9 pages., via online journal., Social media platforms and other new technologies support the communication of many topics, both beneficial and controversial to t he development of the agriculture industry. Agricultural communicators’ use of these platforms is critical for engaging with stakeholders and communicating information beneficial to agriculture . The purpose of this study was to explore agricultural communicators’ use of devices and soci al media platforms in the United States. Researchers administered an online, descriptive que stionnaire to collect data from members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. A ma jority of respondents used social media for work, with smartphones being the most common device used. Facebook and Twitter were used more than blogs and YouTube to interact with farmer s/ranchers. Respondents agreed that social media allowed them to quickly and conveniently comm unicate with others. Significant relationships existed between perceived usefulness and Pinterest, blogs, and Instagram, while one significant correlation existed between perceiv ed ease of use and Instagram. Respondents should continue to use Facebook and Twitter to enga ge their stakeholder groups in conversations about agriculture.
14 pages., via online journal, The study evaluated the potential of 19 radio stations to promote new or improved agricultural technologies to strengthen agricultural extension services. Key informant interviews were conducted with the station and/or program managers of the selected radio stations. Two female respondents i.e. from UBC Radio, and Impact FM and 17 male respondents from the remaining radio stations were interviewed. The survey used semi structured questionnaire to determine broadcasting languages, radio transmitter capacity, geographical coverage and audience, major programs and scheduling, use of modern ICT, staff capacity and feedback mechanism from the audience as well as experience in agricultural programming using participatory radio campaign. The collected data was analyzed using content analysis. 16 of the radio stations are commercial while the remaining three belong to public, community and religious radio stations. The potential audience of the surveyed radio stations varied from one to ten million. Seven broadcasting languages (English, Luganda, Lugisu, Lusoga, Japadhola, Ateso and Samia) were predominant, while English and Luganda cut across all communities. The estimated number of audience for each radio station varies from one to ten million listeners. The results also indicate that agricultural programs are not a major component of radio program with time allocation for agrictural programs comprising only 15 percent of total time allocation. However, ten radio stations had previous collaboration with international, regional or national NGOs to promote specific agricultural technology. Radio broadcasters of these radio stations had some form of agricultural programming including participatory radio campaign. Building on this experience, it is possible to reach more farmers through radio to strengthen adoption of recommended agricultural technologies.
Singh, Lakhan (author), Bishnoi, Rajesh (author), Bihari, Bankey (author), Madan, S. (author), Malik, Anil Kumar (author), Shrimali, S. S . (author), Kadam, M. D. (author), and Singh, Raman Jeet (author)
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019-02
Published:
India
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10368
7 pages., Via online journal., The effectiveness of an extension system referred to its ability to meet the fanner needs in providing the new technology which suits to their conditions and results in better production. Recently the demand for information on agricultural practices and technology among the farmers is increasing day by day but fulfilment of these demands exclusively by public agricultural extension system is limited. To address this challenge, information communication technology (ICT) has the immense role in supplementing the extension system. Among the ICT tools, mobile phone, because of its affordability, accessibility, minimum skill requirement, widespread network etc., has emerged as important tool for information and knowledge dissemination to the smallholder and marginal farmers. But it is necessary to study how effective they are in achieving the respective objectives.The present investigation was conducted to study the effectiveness of mKRISHI (R) PAWS (Personalised Advisory on Water and Soil) in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand state. An ex-post facto research design was used for this study. Total 136 messages were sent to the respondents. The data was collected from 240 beneficiary farmers of the north-western Himalayan region. The effectiveness of the mKRISHI (R) PAWS in technology advisory and delivery services were measured by developing an effectiveness index for the purpose. Results showed that 93.8% of farmers perceive that quality of information regarding the latest NRM technologies in soil and water conservation was excellent and 83.75% of the farmers felt that the information regarding the latest NRM technologies in soil and water conservation was appropriate to their condition. The study revealed that the extension services delivered by mKRISHI (R) PAWS were found to be highly effective by majority of the farmers. 34.58% fanners perceived that the mKRISHI (R) PAWS was very highly effective as a mean of getting their information needs.
15 pages, via online journal, Purpose: The effectiveness of new extension approaches hinges on farmers’ willingness to adopt innovative ways to interact with extension. Therefore, this study explored farmers’ willingness to use mobile text messaging for two-way interactions with Ministry Extension officers.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study followed a correlational design and survey data were conveniently collected from 200 farmers of Trinidad.
