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2. Can CBOs and NGOs bridge agri-business information gap?
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Olatidoye, Akin (author)
- Format:
- Article
- Publication Date:
- 2014-07-30
- Published:
- International
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 138 Document Number: D05754
- Notes:
- Online from Rural Reporters. 3 pages., Addresses the role of community-based organizations (CBOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in strengthening the rural sector of developing countries, with emphasis on Africa.
3. Communication interventions for gender equality and social equity in aquatic agricultural systems: a review of the literature
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Underwood, C.R. (author) and Hendrickson, Z. (author)
- Format:
- Abstract
- Publication Date:
- 2014-11-14
- Published:
- International
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 138 Document Number: D05770
- Notes:
- Executive summary of a 48-page report from the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). 3 pages.
4. Diversity in success: Interaction between external interventions and local actions in three rice farming areas in Benin
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Totin, Edmond (author), Mierlo, Barbara van (author), Mongbo, Roch (author), Leeuwis, Cees (author), and Wageningen University, The Netherlands Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Benin
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2014-11-21
- Published:
- Benin: Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 109 Document Number: D10957
- Journal Title:
- Agricultural Systems
- Journal Title Details:
- 133(2015) : 119-130
- Notes:
- 12 pages, via online journal, Since the rice crisis of 2007, the government of Benin has initiated many programmes for rice intensification. Comparison of three rice production areas shows that local rice production has indeed been increased by the facilities provided by the government programmes. Although broadly the same facilities (market outlet, credit, input, etc.) were provided to rice farmers in the three study areas, which are located close to one another, there are not only similar, but also some different outcomes with regard to farmers' practices. There were also some unexpected changes, like the shift from limited collective canal cleaning to individual canal cleaning in Koussin-Lélé and the use of pumps in upland areas in Bamè. The study explores the interplay between these external interventions of government programmes and local actions of farmers to explain the outcomes. Using an actor-oriented perspective, the study concludes that farmers' agency played a critical role in the success of interventions; the changes occurred because of local actions of the farmers and intermediaries interacting with the external interventions at diverse junctures. Differences in strategies for resolving livelihood problems, in production options and biophysical conditions influence farmers' local actions and contribute to the explanation of the diversity of outcomes. The main lesson drawn from this research is that evaluation studies should not consider external interventions as the only or primary source of change. The dynamic interplay between local agency, intermediation and external interventions makes room for change.
5. Exploring the role of agricultural extension in promoting biodiversity conservation in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Abdu-Raheem, Kamal Adekunle (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2014
- Published:
- Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10465
- Journal Title:
- Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems
- Journal Title Details:
- 38(9): 1015-1032
- Notes:
- 19 pages., ISSN: 2168-3565 (Print) 2168-3573 (Online), Via online journal, Biodiversity conservation outside designated protected areas remains challenging in South Africa, where 80% of the biodiversity resources occur on private and communal lands. This applies to the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, which is the focus of this study. Landholders logically choose agricultural production ahead of conservation, which they often perform using non-ecological methods. Extension is well positioned to promote ecological agriculture, but its current contribution is unknown. This study examined the role of extension in ecological agriculture in KZN by investigating extension’s promotion of ecological agriculture among smallholder farmers and the factors impacting their employment of ecologically compatible practices. Data was collected through semistructured interviews with 44 respondents, comprising 5 provincial biodiversity conservation practitioners, 1 national biodiversity conservation manager, and 1 national and 4 provincial agricultural extension managers, selected by purposive sampling; as well as 25 extension officers and 8 farmers, selected by convenience sampling. The study found that extension mainly engages in technology transfer and distribution of production inputs, which poses challenges to biodiversity conservation. Extension shows little concern for biodiversity, and effectively promotes its degradation. Four sets of factors impacting extension’s capacity to promote ecological agriculture emerged: household/community-level, governmental, extension management, and ecological factors. Key among these were inadequate involvement of youth and men in agriculture; inadequate household production resources; poor collaboration and coordination between extension and biodiversity conservation institutions; top-down extension intervention; poor extension management and delivery capacities; and irregular and inadequate rainfall, as well as droughts and flooding. The study concluded that there is a need for a clearly articulated extension and biodiversity conservation policy supporting appropriate linkages and better coordination and integration of services among extension and biodiversity agencies within the National and Provincial Departments of Agriculture and with farmers; more effective agricultural education in schools; strengthening extension support systems; and creating conducive atmospheres for effective extension.
6. Globalization and food sovereignty: global and local change in the new politics of food
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Andree, Peter (author), Ayres, Jeffrey (author), Bosia, Michael J. (author), and Massicotte, Marie-Josee (author)
- Format:
- Book
- Publication Date:
- 2014
- Published:
- International: University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 155 Document Number: D07183
- Notes:
- 376 pages.
7. Transforming African agriculture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- McIntire, John Murray (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2014-01
- Published:
- SAGE Journals
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10518
- Journal Title:
- Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies
- Journal Title Details:
- 6(2) 145–179
- Notes:
- 36 pages., via online journal., This article examines the challenges facing agriculture in Africa. First the article outlines agriculture’s connection with overall economic growth; then, the author evaluates agricultural productivity and food security in Africa in 2010. From this point, the author evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of seven paths that African agriculture is likely to evolve along between now and 2050: five for Sub-Saharan African and two for North Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the types of farming proposed are: extensive, mechanized; intensive export; intensive peri-urban; subsistence; and reserves, game ranching, and tourism. In North Africa, the author proposes: irrigated and rainfed. In order to realize the most positive benefits of these paths in 2050, Africa has to tackle six challenges, outlined by the author: reducing population growth, promoting irrigation, adapting the role of the state, promoting the acceleration of technical change (including fertilizer and biotechnology), and preparing for climate change. Increasing the competitiveness of Africa’s commercial farming will improve income, inequality, and nutrition across the continent.