8 pages, The use of digital technologies in agriculture offers various benefits, such as site-specific application, better monitoring, and physical relief. The handling of these technologies requires a specific skill set. Therefore, the question arises of when and how farm managers learn about digital technologies. Aiming to analyse the current situation, the present research investigated the role that digital technologies play in vocational training for future farm managers. Taking the example of farm management information systems (FMIS), the present study also analysed various predictors of adoption, including the effect of training. To investigate these research questions, an online survey among teachers and students of the farm management vocational programme across Switzerland was conducted in the spring of 2021. In total, 150 individuals participated, 41 of whom were teachers. Participants answered questions about the learning content in the farm management programme and their perception of digital technologies in general. Students further reported whether they already had a farm they would be managing in the future and how they perceived FMIS. The results indicate that both teachers and students are convinced that digital technologies play an important role in agriculture and will gain more importance in the future. A substantial part of 43% of the students who participated indicated that they had learned neither about digital technologies during their basic agricultural training nor the subsequent farm management programme. In terms of FMIS, 51% of the student sample indicated that they had never heard about FMIS during their agricultural training. While having learned about FMIS was not a significant predictor for adoption, gender, perceived ease of use, and intention to use more digital technologies in the future significantly predicted the adoption of FMIS. The paper concludes that, to support the adoption of digital technologies and FMIS specifically, training for future farm managers should focus on how to operate an FMIS to increase the perceived ease of use of this technology.
United States: Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12519
Notes:
4 pages., Sasakawa Africa Association shares their approach to strengthening the resilience of food systems in Africa through innovative approaches using information and communication technologies.
he Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) was established in 1986 by Ryoichi Sasakawa, the first chairman of the Nippon Foundation; Dr. Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and father of the Green Revolution; and former US President, Jimmy Carter; in response to the famine in the Horn of Africa in the 1980s.
Since then, SAA has strengthened agricultural extension services in 16 countries in Africa. Currently, we have offices in Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria and Uganda, where we focus on field activities and human resource development at universities and other educational institutions. We also implement human resource development projects in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12483
Notes:
Book Chapter, 37 pages in "Food Technology Disruptions"
ISBN: 9780128214701, Globally, various digital platforms are efficiently explored to provide information in various sectors. In many developing countries, the majority of the main population occupation is agriculture. Traditional extension services are limited by lack of extension personnel, expertise, up-to-date information regarding market access, timeliness, information storage. Therefore, digitalization can be critical in overcoming such limitations through the utilization of various information and communication technology (ICT) tools; Decision support systems, databases, Agri-based Apps, KIOSK. These advanced approaches will not only support the extension and farming communities but also improve their skills and uplift them in contributing to an increased national GDP. This chapter covers various digital tools and their efficiency with a supporting case study on utilization and impact of digital extension services (DES) on farmer’s knowledge in terms of agricultural practices in selected villages of Belagavi district, Karnataka, India. In conclusion, digital extension services play a vital role in the dissemination of updated information for improving agricultural supply chain management.
17 pages, Modern agriculture is facing unique challenges in building a sustainable future for food production, in which the reliable detection of plantation threats is of critical importance. The breadth of existing information sources, and their equivalent sensors, can provide a wealth of data which, to be useful, must be transformed into actionable knowledge. Approaches based on Information Communication Technologies (ICT) have been shown to be able to help farmers and related stakeholders make decisions on problems by examining large volumes of data while assessing multiple criteria. In this paper, we address the automated identification (and count the instances) of the major threat of olive trees and their fruit, the Bactrocera Oleae (a.k.a. Dacus) based on images of the commonly used McPhail trap’s contents. Accordingly, we introduce the “Dacus Image Recognition Toolkit” (DIRT), a collection of publicly available data, programming code samples and web-services focused at supporting research aiming at the management the Dacus as well as extensive experimentation on the capability of the proposed dataset in identifying Dacuses using Deep Learning methods. Experimental results indicated performance accuracy (mAP) of 91.52% in identifying Dacuses in trap images featuring various pests. Moreover, the results also indicated a trade-off between image attributes affecting detail, file size and complexity of approaches and mAP performance that can be selectively used to better tackle the needs of each usage scenario.
