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2. Analysis of Village Extension Agents' Access and Use of Information and Communication Technology in Delivery of Extension Services in the Central Agricultural Zone of Plateau State, Nigeria
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Vihi, S.K. (author), Tor, L.G. (author), Jesse, B. (author), Dalla, AA.. (author), Onuwa, G.C. (author), and Haroun, M. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-10-21
- Published:
- Russia: iVolga Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12427
- Journal Title:
- Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol.118(10
- Notes:
- 11 pages, This study examined village extension agent’s access and use of information and communication technology in extension services delivery to farmers in Plateau State, Nigeria. The population for the study consisted of all the village extension agents (VEAs) of the Plateau Agricultural Development Program (PADP) in the central agricultural zone of the state. Multistage sampling technique was employed in selecting the respondents for the study. Primary data were collected through the administration of questionnaires and interview techniques and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings from the study shows that majority (77%) of the sampled village extension agents (VEAs) were males with a mean age of 43 years, Majority (87%) of the respondents were married with a mean household size of 4 persons. The study also showed that majority (80%) of the VEAs had tertiary education with a mean working experience of 13 years and average monthly income of ₦64875. The result also shows that four (4) out of the seven (7) listed ICT facilities were adjudged the ICT facilities accessible to VEAs in the study area having had mean values above the discriminating index (x̅ =2.50). They included; GSM (phone) (x̅ =3.94), radio (x̅ = 2.83), television (x̅ = 2.73) and computer (x̅ = 2.68). Based on 2.50 discriminating index, only two out of seven listed conventional ICT facilities had mean values above the discriminating index (x̅ 2.50) and thus were adjudged the ICT facilities used by VEAs. The GSM (phone) had the highest mean value of 3.62 followed by radio with mean value of 2.54. The logit regression result shows that coefficients of years of working experience and monthly income were significant and positively related to ICT use, while age and complexity in use of ICT were significant and negatively related to ICT use. Major constraints to use of ICT by VEAs includes; lack of administrative support in provision of ICT (87%), lack of in-service training on ICT use (66%), Poor salary/remuneration (64%), lack of awareness of ICT importance in extension (56%) among others. The study recommends intervention, serious synergy, and proactive response on the part of the government, non-governmental organization,s and extension organizations in ICT provision and training of VEAs on ICT use as well as stepping up campaigns on the importance of ICT use in agricultural extension delivery.
3. Collaborating across state lines to leverage cultural competency expertise
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wille, Celina G. (author), Garcia, Zuri (author), and Garcia-Pabón, José L. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-01
- Published:
- Extension Journal, Inc.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 32 Document Number: D10614
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 57(3)
- Notes:
- 5 pages., Article #: 3TOT6, via online journal., A statewide need for Latino cultural competency training for Utah State University (USU) Extension personnel was identified. The solution involved the collaborative efforts of our team of two USU Extension faculty members and one Washington State University (WSU) Extension faculty member on adaption and customization of a needs assessment tool and a training program originated at WSU. Our collaboration leveraged important limited resources such as subject-matter expertise, training materials, time, and funding while providing a venue for feedback and ideas to improve, update, and enhance an existing program. Garnering administrative support from the start is key to successful cross-state collaborative work and implementation of specialized training to expand Latino outreach capacity in Extension.
