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12. Climate change vulnerability and adaptation strategies for smallholder farmers in Yangi Qala District, Takhar, Afghanistan
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Omerkhil, Najibullah (author), Chand, Tara (author), Valente, Donatella (author), Alatalo, Juha M (author), and Pandey, Rajiv (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-03
- Published:
- Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 121 Document Number: D11091
- Journal Title:
- Ecological Indicators
- Notes:
- 10 pages., Smallholder farmers in Afghanistan are already facing various risks in agricultural production due to past continuous insurgencies. Climate change is likely to amplify the risk and make them even more vulnerable. The present study attempted to evaluate the vulnerability profiles of smallholder farmers due to climate change using the IPCC Framework. Primary data on relevant parameters for assessing climate change-led social vulnerability in the region were collected by classifying study region into two zones: the plain and the hills of Yangi Qala District in Takhar province, Afghanistan. Thirteen villages from each zone were selected at random, and face-to-face interviews were conducted with ten randomly selected households in each of the selected villages in both zones based on a pre-tested questionnaire. The questionnaire contained indicators for all three dimensions of vulnerability: exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The collected data were subjected to a proposed vulnerability index, after estimating the indices of the three dimensions of vulnerability. The Iyenger and Sudershan weighting method was used to assess the contribution of each vulnerability dimension. Vulnerability was classified according to different categories based on beta distribution to evaluate the villages’ vulnerability status. The results showed that about 23% of all 26 sampled villages in both zones had low exposure, 26% moderate exposure and 51% high exposure to climate-change hazards and extreme weather events. High sensitivity was observed in 51%, moderate sensitivity in 7%, and low sensitivity in 42% of villages. High adaptive capacity to climate change was observed in 38% of villages, 19% were moderately adaptive and 42% showed a low adaptive capacity. High vulnerability was observed in 50% of villages, 4% were moderately vulnerable, and 46% had low vulnerability. A high proportion of smallholder farmers in the hilly zone in the sampled district were highly vulnerable, exposed and sensitive with a low adaptive capacity to climate change compared to the plain zone. The high vulnerability in the hilly zone was attributed to limited resources with a low adjustment capability to counter the disturbances, especially in crop cultivation, in response to climate change. A handful of low-cost and local approaches such as improving farmer extension services, introducing small-scale local infrastructure projects, reinforcing informal safety nets and protecting natural ecosystems could be viable cost-effective options that would also be sustainable given their low recurring costs and the limited maintenance required.
13. Communicators' attributes: determinants of communication fidelity
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Mazumdar, A.K. (author), Nand, Hira (author), Pathak, S. (author), Sohal, T. S. (author), Rani, Asha (author), Malaviya, A. (author), Kakoty, H.N. (author), Chowdhary, Mukesh (author), and Makhija, V.K. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 1986-12
- Published:
- India
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C23054
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Extension Systems
- Journal Title Details:
- 2(2) : 55-57
14. Comparisons of extension program delivery strategies for small and part-time farmers
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Richardson, J.G. (author), Riddick, G.F. (author), and Stephenson, J.D. (author)
- Format:
- Conference paper
- Publication Date:
- 1996
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 103 Document Number: C08836
- Notes:
- The 93rd annual meeting of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists --Communications Section. Greensboro, North Carolina. February 4-7, 1996; p. 57-60
15. Constraints to the utilisation of conservation agriculture in Africa as perceived by agricultural extension service providers
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Brown, Brendan (author), Nuberg, Ian (author), Llewellyn, Rick (author), and School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide CSIRO Agriculture
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10460
- Journal Title:
- Land Use Policy
- Journal Title Details:
- 73: 331-340
- Notes:
- 10 pages., Via online journal., Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a knowledge-intensive set of practices which requires substantial access to functional agricultural extension services to enable utilisation. Despite this importance, the perspectives of those providing extension services to smallholder farmers have not been fully investigated. To address this, we qualitatively explore the perspectives of agricultural extension providers across six African countries to understand why uptake of CA has been limited, as well as the institutional changes that may be required to facilitate greater utilisation. Across the diversity of geographical, political and institutional contexts between countries, we find multiple commonalities in the constrained utilisation of CA by smallholder farmers, highlighting the difficulties non-mechanised subsistence farmers face in transitioning to market-oriented farming systems such as CA. The primary constraint relates to the economic viability of market-oriented farming where farmers remain in low input and low output systems with limited exit points. The assumed exit point used by CA programs appears to have led to a culture of financial expectancy and reflects a continuation of top-down extension approaches with inadequate modification of CA to the contextual realities of subsistence farmers. If African agricultural systems are to be sustainably intensified, we find a need for greater flexibility within extension systems in the pursuit of sustainable intensification. If extension systems are to persist with CA, it will need to be promoted through more transitional pathways that disaggregate the CA package, and with that there is a need for the provision of a mandate to, and necessary funding for, more participatory extension services.
16. Decoding agricultural digitalisation in Africa
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Boloh, Yanne (author) and Cartmell-Thorp, Susanna (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- International: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, ACP-EU Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 153 Document Number: D11615
- Journal Title:
- Spore
- Journal Title Details:
- 194 : 4-7
- Notes:
- 4 pages., Online from publisher., "For the first time, a landmark report on digitalisation for agriculture (D4Ag) in Africa compiles and highlights data on digital solutions that are enabling the transformation of African agriculture."
17. Department of agricultural journalism University of Wisconsin-Madison: Faculty and graduate student research, 1990
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Format:
- Research report
- Publication Date:
- 1990
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 199 Document Number: D09924
- Notes:
- NCR-90 Collection, Prepared for the NCR-90 meeting. Iowa State University, Oct. 24-26, 1990. 13 pages.
18. 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.
19. Development of an innovative extension model for small landholders - an experiential learning journey
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Guise, Neil (author), Gannaway, Nancye (author), and Jones, Yolandee (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2010
- Published:
- Australia
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 178 Document Number: C30648
- Journal Title:
- Extension Farming Systems Journal
- Journal Title Details:
- 6(1) : 145-150
20. Edu-Communication Strategies of Cashew Production in a Rural Ghanaian Community
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Anyarayor, B.K (author), Amadu, M.F. (author), and Alhassan, A. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-10-03
- Published:
- Ghana: Extension Education Society
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 203 Document Number: D12337
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Extension Education
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 32 No. 3
- Notes:
- 10 pages., This study examined the edu-communication strategies that agriculture extension service agencies use in the dissemination and promotion of innovation adoption among cashew farmers in the Kpandai district agricultural zones in Northern Ghana. A total of 140 cashew farmers were sampled using simple random sampling technique. Three District Agricultural Officers (DAO) and twenty-one satellite Agriculture Extension Officers (AEO) were also drawn into the sample. The results of the study show that, face to face interaction, field demonstration, entertainment- education through community radio broadcasting and Farmer Group Discussions (FGDs) were extensively and efficiently used by the AEOs to promote adoption of improved production technologies among cashew farmers. The study discovered that EduCom strategies contribute to higher rates of adoption and partly accounts for increased cashew yields in the study area. The indigenisation of agriculture extension services approaches using local language in the design and dissemination of adoption process is, highly recommended as a core tenet of technology dissemination if higher adoption rates are expected.