Findings: Findings showed most farmers of the sample knew how to send and receive text messages, and many owned Internet-enabled smartphones. In addition, most farmers were willing to communicate with extension officers through text messages.
Practical Implications: Ministry Extension should revisit and revise their policies of communicating with farmers. Administrators should encourage extension officers to use SMS to respond to farmers’ requests and information needs.
Theoretical Implications: While the UTAUT provided an appropriate framework for understanding farmers’ use of text messaging, researchers should tailor the moderator variables to the country’s context.
Originality/Value: This study is the first to look at farmers’ willingness to use two-way information communication technologies in Trinidad. Results showed there is potential for Ministry Extension to use text messaging to communicate with farmers.
13 pages., via online journal., The agriculture sector in Pakistan faces enormous challenges of lack of farm knowledge adoption due to the farmers’ lack of access to the latest information. Recently various mobile phone-based farm advisory services (FAS) have been introduced as an alternative to the conventional extension methods. Despite many ICT initiatives, the performance of these projects remains unsatisfactory. The current study was designed to identify these FAS, farmers’ extent of use, and factors associated with their adoption. Two hundred and forty farmers were surveyed in the rural areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed with SPSS software. Findings revealed that 77.08% of the sampled farmers were using mobile-based FAS. Telecom and private sector FAS were reported to have the highest share of users (37.08% and 25.83% respectively). Results of the logistic regression showed that farmers’ educational level, mobile use skills, mobile possession duration and the number of mobile phones in a family were found positively significant, while farmers’ age and contact with extension agents were negatively significant. The findings conclude that education and digital literacy are essential for the use of mobile-based alternatives and emphasize the need for training and educating the farmers.
8 pages., via online journal., ow internet usage by extension agent, impact on the inhibition of the flow of information to the farmers and lead to the income received by farmers. In the digital era today, if the extension agent is not encouraged to use the internet then they will be left behind and will be left out by the farmers. This study aimed to (1) analyze the internet availability in Lampung Province (2) to analyze the level of internet usage for extension agent in Lampung and (3) to analyze factors influencing internet usage of extension agent. This research was conducted in Lampung Province with analysis unit of extension agent in the office of BP3K (Extension Agency of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry) which has been facilitated by computer and internet network. Respondents consisted of 355 extension agent served in BP3K. Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was used to determine the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable. The availability of facilities and internet network in Extension Offices is not sufficient even extension agent used their private facilities. The Internet network had reached the remote areas very well in spreading and transmitting information. Almost all extension agent have internet-connected devices and internet-based applications. Extension agents facilitated by computer and internet network communicating using social media, however capabilities in using the internet to search information related agricultural technology remained low. The use of the internet by extension agent was influenced by the nature of internet innovation, the number of Internet-based applications and the amount of existed hardware.
16 pages., via online journal., This study was conducted in Ethiopia to determine the use of mobile phones in agriculture. The study included 320 household heads who owned mobile phones. Data were collected using an interview schedule. The results revealed that the majority (90.6%) of household heads made phone calls for agricultural purposes. Over three quarters (85.9%) of the household heads received phone calls related to agriculture. Short message service (SMS) was poorly used. It is concluded that mobile phones are playing an important role as an informational medium. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia needs to develop a mobile-based agricultural information dissemination system to enhance information delivery to rural farming households.
16 pages., via online journal., The study assessed the use of ICTs among public and private extension officers in Lesotho. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 86 public and 19 private extension officers. Data collected were analysed, using percentages, mean, and standard deviation, multiple regressions and t-test. Extension officers use ICT tools to obtain information on new technology (79.1%), preservation of farm produce (79.1%); time of planting crops (75.6%), call attention of extension officers (75.6%) and cultural practices (75.6%). Serious constraints to the use of ICTs, as perceived by extension officers were: high cost of ICT (83.7%); poor basic infrastructure (79.1%); non-availability of technical personnel (72.1%), failure of service (73.7%) and non-availability of genuine parts. There is a strong relationship between access to information, residing within place of work, constraints, age awareness, type of extension and use of ICTs. There is also a significance differences in the use of ICTs between public and private extension officers. Policy makers should improve national e-readiness and make more ICT tools available and accessible to extension officers. Constraints of high cost, lack of ICT infrastructure and training of technical personnel should be dealt with.
