Solanki, Surabhi (author) and Verma, Seema (author)
Format:
Conference proceedings
Publication Date:
2019-06
Published:
Elsevier
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 121 Document Number: D11119
Notes:
8 pages., Proceedings of International Conference on Sustainable Computing in Science, Technology and Management., In any country, agriculture plays important role in the prospect of economy and sustainability. As technology grow day by day so it is necessary for the farmer to know about the technology, innovations and take them into practice, so they make strong themselves in terms of economic and sustainability. In this paper discussed the intensity exposure to information and communication technology and its relationship to the characteristics of farmers at different stages of adoption use of information and communication technology for different farm practices and also know the preferences of farmers regarding the use of Information & Communication Technology (ICT). In the continuation of this process conduct the personal interview to collect personal details of farmers as well as farm information that associate them to know about the adoption of information technology. The data collected through personal interview of farmers have been classified, tabulated and analyzed to know how efficiently and effectively information and communication technology disseminate farm information to the farmer.
22 pages, via online journal, Traditionally, 4-H agents have been communicating with stakeholders through newsletters; either in print or online. 4-H agents have used social media as an additional tool to communicate with their stakeholders since its introduction. Social media communication can help maintain or increase stakeholder involvement in the 4-H program because a large percentage of the population is active on social media. Using Uses and Gratifications Theory and Diffusion of Innovations Theory as frameworks, this study sought to determine how Florida 4-H agents engaged with their stakeholder audiences using social media, and vice versa. The uses and gratifications motivations for engaging in media were used to understand what motivations were used to engage their audience and what type of posts (according to motivation) stakeholders were engaged in most. The diffusion of innovations innovation-decision process helped to understand the audiences’ decision to engage in posts dependent upon the motivation used. The results of this study concluded the selected 4-H programs differed in the content that they posted but the 4-H stakeholders did not differ in how they engaged in their respective programs posts.
Landini, Fernando (author), Beramendi, Maite (author), and University of La Cuenca del Plata
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)
School of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019-07-24
Published:
Argentina: Taylor and Francis
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 101 Document Number: D10880
18 pages, online journal article, Purpose
This article aims at designing and validating a psychometric scale to assess extensionists’ and advisors’ beliefs about extension and innovation.
Design/Methodology/approach
The scale was developed by drawing upon results from a previous empirical research as well as insights from a literature review on extension and innovation approaches. The theoretical framework used to write the items was validated by 12 international experts from 11 countries. 608 Argentine extension workers completed the questionnaire. Replies were analysed using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis.
Findings
The scale has a good fit and satisfactory level of internal consistency. Five factors were identified: Dialogue and horizontal coordination; Transfer of technology; Blame on farmers; Participatory, farmer-led extension; and Self-critical attitude.
Practical implications
The scale has multiple and different uses, including research, theory development, institutional practice, diagnosis, and teaching.
Theoretical implications
Results show that a horizontal, facilitative extension approach shares a common epistemology, as well as underlying values and assumptions, with territorial development and with an innovation systems perspective, and that both contrast with a traditional transfer of technology approach. Nonetheless, practitioners would not tend to see these two contrasting perspectives as contradictory but as complementary.
Originality/Value
The scale is the first validated psychometric instrument, based on an ample theoretical framework, that allows for a quantitative assessment of beliefs about extension and innovation.
15 pages., Article #: 4TOT3, via online journal., Crowdfunding is a resource that allows individuals or groups to raise funds while simultaneously engaging relevant communities and, thus, is an important tool for Extension specialists. We provide recommended steps for successful crowdfunding, including tips for identifying a website, developing or refining a proposal, and crafting a marketing and campaign strategy. We use the successful crowdfunding of a relationship education program as an example.
