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2. How have smallholder farmers used digital extension tools? Developer and user voices from Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Coggins, Sam (author), McCampbell, Mariette (author), Sharma, Akriti (author), Sharma, Rama (author), Haefele, Stephen (author), Karki, Emma (author), Hetherington, Jack (author), Smith, Jeremy (author), and Brown, Brendan (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-03-01
- Published:
- United States: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12486
- Journal Title:
- Global Food Security
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 32
- Notes:
- 10 pages, Digital extension tools (DETs) include phone calls, WhatsApp groups and specialised smartphone applications used for agricultural knowledge brokering. We researched processes through which DETs have (and have not) been used by farmers and other extension actors in low- and middle-income countries. We interviewed 40 DET developers across 21 countries and 101 DET users in Bihar, India. We found DET use is commonly constrained by fifteen pitfalls (unawareness of DET, inaccessible device, inaccessible electricity, inaccessible mobile network, insensitive to digital illiteracy, insensitive to illiteracy, unfamiliar language, slow to access, hard to interpret, unengaging, insensitive to user's knowledge, insensitive to priorities, insensitive to socio-economic constraints, irrelevant to farm, distrust). These pitfalls partially explain why women, less educated and less wealthy farmers often use DETs less, as well as why user-driven DETs (e.g. phone calls and chat apps) are often used more than externally-driven DETs (e.g. specialised smartphone apps). Our second key finding was that users often made - not just found - DETs useful for themselves and others. This suggests the word ‘appropriation’ conceptualises DET use more accurately and helpfully than the word ‘adoption’. Our final key finding was that developers and users advocated almost ubiquitously for involving desired users in DET provision. We synthesise these findings in a one-page framework to help funders and developers facilitate more useable, useful and positively impactful DETs. Overall, we conclude developers increase DET use by recognizing users as fellow developers – either through collaborative design or by designing adaptable DETs that create room for user innovation.
3. Information and communication technology in agribusiness: A study of mobile applications in perspective of India
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Gupta, Chandan (author), Gupta, Manu (author), Joshi, Pradeep (author), and Kumar, Ajendra (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-06-15
- Published:
- International: Applied and Natural Science Foundation
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12385
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied & Natural Science
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 13(2)
- Notes:
- 9 pages, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in one of its finding in 2019 stated that about 58% Indians are dependent on agriculture and agriculture sector make about 15.96 % of India’s GDP. To get the best agriculture inputs and best harvest price is the big question for Indian farmers; thus, we can say that “Agriculture is the foundation of the Indian economy”. With the origin of Mobile Applications (m-apps) for agriculture and a huge dependency on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in agribusiness, the scenario in rural India has been changing rapidly. Since India’s economy depends mainly on agriculture, there is a lot of potential for Information and Communication Technology and mobile applications for agribusiness and its marketing. With growing smartphones with m-apps penetration in rural India, the agribusiness in rural belts of India is set for extension and further digitalization to revolutionize the agriculture sector. In recent years, nearly all Indian farmers possess a mobile, and 50%are smartphones with internet connections. With Government's new legislative policy changes as the Digital India programme, mobile applications in India's rural belt cannot remain isolated. Digital India will connect rural Indians farmers worldwide through the internet and mobile applications and provide them with all necessary upliftment in agribusiness in India. This study has focused on the ICT and m-applications used in farming today and how they have changed agribusiness by providing a digital platform and with their impact on agribusiness.
4. Intermediation Capabilities of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Ghana’s Agricultural Extension System
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Munthali, Nyamwaya (author), Lie, Rico (author), Van Lammeren, Ron (author), Van Paassen, Annemarie (author), Leeuwis, Cees (author), and Asare, Richard (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-06-12
- Published:
- South Africa: University of Witwatersrand
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12435
- Journal Title:
- African Journal of Information and Communication
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 28 (2021)
- Notes:
- 37 pages., Information and communication technologies (ICTs), specifically those that are digital and interactive, present opportunities for enhanced intermediation between actors in Ghana’s agricultural extension system. To understand these opportunities, this study investigates the capabilities of ICTs in support of seven forms of intermediation in the context of agricultural extension: disseminating (information), retrieving (information), harvesting (information), matching (actors to services), networking (among actors), coordinating (actors), and co-creating (among actors). The study identifies the types of ICTs currently functioning in Ghana’s agricultural system, and applies a Delphi-inspired research design to determine the consensus and dissensus of researchers, scientists, and practitioners about the potential of these ICTs to support each of the seven intermediation capabilities. The findings reveal that experts reached consensus that interactive voice response (IVR) technologies currently have the highest potential to support disseminating, retrieving, harvesting, and matching. Meanwhile, social media messaging (SMM) technologies are currently seen as highly capable of supporting coordinating and, to a lesser extent, co-creating, but no consensus is reached on the potential of any of the technologies to support networking.
