Kunelius, Risto (author) and Yagodin, Dmitry (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2017
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08850
Notes:
Pages 59-80 in Kunelius, Risto Eide, Elisabeth Tegelberg, Matthew Yagodin, Dmitry (eds.), Media and global climate knowledge: journalism and the IPCC. United States: Palgrave Macmillan, New York City, New York. 309 pages.
20 pages., via online journal., During the last 10 years, different initiatives have been implemented to provide mobile-based extension services for the agricultural sector in Egypt. The current study compared the quality of agricultural extension messages between public and private providers. A simple random sample of 120 farmers was selected representing 7% of the total farmers registered in the databases of Ministry of Agriculture (public services) and Shoura company (private services). Farmers assessed a sample of 10 messages delivered by both providers in terms of six indicators namely (1) access, (2) utilization, (3) timeliness, (4) trust, (5) satisfaction, and (6) sharing information with other farmers. The findings revealed the lack of access to messages by the farmers in the two services. However, more than 50% had utilized the majority of messages (in case of access). The study also showed significant differences between perception of farmers to quality attributes in public and private services (Access 6.77, 0.01; Utilization 8.44, 0.004; Timeliness 8.55, 0.002; Satisfaction 8.88, 0.001; information sharing 7.62, 0.009) except for trust (1.11, 0.4). Findings provide practical implications to support mobile-based extension services to enable sharing information and link farmers with other actors in the agricultural value chain.
13 pages., via online journal., This study examined the feasibility of the use of mobile phones as an educational tool in agricultural extension services in the Guilan Province of Iran. A descriptive-survey methodology was employed on a sample population of 120 agricultural extension agents. Data were analyzed at descriptive and inferential levels using SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The results of the factor analysis indicated that the application of mobile phones in extension activities was influenced by three factors: economic, skill, and infrastructure. These factors accounted for 52.3% of the variance. Moreover, the possibility for the development of mobile phones as an educational medium is impacted by social, financial-credit, information-communicational, psychological, and improper conditions factors that, in total, captured 70.4% of the variance.
Mashroofa, Mohamed Majeed (author) and Wathmanel Senevirathne (author)
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
2014
Published:
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, The Hague, Netherlands.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 84 Document Number: D10847
Notes:
17 pages., via depository, IFLA Library., Access to information plays crucial role in getting best agricultural products with some other factors such as soil, weather, biochemical products and their application. Several types of information are required by farmers of Sri Lanka for agricultural activities. This study focuses on the relationship of information literacy and the enhanced access to agricultural productivity. Therefore, this research aims to determine the information literacy level of paddy farmers of Ampara district in Sri Lanka in accessing agricultural information and explores how much this support the enhanced agricultural productivity. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select sample paddy farmers of Ampara district. 57 farmers were selected as the sample from all nineteen D.S. divisions of Ampara as three from each division. Survey method was used to collect data for this study. Questionnaire and Interview were used as research instruments. District Officer of Agriculture was interviewed and farmers were administered with questionnaires. Result was analyzed mainly quantitatively by using SPSS and Mini Tab. Qualitative analysis is also carried out. This study resulted that majority respondents preferred verbal communication, print sources and the use of computer and internet is reported poor. Communication gap, poor communication services, lack of libraries, lack of information literacy skills, poor infra structure and inadequate extension services might have caused poor access to information. Department of Agriculture under Central government and Agrarian Services Board under provincial ministry serve to these farmers as much as possible to provide information. However the information received by farmers indicated that it is not to the expected level. Therefore, it is concluded that government and local authorities should develop the existing services, information and communication systems to facilitate the farmers to access relevant information on time in order to gain best agricultural productivity. Though the perception of farmers indicates that they are information literate, facts and information related to format, mode and sources they preferred shows that these farmers are not much skilled on information literacy. This study recommends educating the farmers on access to information. Information Literacy should be taught to the farmers from the grass root level.