2.1.2. Information Accessibility

Information is commonly delivered to farmers through agriculture extension and advisory services [23]. Primarily top-down approaches, these transfer technologies, skills and knowledge to rural farmers and families to enhance crop/livestock production systems, household food security, and livelihoods, through increasing incomes, nutrition, education, and strengthening natural resource managemen<sup>t</sup> [3]. However, several deficiencies of extension systems restrict their effectiveness, including limited staff, rigid organisation, poor capacity, a top-down linear culture, weak links to the research sector, and limited reach to farmers [28]. In India, for example, there are many [often duplicate] extension systems, ye<sup>t</sup> the majority of farmers still suffer from inadequate information access [28]. Compounding these issues, women in rural communities bear considerable proportions of farming workloads, but have limited roles in receiving information and making decisions (see [27]). Women are often poorer with less land ownership and have difficulty accessing agricultural information from sources aside from other farmers [51]. Munyna [52] argues that women being ill-informed about technologies, markets, and other agriculture information is detrimental to agricultural development.