15 pages., via online journal., Water quality is a complex issue and residential fertilizer can be one of the many contributors to poor water quality. Working with residential audiences to help them understand and reduce their impacts on water quality is an important task among many agricultural education and Extension professionals. In order to effectively work with residential audiences, we must first understand what influences their intent to engage in fertilizer best management practices. In this research, we paired the Diffusion of Innovations and Elaboration Likelihood Model to examine the influence of perceptions of an innovation’s characteristics, personal involvement with water, and communication on intent to engage in fertilizer best management practices. The communication was presented to experimental groups as a 35-second video about fertilizer best management practices. Data were collected via a survey instrument and were analyzed using inferential procedures. Four of the five characteristics of innovations significantly influenced intent to engage in fertilizer best management practices among the control group. However, all five characteristics were significant among the entire sample but the influence was less compared to the control group. Involvement increased intent while the video treatments had little effect. The results of the research support existing findings, but also offer areas of new discovery as well as insights for practice and additional study. Future research should examine the repetition of communication as well as different dimensions of involvement.
Abstract via online journal. 2 pages., Technological innovation is vital to economic growth and food security in sub-Saharan Africa where agricultural productivity has been stagnant for a long time. Extension services and learning from peer farmers are two common approaches to facilitate the diffusion of new technologies, but little is known about their relative effectiveness. Selection bias, whereby well-motivated training participants would perform better even without extension services, as well as knowledge spillovers, where non-participants can indirectly benefit from extension services, are among the major threats to causal inference. Using a unique sequential randomized experiment on agricultural training, this study attempts to meet the dual objectives of executing rigorous impact evaluation of extension services and subsequent spillovers on rice production in Cote d’Ivoire. Specifically, to reduce selection bias, we randomly assigned eligibility for training participation; and to satisfy the stable unit treatment value assumption, control-group farmers were initially restricted from exchanging information with treated-group farmers who had received rice management training. Once some positive impacts were confirmed, information exchange between the treated and control farmers was encouraged. We found that the initial performance gaps created by the randomized assignment disappeared over time, due presumably to social learning from peer farmers. A detailed analysis concerning the information network and peer effects provided suggestive evidence that there were information and technology spillovers from treated to control farmers after removing the information exchange restriction. Overall, our study demonstrates that information dissemination by farmers can be as effective in improving practices as the initial training provided by extension services.
3 pages., via online journal., Farm Innovators are regularly exchanging information and their experiences using WhatsApp messenger on their mobile phones. Most of the content shared was knowledge intensive with a mix of personal farming experiences. As Social constructivist learning theory seeks to improve socialinteractions to construct and share knowledge and the social networking through WhatsApp has proved to be potential to construct knowledge. Learning being the outcome of interactions between cognitive and psychological and the WhatsApp being the potential source for socialization and internalization promoted the creation ofsocial wealth in the form of discussion forums of Innovative farmers for learning exchange. The extension mechanism for purposeful farmer to farmer learning exchange has been created which in turn
is a step towards innovative farmer led extension delivery mechanism. The potential of not only WhatsApp but other social media need to be exploited to bring location specific and commodity oriented transformative changes in the agriculture extension delivery system. The experimentation with innovative farmers is not only helping in scaling the farmers’ innovations but also institutional innovations at large. As all human resources (labour, management, innovation, creativity) are products of social relationships, no one can reach maturity without the help of personally caring people, including their families, friends, neighbors, and communities. Farms and agricultural enterprises also depend on the ability of people to work together toward the common goal of ecological, social, and economic sustainability through social networks.
9 pages, via online journal, The U.S. university-based extension system model has been successful nationally, but not adopted globally. Various historical factors rendered the U.S. system a less attractive option for emerging post-WWII nations. However, current changes in education and extension landscapes are creating new opportunities for the globalization of U.S. Extension. Specifically, both the U.S. and Chinese extension systems now face the common challenge of delivering meaningful university-based extension under shifting conditions. This commonality creates opportunities for exploring long-term, synergistic university-based extension systems and potentially achieving associated benefits worldwide.
