Supporting sustainable farming in Sri Lanka

A team of University of Alberta researchers will use existing technology infrastructure to engage with farmers in Sri Lanka and help them share information that could improve their quality of life. Gordon Gow , a researcher with the Faculty of Extension, says agricultural extension services are always challenged by lack of resources in countries like Sri Lanka. For example, he says, there are not enough extension officers and often they have limited access to resources such as the Internet, making it challenging to mobilize knowledge in rural communities to help ensure food security and safety through sustainable farming practices. But Gow and colleagues at the U of A, along with another from the University of Guelph, have a plan that would benefit farming communities in both Sri Lanka and Canada. The idea, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, also received seed funding from the U of A's Kule Institute for Advanced Study , which supports socially responsive and engaged research. Gow and his team, including researchers Naomi Krogman of the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and Mary Beckie of the Faculty of Extension, recently presented the partnership development plan during a Kule Dialogue event. Central to their effort is connecting people and ideas.