Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 192 Document Number: D03125
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Visual Aids in Agricultural Extension Series, Scientific Communication Service of the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences of the Organization of American States. 39 pages.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 192 Document Number: D03128
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6 pages., Author points to ignorance as the worst of all evils. Emphasizes the role of extension and communication in developing agriculture in Pakistan.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 138 Document Number: D05737
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"Blog Stories on Extension." Online via the website of AgroInsight, Ghent, Belgium. 2 pages., Example of negative results from a top-down approach to Extension teaching.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 161 Document Number: D07895
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In the e-book: Kerry J. Byrnes, Giants in their realms: close encounters of the celebrity kind. Posted on the website of Okemos High School Alumni, Okemos, Michigan. 8 pages.
25 pages., Online via UI e-subscription, Researchers evaluated the role of media through qualitative feedback from smallholder farmers identified by Community Markets for Conservation through radio programming efforts involving sustainable agriculture. Results demonstrated the centrality of the radio programming alongside other forms of communication such as extension and farmer-to-farmer communication, as well as written and visual communication.
Online from publisher website., By embracing modern technology and engaging enthusiastic young people, the work of an NGO in Malawi is extending the reach of agricultural extension across the country.
3 pages., Online from publisher website., Following a training course in technology stewardship, actors in the Caribbean's agri-food sector are implementing ICT approaches to provide agricultural advice and support to their local communities
International: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, ACP-EU, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 153 Document Number: D11614
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3 pages., Online from publisher., Author addresses "large gap between African extension services ... and the number of farmers being reached." ... "Africa's existing mobile network (currently the second biggest mobile market in the world) could be better utilised to bridge this gap and provide mobile-based agricultural information, advice and support to smallholder farmers."
4 pages., Online from publisher., "For the first time, a landmark report on digitalisation for agriculture (D4Ag) in Africa compiles and highlights data on digital solutions that are enabling the transformation of African agriculture."
21 pgs., CTs (Communications technologies) have revolutionized agricultural information services at every level in the agricultural sector, thus impacting rural development and catalysing poverty alleviation strategies. This has largely been the case with small-scale farmers in rural areas in developing countries where mobile technologies have penetrated more than most other ICT tools. However, in some of the farming environments, mobile phone use is largely driven by agricultural extension workers. This paper seeks to examine the way mobile phones are used for information access in situations where agricultural extension workers are a critical intermediary in the agricultural information services. Interviews were conducted with 10 randomly selected farmers who were part of the Dzindi irrigation scheme. The findings were that from the variety of information available to the farmers the most important source was the extension officer. The extension officer and the radio were indicated to be the most reliable independent sources of information. The other sources, such as the radio, family members, and friends, suppliers of chemicals, books and magazines, were only considered reliable if the information could be verified or vouched for by the extension officer. Increasing the information handling skills of extension officers, training of farmers to use smart features of their phones and promoting the usual face-to-face communication use of conventional methods, which is what usually gives rise to the mediation of mobile phones, were recommended.
12 pages, Mobile phones are almost universally available, and the costs of information transmission are low. They are used by smallholder farmers in low-income countries, largely successfully, to optimize markets for their produce. Fabregas et al. review the potential for boosting mobile phone use with smartphones to deliver not only market information but also more sophisticated agricultural extension advice. GPS-linked smartphones could provide locally relevant weather and pest information and video-based farming advice. But how to support the financial requirements of such extension services is less obvious, given the unwieldiness of government agencies and the vested interests of commercial suppliers.
