Aldosari, Fahad (author), Al Shunaifi, Mohamed Saleh (author), Ullah, Muhammad Amjad (author), Muddassir, Muhammad (author), and Noor, Mehmood Ali (author)
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019-04
Published:
Saudi Arabia: Science Direct
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 8 Document Number: D10318
7 pages., Via online journal., Like many developing countries, agriculture is seen as the vehicle for development also in Pakistan. Our study was aimed to identify the perceptions of farmer community towards the electronic media and relationship between different demographic characteristics of respondents with the use of electronic communication of TV and radio, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), a province of Pakistan. Random sampling technique was used for selecting 183 respondents. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and Chi-square. Results revealed that maximum respondents were agreed that mobile and internet can be a useful source of agricultural information and only 1.6 and 5.5% of the respondents were strongly disagreed about information means, respectively. A maximum number of the respondents were undecided about “agricultural helpline can be a useful source of agricultural information”, only 14.2% of the respondents were strongly agreed with this statement. A highly significant relationship was found between age of respondents and application of information received through radio and TV. On the other side, education of the respondents had a highly significant relationship with the application of information received through radio only. Farming experience of the respondents had no significant relationship with the application of information received through TV and radio. Results suggested that extension personnel should motivate and educate the farming community about the use of electronic media (TV, radio, helpline, internet, mobile) for advanced information about agriculture production techniques.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11769
Notes:
Online from BroadbandNow, a registered trademark of Centerfield BBN LLC. 3 pages., Whereas the FCC reports that broadband is unavailable to 21.3 million Americans, BroadbandNow Research analyzed FCC Form 477 data and estimated that 42 million Americans do not have the ability to purchase broadband internet. This is an additional 6.5 percent of Americans beyond FCC estimates.
19pgs, New communication methods and technology continue to emerge and evolve – as do societal trends – making it paramount that Extension professionals stay abreast with the preferred communication channels of potential clientele. By being aware of clients’ preferred communication channels, Extension professionals can increase the number of participants who benefit from their work while also improving the quality of the message being delivered. The present study examined the preferred communication channels of potential Extension clientele specifically when gathering information regarding their community. Specifically, a non-probability opt-in sampling procedure was employed whereby respondent (N = 3,347) communication channel preferences were analyzed from an audience segmentation and uses and gratifications perspective. Overall, the results indicated the most effective channels through which to reach potential Extension clientele under 50 years of age is through the internet and social media, while word of mouth and newspaper are preferred channels for those 50 and over. However, the results of the study indicate there are a variety of potential communication channels with varying degrees of preference among different audiences. Using study results as a starting point to inform communication channel strategy may help to Extension professionals ensure the correct message is provided to the correct audience via the correct channel.
Installing fiber-optic internet in sparsely populated places like western Kansas is extremely expensive, even with government subsidies. But some smaller, local broadband providers are finding ways to make it work where the big national companies have not.
13 pages, Encouraging farmers to increase the use of organic fertilizer will be conducive to promoting the green transformation of farmers’ production and realize sustainable agricultural development. As a long-term investment, the accuracy of farmers’ access to organic fertilizer information and the supporting role of credit are important factors that affect their organic fertilizer application decisions. However, the existence of information asymmetry in the organic fertilizer market and the credit constraints in the financial market, which restricts the enthusiasm of farmers to apply organic fertilizer. In recent years, the rapid development of the Internet in China’s rural areas has effectively alleviated the degree of information asymmetry in rural areas, and improved farmers’ access to credit, which provides a new opportunity for farmers to increase the application rate of organic fertilizer. This study takes 1030 apple growers in the main apple production areas of China as the research object, and employs Tobit model, IV-Tobit model and mediation effect model to explore the impact of internet use on farmers’ organic fertilizer investment. The results show that internet use can promote farmers’ organic fertilizer investment. After addressing the endogeneity issue and the robustness test, the conclusion is still robust. Heterogeneity analysis shows that internet use has a more significant impact on organic fertilizer investment in the older generation and the large-scale group of farmers. The mechanism analysis shows that internet use affects farmers’ organic fertilizer investment through improving access to credit. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously improve the construction of rural digital infrastructure, accelerate the development of the Internet in rural areas, and actively guide financial resources to agriculture, so as to effectively promote the green transformation of agricultural production.
17pgs, In this article, we evaluate the rate of return to government efforts to promote broadband. Specifically, we estimate the impact of USDA's broadband loan and grant programs on the average payroll per worker using zip code level data from the Zip Code Business Patterns for the period from 1997 to 2007. Our results indicate that two of the smaller broadband programs (the Pilot loan program and the broadband grants program) likely had no effect on local payroll per workers. On the other hand, the largest program in terms of funding and coverage (the current broadband loan program) likely had a positive impact. Our estimate implies that a $1 per capita increase in a particular zip code's one-time receipt of the current program broadband loan results in a $0.92 increase in payroll per worker annually. Our calculated point estimates of the benefit: cost ratios for this broadband program range from 1.98 to 2.99, depending on assumptions about the time frame over which benefits accrue. However, the confidence intervals are wide enough to include the possibility that the costs outweigh the benefits.
8 pages., via online journal., ow internet usage by extension agent, impact on the inhibition of the flow of information to the farmers and lead to the income received by farmers. In the digital era today, if the extension agent is not encouraged to use the internet then they will be left behind and will be left out by the farmers. This study aimed to (1) analyze the internet availability in Lampung Province (2) to analyze the level of internet usage for extension agent in Lampung and (3) to analyze factors influencing internet usage of extension agent. This research was conducted in Lampung Province with analysis unit of extension agent in the office of BP3K (Extension Agency of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry) which has been facilitated by computer and internet network. Respondents consisted of 355 extension agent served in BP3K. Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was used to determine the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable. The availability of facilities and internet network in Extension Offices is not sufficient even extension agent used their private facilities. The Internet network had reached the remote areas very well in spreading and transmitting information. Almost all extension agent have internet-connected devices and internet-based applications. Extension agents facilitated by computer and internet network communicating using social media, however capabilities in using the internet to search information related agricultural technology remained low. The use of the internet by extension agent was influenced by the nature of internet innovation, the number of Internet-based applications and the amount of existed hardware.