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Abstract
Universities worldwide have for long time been involved in the transfer of agricultural knowledge outside the academy. This is mainly due to the practical nature of agriculture as a discipline. That is, agricultural knowledge is mainly destined for use by farmers and or policymakers with a view to improving quality and quantity of agricultural output. The purpose of this paper is to investigate from the literature whether there are marked differences between universities in the global North from those in the global South in the transfer of agricultural knowledge outside the academy. The study also seeks to assess whether there are differences also on the destined purpose of such knowledge. In other words, can one point out from the literature any marked difference, for example, as to whether universities in the South transfer knowledge for practice while those in the North mainly transfer knowledge for policy purposes. To whom do these universities transfer knowledge: to farming communities or to manufacturers of agricultural inputs. This paper seeks to use discourse analysis to fill an important knowledge gap that will help shed more light on the factors that drive universities’ knowledge transfer and the differences/similarities between those in the North from those located in the global South.
Key words
Knowledge transfer, agriculture, universities, academy, global south and global north