Many paddy cultivating farmers in the country are forced to use their limited resources to produce adequate food for their family, leading to the degradation and reduction in potential of these resources. The yield levels of paddy at the farmers’ level and in the Front Line Demonstrations (FLDs) conducted in the farmers’ fields is not at par with potential yield of the paddy variety. The gap between potential yield of crop variety and yield realized in FLDs refers to Research gap and the yield gap between FLDs and due to farmers’ practice refers to Extension gap. The earlier studies conducted in India in general and in Andhra Pradesh in particular highlighted the existence of both research and extension gaps with reference to paddy. It is essential that, the narrowing of both research and extension gaps is not static, but dynamic considering the influence of technological interventions in boosting paddy yields at FLDs level and at farmers’ level and also with the improvement of the yield potential of paddy varieties. This calls for integrated and holistic approaches to address these two gaps and with this background, the researcher aimed at this in depth study. The findings revealed that, research gaps are high with reference to weed management and pest management and extension gaps are high with reference to farm mechanization followed by fertilizer management. Reliable source of seed, capital use and frequency of meetings with Scientists or Agricultural Officers significantly influence the extension gaps in paddy. Farmers also prioritized socio-economic and technical constraints and the analysis infers that, it is high time now for the farmers to adopt the planned technological interventions on scientific scale to minimize the extension gaps to the extent possible. As the enabling environment in the State of Andhra Pradesh is highly encouraging for the farmers with relevant policy instruments in the form of subsidized inputs, free power, credit at concessional rates of interest, constructing irrigation projects etc., the adoption of the proposed technological interventions significantly contribute to minimizing both research and extension gaps in paddy cultivation in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.

Fig is a fruit of which the flesh is very sweet, and it is a tree which has been grown for fruit in Korea since long time ago. However, since the flesh of fig tends to be easily softened, commercial cultivation of this fruit began later than that of other fruit trees grown for profit, however, the cultivation and demand of fig tend to be increased steadily due to the development of technology for storage and distribution since the 2000s. In addition, as the domestic dining culture is getting diversified, the dishes cooked by using fig as a food material are introduced through diverse foods including dessert, and it is possible to intake fig in diverse ways, but not through the traditional processed food. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a measure of expanding the consumption of fig as a processed food, and it will be possible to overcome the limitation of short storage period, while securing the competitiveness of the fig industry. In this research, we have studied the history of domestic fig cultivation, current status of it and status of processed foods through related documents and materials, and the characteristics of the consumers who purchase figs. Fig is a traditional fruit, however, we could find out the fact that the consumers tend not to recognize it as a traditional one. Therefore, if we could add fig to various processed foods utilizing its sweet taste, rather than increasing the consumption of fresh fruits, it may increase the consumption of it.

Development, availability and users’ participation in the information service of agricultural food sector is slower than that of other sectors in Korea. This phenomenon comes from the lack of development strategies and comparative analyses with other sectors, as well as the agricultural food industry’s own characteristics which is developed based on the offline market. In this research, we will discuss about how to improve the public information service of agricultural food sector based on the example of establishing service improvement strategy by the most representative Okdab. In this research, we have drawn the following implications for development strategy of Okdab service based on three core keywords derived from benchmarking KOSIS. Three core subjects for upgrading public information service are ‘analysis information with expertise and differentiation,’ ‘user cooperation-oriented platform,’ and ‘intuitive nd effective UX,’ and to strength B.I. as an integrated information service of agricultural food sector, we need to identify the users’ satisfaction and needs for the existing service, establish an optimized operating strategy on a short-term, mid-term and long term bases, and implement them in a positive way. Based on this positive action, it can become a trustworthy information service for the users, and we can expect the improvement of the users’ recognition for its consistent usability and efficiency.