India (Southern, Asia), agricultural, information, cell phones, extension systems, advisory services, technology, To achieve gainful development in agriculture to ensure food security in the north-eastern Himalayan region of India, an initiative was taken to develop mobile phone based agro-advisory system with the objective to empower the farmers by providing right information at right time through Information and Communication Technol- ogy mediated extension approach. 2000 farmers and farm women were selected as beneficiaries through snowball sampling method based on certain criteria. The major features of the system to deliver the farm advices (Pull Based) and information services (Push Based) through toll free Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), Smart Phone Application, Mobile phone and Web based agriculture advisory system. It was found that on an average almost 200 advisories were provided every month, which even shoot up to almost 300 calls per month in the peak Kharif seasons as bulk of the advisories were provided during the months of May to November as most number of calls from the farmers came during the period. Majority of the advisories were provided on fishery management practices (17.32%), source of seed (9.95%), livestock management (9.18%), disease and pest management of crops (8.75%), training information (9.35%), rural development schemes (7.76%) etc. Moreover, the inclusion of need based train- ing component and convergence with different extension functionaries helped to develop an ICT based Stakeholder Interface (Experts-Line Departments-Agripreneurs-Farmers) in the field of agriculture in the region. This alternate extension system also helped to develop better rapport with the farmers and can be replicated in other hilly region of the world.
Pages 121-147 in Scaling-up Solutions for Farmers., In most of the developing countries in Asia and Africa large yield gaps are existing between the current farmers’ yields and potential achievable yields. The necessity of meeting the farmers’ requirement to scale up research results is paramount for adequate food production. This requires empowerment of farmers by answering queries of farmers appropriately through different extension channels including state and central machineries. These are the backbone of the agricultural technology development to empower farmers as the major stakeholders and hence requires attention. Lack of awareness among farmers about good agricultural management practices compel them to follow the traditional practices. All agricultural education and research, ultimately aims at increased productivity and economic well-being of farmers. This is possible only when there is a minimum gap between laboratories and land. This gap is bridged by agricultural extension. But human capacity, the content of the information, processes of delivery and technology determine effectiveness of extension services. Non-availability of sufficient extension personnel is a major constraint. To overcome these shortcomings, e-Extension (eE) is the alternative. It is important to rejuvenate the agricultural extension system (AES) with innovative information communication technology (ICT) models for knowledge generation and dissemination. Latest digital technologies are discussed in this chapter on ICT to empower farmers to scale up for reaching the required target of food production with special reference to Indian scenario.
There is an urgent need to transform neglected knowledge delivery systems by strengthening the science of delivery which has been neglected by the researchers/development worker/policy makers alike. Availability of new technologies such as information technology (IT), internet of things (IoT), audio and video using cell phones, geographical information system (GIS), simulation modelling, remote sensing (RS) open up new vistas for effective knowledge delivery for achieving the impacts on ground. This will help to cross the “Death Valley of Impacts” for achieving the zero hunger goal by adopting innovative approaches/tools and partnerships.
Conference paper / Journal article, This study examined farmers’ readiness to assess social media as agro-information reception tool in the study area. An interview guide was used in collecting data from 120 farmers who were randomly selected. Data collected were analysed with the aid frequency counts percentages and logit regression. The results showed that half of the respondents (50%) had primary education. About 90% were aware of whatsapp and 12.6% were aware of blogs, respectively. Education, farming experience, membership of farmers’ group and extension access were the variables that positively influence farmers’ readiness to assesssocial media as agro-information reception tool while respondents’ age negatively influence readiness to assess social media. Enlightenment programmes for farmers on the use of social media and an improved extension services to keep the farmers acquainted with the benefits of social media.
19 pages., Advancing information and communication technologies (ICTs) has become central to international agricultural and extension development efforts. ICTs are crucial in facilitating information transfer, ensuring stakeholder access to information, and increasing the decision-making capacity of smallholder farmers. The research presented here introduces an instrument developed to quantify perceptions of ICT use capacity within international extension networks. The aggregate scale was verified for content validity, response process validity, internal structure validity, and consequential validity informing its use. The instrument was administered to network members (n = 122) associated with the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with measures of correlation and reliability analyzed. Six factors were extracted and analyzed further. The resulting Perceptions of ICT Use scale and factors can be used as reliable instruments for quantifying perceptions of ICT use capacity, enhancing international extension network needs assessments, and informing policies and practices which maximize ICT capacity.
27 pages, With new possibilities offered by information and communications technology (ICT), an abundance of products, services, and projects has emerged with the promise of revitalizing agricultural extension in developing countries. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that not all ICT-enabled extension approaches are equally effective in improving adoption, productivity, income, or welfare outcomes. In this review, we explore various conceptual and methodological threads in the literature on ICT-enabled extension in developing countries. We examine the role of multiple impact pathways, highlighting how ICTs influence behaviors and preferences,gender and intrahousehold dynamics, spillovers, and public worker incentives. We also explore the opportunities presented by ICT-enabled extension for increasing the methodological rigor with which extension outcomes are identified. These conceptual and methodological insights—coupled with empirical evidence from prior studies—offer direction for several lines of policy-relevant research on ICT-enabled extension.