4. Competencies needed in extension organizations
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- van den Ban, Ann W. (author)
- Format:
- Paper
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 134 Document Number: C20570
- Notes:
- Burton Swanson Collection, 14 pages
5. Context Specificity and Time Dependency in Classifying Sub-Saharan Africa Dairy Cattle Farmers for Targeted Extension Farm Advice: The Case of Uganda
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ahikiriza, Elizabeth (author), Wesana, Joshua (author), Gellynk, Xavier (author), Van Huylenbroeck, Guido (author), and Lawyers, Ludwig (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-07-29
- Published:
- Switzerland: MDPI
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12516
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 11 (9)
- Notes:
- 6 pages, Despite the huge potential for milk production, interventions to improve productivity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are barely based on specified farm classifications. This study aimed to develop robust and context-specific farm typologies to guide content of extension farm advice/services in Uganda. From a sample of 482 dairy farmers, we collected data on farmer socio-demographics, farm management practices, ownership of farm tools and facilities, willingness to pay for extension services, milk production, and marketing. Farm typologies were obtained based on principal component and cluster analyses. Thereby, of the three dairy production systems that emerged, small-scale, largely subsistence yet extensive and low productive farms were more prominent (82.6%). Farms that were classified as large-scale, less commercialized yet extensive with modest productive systems were more than the medium-scale commercial farms with intensive and highly productive systems. However, the later were considered to potentially transform dairy farming in Uganda. It was also predicted that the validity of our farm classification may persist until half of the farms have moved between clusters. The study gives new insights on dairy production systems in Uganda, which can be used to organize more targeted research on farmers’ extension needs for facilitating delivery of relevant and effective extension services and designing appropriate extension policies
6. Design of Digital Agricultural Extension Tools: Perspectives from Extension Agents in Nigeria
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen (author), Chamberlain, Jordan (author), and Maertens, Miet (author)
- Format:
- unknown
- Publication Date:
- 2020-03-20
- Published:
- International: Wiley Online
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 203 Document Number: D12210
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agricultural Economics
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 71, No. 3
- Notes:
- 17 Pages., Given the marked heterogeneous conditions in smallholder agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a growing policy interest in site-specific extension advice and the use of digital extension tools to provide site-specific information. Empirical ex-ante studies on the design of digital extension tools and their use are rare. Using data from a choice experiment in Nigeria, we elicit and analyze the preferences of extension agents for major design features of ICT-enabled decision support tools (DSTs) aimed at site-specific nutrient management extension advice. We estimate different models, including mixed logit, latent class and attribute non-attendance models. We find that extension agents are generally willing to use such DSTs and prefer a DST with a more user-friendly interface that requires less time to generate results. We also find that preferences are heterogeneous: some extension agents care more about the effectiveness-related features of DSTs, such as information accuracy and level of detail, while others prioritise practical features, such as tool platform, language and interface ease-of-use. Recognising and accommodating such preference differences may facilitate the adoption of DSTs by extension agents and thus enhance the scope for such tools to impact the agricultural production decisions of farmers.
7. Does it matter who advises farmers? Pest management choices with public and private extension
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wuepper, David (author), Roleff, Nikolaus (author), and Finger, Robert (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-01-01
- Published:
- Switzerland: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12514
- Journal Title:
- Food Policy
- Journal Title Details:
- 99
- Notes:
- 8 pages, Does it matter whether farmers receive advice on pest management strategies from public or from private (pesticide company affiliated) extension services? We use survey data from 733 Swiss fruit growers who are currently contending with an infestation by an invasive pest, the fruit fly Drosophila Suzukii. We find that farmers who are advised by public extension services are more likely (+9–10%) to use preventive measures (e.g. nets) while farmers who are advised by private extension services are more likely (+8–9%) to use synthetic insecticides. These results are robust to the inclusion of various covariates, ways to cluster standard errors, and inverse probability weighting. We also show that our results are unlikely to be driven by omitted variable bias. Our findings have implications for the current debates on both the ongoing privatization of agricultural extension and concerns regarding negative environmental and health externalities of pesticide use.
