Advancing Agricultural Research: How ICRISAT Leverages FAO’s AGRIS and AGROVOC for Knowledge Innovation
Interview
In a recent series of conversations with CGIAR Knowledge Management teams, Valentina De Col from ICARDA interviewed Ramon Peachey, Communications Director at ICRISAT. They discussed CGIAR's collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on AGRIS and AGROVOC – two essential resources in agricultural research. AGRIS is a comprehensive bibliographic database focused on agriculture and nutrition, while AGROVOC is a multilingual thesaurus covering a wide range of agricultural terms.
Benefits of being in AGRIS
Valentina: ICRISAT has shared its knowledge products with AGRIS and plans to do so more. What are your center's benefits from being in AGRIS?
Ramon: As a leading institute in drylands research, we place immense value on disseminating our findings. Sharing our research with the global community—particularly researchers, dryland stakeholders, and our partner institutions, including major organizations like FAO—is crucial. Utilizing a platform like AGRIS benefits our researchers by enhancing the visibility of their research and fostering collaboration. It also provides access to additional resources. By sharing our frontier research on AGRIS, we ensure that our work is presented on the most relevant platforms and that researchers can access valuable information pertinent to their topics. These are key reasons why we are committed to contributing to AGRIS and will continue to share our information through the platform. The platform provides ICRISAT with a powerful tool to showcase our research to funders, donors, and key stakeholders essential to our success. Leveraging AGRIS allows us to reach a much broader audience than we could through our databases and Open Access repositories alone.
The knowledge content from ICRISAT: types of content and subjects
Valentina: How would you describe the knowledge content produced and available from your center through your repository? In which specific research areas is your center publishing results?
Ramon: Our research outputs, published through our institutional repository, mainly come from our three global research programs and our work locations. The Accelerated Crop Improvement Program focuses on advanced scientific methods like genomics-assisted selection, gene editing, and speed breeding, focusing on increased yields, nutritional quality, and stress resilience. The program also builds sustainable seed systems and promotes climate-resilient, resource-optimized cropping systems, which generates a significant portion of our research. The Resilient Farm and Food Systems Program supports sustainable land and water management, regenerative farming, and climate resilience through innovations in soil health, digital tools, mechanization, and early warning systems. It integrates crops, livestock, and agroforestry. The Enabling Systems Transformation Program looks at markets, institution policies, gender issues, and capacity building that support and scale the first two programs, ensuring our research impacts are effectively implemented. Each program's outputs are tailored to the regions we operate in, such as Asia, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa.
The video describes and presents the FAO multilingual thesaurus, who collaborates with it and how, and its role in empowering researchers all over the world.
Importance of AGRIS for agricultural research institutions such as CGIAR
Valentina: Do you believe it is important for agricultural research institutions or networks, such as CGIAR, to have access to a comprehensive bibliographic database like AGRIS? If so, what are the specific benefits of accessing such a database?
Ramon: Accessing a comprehensive bibliographic database like AGRIS is valuable for agricultural research institutions. AGRIS offers significant benefits, and ICRISAT researchers who use it endorse its utility and value as a ‘great tool.’ However, there may be even more opportunities to enhance its visibility. Targeted outreach and promotion, especially towards newer scientists or those less familiar with the platform, could help increase awareness. If this were done more researchers could fully appreciate the advantages of AGRIS for sharing their research and accessing valuable resources. The AGRIS user guide can serve as an essential tool in this regard.
Enhancing findability and interoperability through AGROVOC
Valentina: CGIAR contributes to and uses AGROVOC as a common vocabulary. How does this collaboration impact the findability and interoperability of your data?
Ramon: The concept of using a controlled vocabulary is vital. It ensures that data is contextualized consistently, regardless of location or approach, significantly supporting interoperability. AGROVOC's availability in over 40 languages further strengthens this by allowing researchers from different regions, centers, and disciplines to align their understanding. A standardized vocabulary helps maintain clarity and consistency, which is essential for accurate data interpretation and effective collaboration across research centers and regions.
This conversation underscored the significant impact of CGIAR's collaboration with AGRIS in enhancing the reach and accessibility of agricultural research. By leveraging AGRIS, ICRISAT shares groundbreaking research with a global audience, boosting visibility and fostering collaboration across the agricultural community. This platform ensures that valuable insights are widely disseminated and facilitates access to crucial resources and information, advancing agricultural innovation worldwide.
For more info on the CGIAR and FAO collaboration:
Report: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/116236
Brief: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/116448
Tahira Carter