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2. Adoption of crop insurance and impact: insights from India
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Aditya, K.S. (author), Khan, Md. Tajuddin (author), and Kishore, Avinash (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- India
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10284
- Journal Title:
- Agricultural Economics Research Review
- Journal Title Details:
- 31(2) : 163-174
- Notes:
- Via journal online., Agriculture is inherently a risky enterprise because of its dependence on rainfall. To mitigate risks, farmers diversify crops and enterprises, maintain stabilization account or resort to the sale of assets. Crop insurance is a complementary institutional mechanism that aids farmers to cope with risks better.Considering the importance of crop insurance in risk mitigation, this paper using data from a large-scale farmers’ survey we identify the factors that influence farmers’ decision to buy crop insurance and subsequently assess its impact on farm income, production expenses and productive investments in agriculture. Farmers’ adoption of crop insurance is low— 4.80% kharif season and 3.17% in the rabi season mainly on account of lack of awareness about insurance products. Nevertheless, the probability of adoption of insurance is higher for those who experience higher crop loss and have some formal training in agriculture. The subsidy on premium also positively influences crop insurance uptake decisions. On the other hand, the factors like the lower social status, tenant farming and exposure to deficit-rainfall in the previous year are negatively associated with the decision to insure. The results on the impact of insurance are not conclusive to prove that insured farmer subsumes higher risks compared to the uninsured.
3. Barriers to acceptance of information and communication technology in agricultural extension in Indonesia
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Purnomo, Sutrisno Hadi (author) and Kusnandar (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-03-15
- Published:
- Indonesia: SAGE Journals
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 203 Document Number: D12169
- Journal Title:
- Information Development
- Journal Title Details:
- vol: 35, issue 4, 2019
- Notes:
- 12 pages, The use of information and communication technology (ICT) has become progressively widespread in various sectors including agriculture. This study investigated the barriers to the diffusion of ICT in agricultural extension. Further, the study examined the effect of barriers toward ICT acceptance in agricultural extension. A paper and pencil survey by mail was conducted to collect data from 355 respondents in the Greater Surakarta Region, Indonesia. The study discovered that individual barriers, cultural barriers, government policy barriers, support and technological barriers significantly influenced the acceptance of ICT. In line with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), these variables influenced perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived intention to use of ICT. The findings suggested the methods that could be adopted by governments and non-government bodies to overcome the barriers in ICT implementation.
4. Cleaner and greener livestock production: appraising producers' perceptions regarding renewable energy in Iran
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Bozorgparvar, Elham (author), Yazdanpanah, Masoud (author), Forouzani, Masoumeh (author), Khosravipour, Bahman (author), and Khuzestan Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Mollasani, Ahvaz, Iran
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-08-27
- Published:
- Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 93 Document Number: D10859
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Cleaner Production
- Journal Title Details:
- 203 : 769-776
- Notes:
- 8 pages., Via Science Direct., This paper aims to use a comprehensive modeling framework to investigate the intention of Iranian livestock producers to deploy renewable energies on their farms to mitigate climate change. A survey was conducted in southern Iran using a random sample of farmers (n = 140). Structural equation modeling showed that attitude, moral norm, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control are significant predictors of farmers' intention to use renewable energies. Attitude was determined by positive affect and perceived benefits, and moral norm was determined by perceived benefits, perceived cost, and outcome efficacy. The findings not only have public policy implications for promoting the use of renewable energies by farmers in Iran, but also contribute to the literature on environmental psychology, renewable energy, and pro-environmental behavior in a non-Western country.
5. Closing the extension gap: Information and communication technology in sustainable agriculture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Lubell, Mark (author), McRoberts, Neil (author), and University of California, Davis
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-10
- Published:
- Richmond, CA: University of California, Oakland, Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10260
- Journal Title:
- California Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 74(4) : 236-242
- Notes:
- 7 pages., As the information revolution sweeps through the agricultural sector, extension professionals may be lagging behind their clients in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) such as social media, which could be a valuable tool for outreach and education. We surveyed sustainable agriculture stakeholders in California - extension professionals, county agricultural commissioners, and members of farm bureaus and producer groups - to measure their ICT behavior and attitudes. Drawing on diffusion of innovation theory, we characterized the innovation attributes of ICT that may influence the adoption and use of new technology among extension professionals. We also studied their demographic characteristics to establish whether there was a connection with ICT use. The main perceived benefit of ICT was that it can quickly reach larger, more diverse and more distant audiences. The perceived challenges included lack of professional support, the potential for misinformation on social media platforms, and the time requirements and technical complexity of technology use. Extension professionals experienced these challenges more than other sustainable agriculture stakeholders, creating a technology gap between extension professionals and their clientele. An ICT community of practice and clear organizational guidelines for measuring and reporting performance relating to ICT might help extension professionals dose the gap.
