Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 114 Document Number: D11021
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Online via Accelerating Innovation in Technology Data and Media. 2 pages., Summarizes results of a survey among nearly 3,000 U.S. owners of ranches and farmers.
15 pages., The aim of this research was to investigate the agricultural information sources and strategies for disseminating agricultural research findings to farmers in Iringa District, Tanzania. A total of 90 farmers were interviewed by using a self-administered questionnaire. The statistical Package for Service Solutions (SPSS) software and Spreadsheet were used as instruments to analyse the findings. Results of this study indicate that radios, church leaders, village leaders and seminars are the main channels of information used by extension officers to disseminate agricultural information to farmers. With regard to strategies the study revealed that, the use of religious leaders and government officials; use of primary school teachers and pupils; non-political interference; repackaging and packaging of technical information reports; deployment of extension officers in rural areas; use of community-based organisations and the establishment of agricultural information boards were the main effective strategies for disseminating agricultural research information to farmers. It is therefore, concluded that radio, church leaders, seminars, Newspapers, brochures and fliers should be intensively used to disseminate agricultural information among farmers so as to raise productivity in their farms. The study suggest that, there is a need to use other disseminators such as influential people, religious leaders, political leaders, primary school teachers and pupils to disseminate such information in addition to repackaging of agricultural research findings to tailor it to the farmers’ needs.
12 pages., Via online journal., Rural Resources Centers (RRCs) managed by community-based organisations, where farmers come together for training and demonstration, have been an innovative extension approach in Cameroon since 2006. This paper describes information flow in RRCs and farmers’ assessment of RRCs as information sources. All the RRCs in Cameroon were studied and 29 group interviews, involving 118 producers and 7 individual interviews with RRC managers, were performed. RRCs share information with several stakeholders including farmers, research institutions, and educational and religious institutions; and interpersonal channels are commonly used. Farmers and agricultural extension workers are the most important sources of information for RRCs. Farmers rank RRCs as their second best sources of information after fellow farmers. On average, each year, RRCs organise at least 40 training sessions for about 1777 participants. The themes are mainly agroforestry (29%), marketing (20%), group dynamics (20%) and post-harvest techniques (11%). The issue of funding the activities of the RRCs needs to be addressed, they need to be better structured, and their human resources increased and strengthened.
Special Paper, Kerry J.Byrnes Collection, Special Paper, 7 pages, Technical Report No. 9 consists of an analysis of the data collected to answer the research questions on communication, defined as the maximization of utility in the processing of marketing-related information types, from now on, MRIT. The research questions are based on two objectives: I. To describe and analyze the existing agencies and/or programs for the processing of marketing-related information types; II. To describe use of Cauca Valley mass communication networks.
8pgs, Through a combination of internal and external collaborations, consumer-based energy education designed for hard-to-reach audiences was successfully delivered statewide by an interdisciplinary Extension team. Program participants representing rural residents, senior citizens, and low-income audiences demonstrated improvements in knowledge and increased intention to change their home electricity usage behaviors. This outreach work can serve as a model for other Extension services to combine interdisciplinary teams with community partnerships to reach underserved audiences statewide.
20 pages., Via online journal., Information plays an important role in meeting the quantitative and qualitative goals of agriculture in the 21st century. As an emerging economy in a developing continent, China has already made many interventions to use information technology to support agricultural development. However, information service in some rural areas is still severely limited. The overall impact of the changing information environment on the farmers’ information needs and access channels has not been fully studied. Thus, this study systematically investigates the characteristics of the information needs and channels of farmers in Guangdong, China. We have collected 4006 questionnaire
samples and used correlation analysis to explore the relationships between farmers’ information needs and access channel preferences. The results indicate that individual characteristic factors, social factors and family factors have different degrees of influence on farmers’ information needs and access channel preferences. These findings can provide a reference for information construction in the rural areas of Guangdong Province and thus promote its economic development. This study can also provide useful insights for policymakers and researchers from other developing countries to formulate implementation plans to promote agricultural development.
