3 pages., Online from publisher website., Following a training course in technology stewardship, actors in the Caribbean's agri-food sector are implementing ICT approaches to provide agricultural advice and support to their local communities
Online from publisher website., By embracing modern technology and engaging enthusiastic young people, the work of an NGO in Malawi is extending the reach of agricultural extension across the country.
International: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, ACP-EU, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 153 Document Number: D11614
Notes:
3 pages., Online from publisher., Author addresses "large gap between African extension services ... and the number of farmers being reached." ... "Africa's existing mobile network (currently the second biggest mobile market in the world) could be better utilised to bridge this gap and provide mobile-based agricultural information, advice and support to smallholder farmers."
4 pages., Online from publisher., "For the first time, a landmark report on digitalisation for agriculture (D4Ag) in Africa compiles and highlights data on digital solutions that are enabling the transformation of African agriculture."
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 139 Document Number: D05918
Notes:
Via website of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva, Switzerland. UNCTAD Current Studies on Science, Technology and Innovation, No. 9. 84 pages.
1 page., Online from publisher., Editorial discusses the launching in early 2019 of a report about digitalisation of African agriculture and introduces related articles in this special issue of the Spore periodical.
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.
Paliwal, K.K. (author), Singh, Surjeet (author), and Bajaj, Suman (author)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
2017-01-12
Published:
India
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D09396
Notes:
Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on cloud computing, data science and engineering - confluence, Noida, India, January 12-13, 2017. 11 pages.
Ihm, Jennifer (author), Pena-y-Lillo, Macarena (author), Cooper, Katherine R. (author), Atouba, Yannick (author), Shumate, Michelle (author), Bello-Bravo, Julia (author), Ba, Niango Malick (author), Dabire-Binso, Clementine L. (author), and Pittendrigh, Barry Robert (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2015
Published:
Burkina Faso
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 141 Document Number: D06328
9 pages., In order to facilitate the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for accessing agricultural information by smallholders, it is critical to understand their perspectives on the use of ICT. However, few empirical studies have considered how smallholders utilise ICT in Central Vietnam. This research investigates the Central Vietnamese smallholders’ views on the extent of use of ICT for accessing agricultural information. A sample size of 250 smallholders was randomly selected from a total of 687 smallholders in Trieu Phong district, Central Vietnam. A two-section questionnaire was used to gather data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The smallholders used mobile phones, TV and radio networks/broadcasts as the common ICT tools, and these were also effective ICT tools for accessing agricultural information. Lack of knowledge and skills for using applications on mobile phones were the main challenge to the smallholders’ use of ICT. A statistically significant relationship, existing between the extent of mobile phone use and the smallholders’ age (χ = 10.04, p = 0.040), gender (χ = 5.99, p = 0.014) and the type of households (χ = 6.84, p = 0.033), was found. Similarly, there was a statistically significant relationship existing between the extent of radio network/broadcast use and the smallholders’ age (χ = 9.58, p = 0.048) and gender (χ = 4.83, p = 0.028).
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.
