Abstract
An extraordinary moment of agricultural modernization is currently underway due to innovations in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). In this process, management precepts are renewed, fostering significant gains in efficiency, productivity, and sustainable use of natural resources and the environment. The growing supply of ICTs and the extension of connectivity in rural areas, with their transforming roles in productive practices and economic relations, bring about questions regarding their impacts. These technologies include precision positioning systems and large volume databases, electronic sensors of site-specific production and environmental conditions, repositories of relational data, statistical and crop forecasting software, methodologies and processes; web-based information services, among others. The assessment of impacts focused on ICTs for agriculture needs innovative approaches, due to the peculiarities of their applications, the different scales of their socioenvironmental scopes and, at the same time, the verification of effectiveness of institutional investments on research, development, and innovation (RD&I). Based on these premises, the objectives of this work are to present a ‘module of impact indicators for Information and Communication Technologies (Ambitec-TICs)’, and assess its application to six typical technology adoption cases resulting from agricultural RD&I projects. The results detail critical analyses of the contributions of the proposed module for the registration, interpretation, and communication of impacts, with recommendations for technology transfer and accountability in institutional Social Balance documentation.
Highlights
Brazil has achieved a prominent position in terms of production and international trade in agricultural products
At the onset of this movement is the institution of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), attributed with the coordination of the National Agricultural Research System and with important technological contributions, which allowed the country to progress from a net food importer to its present position among the largest producers and exporters of agricultural goods (Mueller; Mueller, 2016)
The application of Ambitec-TICs to the six case studies produced a broad range of scores for indicators, criteria, dimensions, and integrated impact indices (Table 4), showing the sensitivity of the indicators in discerning the impacts that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) adoption by agriculture related sectors has on sustainability dimensions
Summary
Brazil has achieved a prominent position in terms of production and international trade in agricultural products. To keep up with the objectives of productive intensification and technological innovation, agricultural research has been oriented towards the identification of sectoral main challenges, focusing on the generation of solutions to rural socioeconomic restraints (Embrapa, 2020) From this perspective, assessing the impacts of the adoption of technological innovations has been a strategic priority carried out since the late 1980s, and documented in the annual institutional Social Balance (Avila et al, 2015). Embrapa’s Social Balance report relies on a set of methods to assess the economic, social, environmental, and institutional development impacts of research results, assets, technological solutions, and social actions (Avila et al, 2008) These methodological approaches focus on technological applications that are immediately related to agricultural activities within rural establishments, such as machines, tools, and implements; plant varieties and animal breeds; chemical inputs; management practices and agricultural management processes, among others. New tools are needed for the assessment of impacts entailed by ICTs as agricultural innovations
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