6. Closing the extension gap: information and communication technology in sustainable agriculture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Lubell, Mark (author) and McRoberts, Neil (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 131 Document Number: D11331
- Journal Title:
- California Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 72(4) : 236-242
- Notes:
- Online from https://doaj.org, Authors examined extension professionals, county agricultural commissioners, and members of farm bureaus and producer groups regarding their behavior and attitudes about use of information and communication technologies (ITCs). Results indicated that extension professionals experienced challenges in using ICTs more than the other sustainable agriculture stakeholders, "creating a technology gap between extension professionals and their clientele." Authors suggested use of an ICT community of practice and clear organizational guidelines for measuring and reporting performance related to ICT.
7. Comparison of extension personnel and supervisor perceptions of communications activities
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Bowman, Brittany (author), Settle, Quisto (author), North, Elizabeth Gregory (author), Lewis, Kerri Collins (author), and Oklahoma State University Mississippi State University
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- United States: New Prairie Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 152 Document Number: D10159
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- 102(4)
- Notes:
- 18 pages, via online journal, Extension is often called the “best-kept secret” having low awareness with the public but high satisfaction with clientele. Extension services nationwide have faced budget cuts, creating a need for the organization to re-evaluate its activities, including how it communicates with its stakeholders. While Extension personnel are the ones who will do most of the communicating, their supervisors impact the personnel’s actions, which means it is important to assess both groups. A survey was conducted with Extension personnel and their supervisors in Mississippi assessing engagement in communications activities and perceptions of those activities, as well as personnel’s preference of professional development activities. Personnel reported higher use, comfort, and importance of more traditional (e.g. making a speech) and written activities (e.g. writing a promotional handout) than media-relations activities (e.g. being interviewed for TV), social media-related activities (e.g. managing a Twitter account), and visual communication activities (e.g. graphic design). Supervisors perceived individual communications activities as less important overall than personnel did, and although supervisor and communication scores for use and comfort/capability were similar for most communication activities, there were noticeable exceptions. Additionally, personnel preferred professional development activities that were hands-on or showing the activities first-hand (e.g. demonstrations and field days). Future research should be expanded to other states, conducted in a case study format to study specific relationships, and involve qualitative components. Extension should ensure clear supervisor-communication dialogue on prioritizing communication activities, provide training on communication activities with low use and comfort, and utilize early innovators who are comfortable using newer communication activities.
8. 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.
9. Enabling learning in demonstration farms: a literature review
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ingram, Julie (author), Chiswell, Hannah (author), Mills, Jane (author), Debruyne, Lies (author), Cooreman, Hanne (author), Koutsourts, Alexandros (author), Pappa, Eleni (author), and Marchand, Fleur (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- International
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 132 Document Number: D11341
- Journal Title:
- International Journal of Agricultural Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 2018 : 29-42
- Notes:
- 13th European Farming Systems Association (IFSA) Symposium, Greece., Provides a narrative review which identifies key functional characteristics that enable learning in demonstration farms.
10. Examining internet access and social media application use for online nutrition education in SNAP-Ed participants in rural Illinois
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Loehmer, Emily (author), Smith, Sylvia (author), McCaffrey, Jennifer (author), and Davis, Jeremy (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 151 Document Number: D11598
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
- Journal Title Details:
- 50(1) : 75-83
- Notes:
- 9 pages., Online via UI e-subscription, Researchers examined Internet access and interest in receiving nutrition education via social media application among low-income adults participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed).Results indicated similar Internet accessibility in southern Illinois among low-income populations compared with national rural rates. Interest in using online nutrition education varied among participants according to age. Overall, 49% of middle-aged adults aged 33-64 years and 87% of seniors aged 65 years or older reported they would not use online nutrition education.