United States: Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12519
Notes:
4 pages., Sasakawa Africa Association shares their approach to strengthening the resilience of food systems in Africa through innovative approaches using information and communication technologies.
he Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) was established in 1986 by Ryoichi Sasakawa, the first chairman of the Nippon Foundation; Dr. Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and father of the Green Revolution; and former US President, Jimmy Carter; in response to the famine in the Horn of Africa in the 1980s.
Since then, SAA has strengthened agricultural extension services in 16 countries in Africa. Currently, we have offices in Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria and Uganda, where we focus on field activities and human resource development at universities and other educational institutions. We also implement human resource development projects in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.
17 pages, The creation of commercialization opportunities for smallholder farmers has taken primacy on the development agenda of many developing countries. Invariably, most of the smallholders are less productive than commercial farmers and continue to lag in commercialization. Apart from the various multifaceted challenges which smallholder farmers face, limited access to extension services stands as the underlying constraint to their sustainability. Across Africa and Asia, public extension is envisioned as a fundamental part of the process of transforming smallholder farmers because it is their major source of agricultural information. Extension continues to be deployed using different approaches which are evolving. For many decades, various authors have reported the importance of the approaches that effectively revitalize extension systems and have attempted to fit them into various typologies. However, there is a widespread concern over the inefficiency of these extension approaches in driving the sustainability of smallholder farming agenda. Further, most of the approaches that attempted to revolutionize extension have been developed and brought into the field in rapid succession, but with little or no impact at the farmer level. This paper explores the theory and application of agricultural extension approaches and argues the potential of transforming them using digital technologies. The adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as mobile phones and the internet which are envisaged to revolutionize existing extension systems and contribute towards the sustainability of smallholder farming systems is recommended
20 pages., Given the multi-benefits, enset cultivation has been continuously underutilized in Ethiopia. We assess best practices, processing technologies, environmental maintenance, multi-benefits of enset and its potency in hunger reduction in Ethiopia by reviewing evidence on good farm practices, improved technologies, sustainability, hunger reduction, inputs cost, and yields advantage of enset. The review results identify those best practices that optimize enset yield, technologies that facilitate extension services, processing and food qualities of enset. Moreover, we find that enset is a first-rated climate-smart crop, superior hunger solution because of its apparent capability to endure long periods (more than 5 years) of drought, highest yield, energy food supply, and costs advantages. In contrast, its long-period maturity, cultural perceptions, and little development policy attention given to enset limit its expansion. Therefore, exploring and creating universal access mechanism of early maturing and high-yielding varieties, processing technologies and mobile-based advices, involving best practices of enset in regular agricultural extension services, changing social perceptions optimize enset yield and production thereby it contributes environmental sustainability and cuts hunger challenges.
10 pages, Extension faculty are tasked with developing and communicating educational programs to local clientele, and communication skills are a considerable piece of the Extension faculty job. Thus, UF/IFAS Extension included a communication portion to the on-board training for newly hired Extension faculty to develop their design skills so they can more effectively communicate through their educational and marketing materials. We used Rogers’ (2003) innovation-decision process to assess Florida early career Extension faculty’s adoption of design principles after completion of the 2019 UF/IFAS Extension Faculty Development Academy. Thirty-two Extension faculty completed the spring and fall sessions of the Academy. A mixed methods approach was utilized to gather survey data at the immediate completion of the Academy and qualitative, telephone interview data four to five months after completing the Academy. The faculty retrospectively perceived they increased their knowledge about design principles. They had an overwhelmingly positive attitude about learning design principles to better their communication efforts, but they decided not to fully adopt design principles in their work as other information and elements of learning their job took precedent.
24 pages, Soybean (Glycine max (L. Merr.) has been a crop of interest to address both poverty
and malnutrition in the developing world because of its high levels of both protein and
oil, and its adaptability to grow in tropical environments. Development practitioners
and policymakers have long sought value added opportunities for local crops to move
communities out of poverty by introducing processing or manufacturing technologies.
Soy dairy production technologies sit within this development conceptual model. To
the researchers’ knowledge, no research to date measures soy dairy performance,
though donors and NGOs have launched hundreds of enterprises over the last 18 years.
The lack of firm-level data on operations limits the ability of donors and practitioners
to fund and site sustainable dairy businesses. Therefore, the research team developed
and implemented a recordkeeping system and training program first, as a 14-month
beta test with a network of five dairies in Ghana and Mozambique in 2016-2017.
