9pgs, This study was conducted to identify the agricultural extension needs of women farmers and to assess the impact of their participation in agricultural extension programs on vegetable production in the area. A sample of 145 women farmers from five Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions of the DS division was randomly selected for the study. Data were collected from a researcher administered survey and analyzed using descriptive statistics and a regression analysis. As per the results, a significant number of the women farmers have
participated in most of the extension and training programs. However, some of them haven’t registered in the farmer organization present in the area. Agricultural extension agents of the area have focused on dissemination of more information regarding modern farming technologies, organic farming, application of agrochemicals and fertilizers, and improving market systems. The majority of women farmers have
used the knowledge received from the extension programs in vegetable farming activities. Furthermore, there is a significant and positive relationship between participation in extension programs by women farmers and an increase in vegetable production. Therefore, encouragement of women farmers to register in the farmer organization, provision of timely important extension service to them, organizing training programs, and workshops to disseminate agricultural information are crucial to further enhancement of vegetable production in this area.
7 pages, Present study was carried out in 2018-19, in the three districts of Punjab i.e., Faisalabad, Sargodha and Muzaffargarh to analyse the factors affecting dissemination of agricultural information to farmers through ICT tools. One hundred and twenty respondents were selected randomly from each district, making a total sample of 360 respondents. Concerning the general use of ICT
tools in the dissemination of agricultural information, the findings indicated a change in trend
from the radio (11.1%) towards TV (85.6%) and mobile phone SMS (75.8%). The relevance of information and ICT tools’ cost appeared as common determinant factors for technology transfer effectiveness by ICT tools. Furthermore, farmers also indicated that the most effective
tool to disseminate agricultural information was television, followed by the mobile phone and social media. Moreover, most of the farmers (81.7 % and 73.1%, respectively) indicated that the
lack of innovative information and difficulties in using ICT tools were significant barriers while
communicating via these tools. The use of television and mobile phones in extension should be improved because they were relatively more popular among farmers. It was recommended that the Punjab government should also design a system of periodic monitoring and evaluation of the use of information and communication technologies in the extension with agricultural universities’ participation and relevant non-governmental organizations in Punjab. A dynamic feedback system should be designed, based on the local advisory committees’ recommendations, to determine the local farmers’ needs/problems, which should be sent immediately to the Directorate of Agricultural Information to suggest some suitable solution and disseminate through ICTs.
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
18 pages, Agricultural extension plays a crucial role in the Indonesian Agricultural Revitalization Program for the 2005-2025 periods, where sugarcane is one of the fourteen priority crops. The provision of an agricultural extension was aimed to increase the income and productivity of sugarcane farmers. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of agricultural extension access on smallholder sugarcane farmers' performance in Indonesia. This study used data from the 2014 Indonesian Sugarcane Farm Household Survey, consisting of 8,831 farmers. This study employed propensity score matching to estimate the effect of access to an agricultural extension on several outcome variables. These variables were gross value-added (GVA), net value added (NVA), labor productivity (LP), land productivity (LDP), net income (NI), and remuneration of family labor (ROFL). The result shows that having access to an agricultural extension increases GVA by 40.5%, NVA by 40.3%, labor productivity by 42.8%, and NI by 40.2%. However, access to agricultural extension insignificantly affects ROFL due to the differences in family working units. Also, farmers with Agricultural Extension access have 13.7% lower land productivity than non-Agricultural Extension farmers since the former has lower input use intensity than the latter. These results suggest that providing agricultural extension service is adequate to improve sugarcane farmers' economic performance.
21 pgs., CTs (Communications technologies) have revolutionized agricultural information services at every level in the agricultural sector, thus impacting rural development and catalysing poverty alleviation strategies. This has largely been the case with small-scale farmers in rural areas in developing countries where mobile technologies have penetrated more than most other ICT tools. However, in some of the farming environments, mobile phone use is largely driven by agricultural extension workers. This paper seeks to examine the way mobile phones are used for information access in situations where agricultural extension workers are a critical intermediary in the agricultural information services. Interviews were conducted with 10 randomly selected farmers who were part of the Dzindi irrigation scheme. The findings were that from the variety of information available to the farmers the most important source was the extension officer. The extension officer and the radio were indicated to be the most reliable independent sources of information. The other sources, such as the radio, family members, and friends, suppliers of chemicals, books and magazines, were only considered reliable if the information could be verified or vouched for by the extension officer. Increasing the information handling skills of extension officers, training of farmers to use smart features of their phones and promoting the usual face-to-face communication use of conventional methods, which is what usually gives rise to the mediation of mobile phones, were recommended.
