Harnessing the power of social media to reach the unreached: knowledge dissemination for greater impact of tropical legumes

Tropical Legumes III (a project supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, led by ICRISAT and jointly implemented by CIAT, IITA and NARS partners) has developed several technologies, including best bet varieties (>163) and other pool of resources over 3 phases (2007-2016) of its implementation. However, itfaces the challenge of reaching the intended target populationat scale, putting our mission of availing International Public Goods (IPG’s) in jeopardy.ICRISAT being majorly funded by public money is a firm supporter of global open access and considers technologies, research results and data generated from different projects as IPGs to be shared with the global scientific community using different open source platforms and tools. Social media revolution has potential to address some of these challengesand so TL III marked its presence on four social media platforms: Facebook (500 followers), Twitter (230 followers), Slide-share (8,242 views), and Flickr (396 photos) and regularly uses them as a vehicle to reachfarmers and interested stakeholders.Technologies and varieties developed under TL III have been an eye opener for many in the agriculture sector, and small-holder farming in particular. Over the period of one year of the project phase III implementation, these four different platforms have shown different level of engagements, information dissemination and reach, which will be highlighted and discussed.