Learning from the initial research then supported a formal research rollout over 18
months with a network of six different dairies in Malawi and key collaboration from
USAID’s Agricultural Diversification activity. None of the beta or rollout dairies kept
records prior to the intervention. The formal rollout resulted in a unique primary dataset
to address the soy dairy performance knowledge gap. The results of analysis show that
the dairies, on average, achieve positive operating margins of 61%, yet cannot cover
the fixed costs associated with depreciation, amortization of equipment and
infrastructure, working capital, marketing and promotion, and regulatory compliance.
The enterprises in our sample operate only at 9% of capacity, which limits their ability
to cover the normal fixed costs associated with the business. The challenge is not the
technology itself, as when operated, it produces a high-quality dairy product. The
challenges involve a business that requires too much capital for normal operations
relative to a nascent and small addressable market.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C25447
Notes:
Pages 312-336 in Maximo Torero and Joachim von Braun (eds.), Information and communication technologies for development and poverty reduction: the potential of telecommunications. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 362 pages.
Braden, Sue (author) and Chronic Poverty Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
unknown
Published:
United Kingdom
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C28218
Notes:
Posted online at http://www.chronicpoverty.org/pdfs/2003conferencepapers/Braden.pdf, Presented at "Staying poor: chronic poverty and development policy," a conference at Manchester, UK from April 7-9, 2003.
Cooperative Communicators Association, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania., Emphasizes social and economic benefits for communities through support for cooperative grocers.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C14546
Notes:
Pages 150-162 in Neville Jayaweera and Sarath Amunagama (eds.), Rethinking development communication. Asia Mass Communication Research and Information Centre, Singapore.
Agricultural Education and Extension Service, Human Resources, Institutions and Agrarian Refrom Division, Food and Agricuture Organization of the United Nations
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 134 Document Number: C20562
Notes:
Burton Swanson Collection, 5 sections, World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
Posted at: http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/preview/3065880, 211 pages 1.02 MB, There is an urgent need for a better understanding of the interplay of information and communication technology (ICT) and the role of women in facilitating social, political and economic development. This research examines engagement of women with ICT in traditional poor, rural, communities of Mali, a least developed country (LDC). Mali was selected as the focus based on its broadly representative LDC challenges and the availability of locally and internationally collected data. This research applies the theoretical framework of international regime theory and development as freedom theory to help explain how ICT diffusion can be an empowerment tool for women in development. Women of Mali face low literacy rates, high birth rates, high infant and maternal mortality rates, and low incomes. This research found ICT applications facilitated positive change in health, education, politics and the economy in Mali. The relationship between international and national regimes in the process of negotiating problem solutions is particularly important to policy analysis of telecommunications and of gender equity. Policy in each of these areas permeates every sector of society. Challenges, obstacles, solutions and benefits of ICT development with gender equity in Mali can inform policymakers' understanding of ICT diffusion and its benefits to people in LDCs. This analysis was based on a literature review, a survey of existing relevant research studies, a country study and a case study of the Multipurpose Community Telecentre (MCT) model for rural ICT development. The country study includes data and reports from the UNDP, ITU, IDRC, USAID and the World Bank. It incorporates history, policy, existing research, statistical human development data over time, ethnographic data, and reports of other ICT projects in Mali. Analyzed together, these data strongly suggest positive and directional change in Mali during 1990 to 2000, a period of dynamic telecommunications and gender equity policy liberalization. The case study of the MCT in Timbuktu includes baseline communications research, on-site ethnographic research, interviews and the MCT Director's report. The Mali MCT was one of five African pilot projects initially supported by ITU, UNESCO and IDRC funds and developed with national and local community support. The MCT is a social communication center that provides ICT education and services. This research focuses on the MCT as an ICT knowledge gathering and distribution center. Influenced by international regime policies for gender equity, Mali's national machineries have implemented gender equity policy in communication access. Women participated in the design, implementation and operation of this MCT. The community open access design was found to be particularly conducive to ICT development through women's social networking. Research indicates women are keepers of indigenous knowledge systems in cultural communities. Content developed from this local knowledge base can contribute to global knowledge systems, cultural integrity and sustainability as well as to economic development. Conclusions of this study are based on findings that Malian ICT development with gender equity in the context of national and international policy engagement contributed to the positive growth in the political, educational and social sectors.
Gavitt, A.R., Jr. (author / University of Connecticut, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Agricultural Publications) and University of Connecticut, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Agricultural Publications
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
unknown
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 27 Document Number: B02745
Notes:
AgComm Teaching, Mimeographed, [19- ]. 14 p. Paper presented at the 54th Annual Conference of the American Association of Agricultural College Editors; July 15; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
