transfer mechanisms which can best allow all actors to exchange knowledge and its impact should be thoroughly assessed.