5. Knowledge Sharing through Mobile Phone to Develop a Knowledge Base: A Study on Rural Women of Bangladesh
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Islam, Mahbubul (author), Ali Akanda, Eamin (author), Hasan, Nazmul (author), Roy, Partha Biplob (author), Any, Farzana Islam (author), Khatun, Tahera (author), Hague, Armanuel (author), and Zhang, Xiaojung (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Published:
- United States: University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12360
- Journal Title:
- Library Philosophy and Practice
- Journal Title Details:
- Fall 2020
- Notes:
- 21 pages., The study has an aim to figure out the role of mobile communication in developing Knowledge base among rural women through knowledge sharing. Using a structured questionnaire quantitative data have been collected by survey method and qualitative data through FGDs. Data has been collected on the way of sharing knowledge, areas of expertise, sharing knowledge types, with whom sharing knowledge etc. Rural women are being interested in knowledge sharing through mobile phone because mobile phones are cheap, easier, and available medium for communication to them. Among the rural women who have completed at least secondary education, are sharing both their tacit (mostly) and explicit (moderately) knowledge. On the other hand women who are not literate they are sharing only their indigenous experiences. Both types of women have realized that they are positively being changed in their living attitude because of using mobile and now their knowledge base is somewhat better than ever before. The findings also revealed that they are getting benefit by enriching their knowledge base in different areas and its implementation in their livelihood. Moreover it is apparently clear that they will play important role in developing knowledge base society in rural area through sharing their knowledge in near future.
6. Mobile Telephony and Agriculture Information Communication in Ghana: the Ho West District under Review
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Atiso, Kodjo (author), Yao Folitse, Benjamin (author), and Awuku Manteaw, Seth (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-01-01
- Published:
- United States: University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12354
- Journal Title:
- Library Philosophy and Practice
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 4711
- Notes:
- 29 pages., The use of mobile phones among stakeholders in Ghana in communication agricultural-related information is gaining ground. The findings show that farmers in the Ho West District of Ghana are beginning to adhere to the dictates of technology to enhance information delivery for their farming activities. The study shows factors such as level of education, income levels have a direct correlation to the use of the technology. Despite these, it is still the case that mobile penetration into agricultural communication is receiving attention from farmers.
7. Mobile phone use is associated with higher smallholder agricultural productivity in Tanzania, East Africa
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Quandt, Amy (author), Salerno, Jonathan D. (author), Neff, Jason C. (author), Baird, Timothy D. (author), Herrick, Jeffrey E. (author), McCabe, J. Terrence (author), Xu, Emilie (author), and Hartter, Joel (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-08-11
- Published:
- United States: PLOS
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12425
- Journal Title:
- PLoS ONE
- Journal Title Details:
- Online First
- Notes:
- 16 pages., Mobile phone use is increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa, spurring a growing focus on mobile phones as tools to increase agricultural yields and incomes on smallholder farms. However, the research to date on this topic is mixed, with studies finding both positive and neutral associations between phones and yields. In this paper we examine perceptions about the impacts of mobile phones on agricultural productivity, and the relationships between mobile phone use and agricultural yield. We do so by fitting multilevel statistical models to data from farmer-phone owners (n = 179) in 4 rural communities in Tanzania, controlling for site and demographic factors. Results show a positive association between mobile phone use for agricultural activities and reported maize yields. Further, many farmers report that mobile phone use increases agricultural profits (67% of respondents) and decreases the costs (50%) and time investments (47%) of farming. Our findings suggest that there are opportuni- ties to target policy interventions at increasing phone use for agricultural activities in ways that facilitate access to timely, actionable information to support farmer decision making.
8. Mobile phones, off-farm employment and household income in rural india
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Rajkhowa, Pallavi (author) and Qaim, Matin (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-03-01
- Published:
- United States: Wiley Online
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12484
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agricultural Economics
- Notes:
- 17 pages, Rural households in developing countries often depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, many also pursue off-farm economic activities either to complement their farm income or because they lack access to agricultural land. Rural off-farm employment is often informal and temporary. Searching for jobs can be associated with high transaction costs, which may be a constraint on some households’ participation in off-farm employment. The increasing spread of mobile phones may help to reduce these transaction costs. Here, we test the hypothesis that mobile phone ownership increases rural households’ participation in off-farm employment and—through this mechanism—also improves household income. We use nationally representative panel data from rural India and regression models with household fixed effects to control for confounding factors and unobserved heterogeneity. We find that mobile phone ownership is positively associated with the likelihood of participating in various types of off-farm employment, including casual wage labour, salaried employment and non-agricultural self-employment. This association is larger in female-headed than in male-headed households. The estimates also show that mobile phone ownership is positively associated with household income, partly channeled through the off-farm employment mechanism.
9. Nasir Yammama: A technological approach to enhancing the impact of agricultural extension
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Oluwagbemi, Inioluwa (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- Nigeria: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, ACP-EU Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 153 Document Number: D11610
- Journal Title:
- Spore
- Journal Title Details:
- 194 : 23
- Notes:
- 1 page., September-November issue via online., Digitalisation is improving the agricultural extension system by providing services at the right time, and facilitating adoption of new agronomic practices, resulting in yield improvements and higher incomes for farming households.
10. Realizing the potential of digital development: The case of agricultural advice
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Schilbach, Frani (author), Kremer, Michael (author), and Fabregas, Raissa (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-12-13
- Published:
- United States: American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12491
- Journal Title:
- Science
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol 366, Issue 6471
- Notes:
- 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.