8. Engaging residents in participatory photomapping and readiness conversations to address the rural obesogenic context
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Jensen, Kirstin D. (author), Tifft, Kathee (author), Winfield, Tammy (author), Gunter, Kathy (author), Karp, Grace G. (author), and John, Deborah H. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-10-01
- Published:
- Extension Journal, Inc.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 109 Document Number: D10982
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 57(5)
- Notes:
- 12 pages., Article #: 5FEA1, via online journal., Extension engaged rural Idaho community stakeholders to assess local resources and readiness to address obesogenic contexts through use of the Extension tool HEAL MAPPS. Through participatory photomapping, focus group involvement, and a community readiness conversation, residents identified environmental resources and local efforts as supports for and barriers to healthful eating and active living. Findings indicated that the community was "vaguely aware" that rural obesity risk is a socioenvironmentally determined issue. Extension professionals using HEAL MAPPS effectively promoted new and shared knowledge of weight health resources among community members, enabled rural residents to have a voice in addressing the community context, and empowered community actions.
9. Extension Professionals’ Attitudes, Self-Efficacy,and Perceptions of Inclusion for 4-H Youth with Disabilities
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Anderson, Callie (author), Niewoehner-Green, Jera (author), and Scheer, Scott (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-06
- Published:
- United States: Routledge
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12494
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agricultural Education
- Journal Title Details:
- Volume 62, Issue 3
- Notes:
- 14 pages., The 4-H Youth Development program prohibits all forms of discrimination which includes disability. 4-H Extension professionals provide the essential interface between Extension and the local community to create an inclusive environment for all youth, including those with disabilities, that is welcoming and accessible. Attitudes and self-efficacy for working with youth who have disabilities impact how well 4- H delivers positive youth development programs. The purpose of this study was to determine state-wide 4-H Extension professionals’ attitudes, self-efficacy, and perceptions of inclusion toward youth with disabilities. In addition, the researchers sought to examine their use of a training program to better serve youth with disabilities. All 4-H Extension professionals in Ohio were surveyed (N = 135) with 71 responding (response rate of 53%). Results indicated the attitudes of Extension professionals for accepting of and feeling comfortable around youth with disabilities was overwhelmingly positive. They also perceived that youth with disabilities felt that they were included in 4-H activities. For self-efficacy, 4-H professionals reported they could effectively provide inclusive opportunities for youth with disabilities and adapt their level of instruction, take extra time, and pay attention to the needs of youth with disabilities. However, about a third of the respondents somewhat or strongly agreed that their workload would increase by having youth with disabilities in their organization. The disability training program was used by over three-fourths of the 4-H professionals and helped them to engage with parents to learn more about their children with disabilities. The program also improved accommodations and creating a more inclusive 4-H environment.
10. Government extension, agroecology, and sustainable food systems in Belize milpa farming communities: A socio-ecological systems approach
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Drexler, Kristin A. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Published:
- 2020-04-16: Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 203 Document Number: D12257
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development
- Journal Title Details:
- Volume 9, Issue 3 Spring 2020
- Notes:
- 13 pages, The sustainability of milpa agriculture, a traditional Mayan farming system in southern Belize, is uncertain. For centuries, the milpa has been a sustainable agriculture system. The slash-and-burn aspect of milpa farming, however, has become less reliable and less sustainable over the last 50 years due to several factors, including forest loss, climate change, population growth, and other factors. The traditional milpa practices of slash-and-mulch and soil nutrient enrichment (nutrient cycling) are agroecological practices that produce food in a more sustainable way. Agriculture extension, a government service in Belize, can promote additional agroecological practices to address food and livelihood insecurities in milpa communities. This study examines perceptions of these practices from milpa farmers and agricultural extension officers in Belize using a socio-ecological systems (SES) framework. SES considers multidisciplinary linkages, including social, economic, environmental, cultural, and other factors in the agroecological system. The study finds several of these SES linkages between agroecological practices--specifically slash-andmulch and soil nutrient enrichment--and the sustainability of the milpa farming system in southern Belize. Milpa communities are part of the broader SES and therefore are affected by changes to it. Milpa communities can also be enabled and participate in solution-finding. The findings imply that increasing the use of agroecology practices in milpa communities is needed and that government involvement and action, particularly from agriculture extension services, can facilitate a more sustainable milpa farming system and therefore more food and livelihood security in milpa communities in Belize.
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