12 pages., via online journal., In recent years, there has been extensive investment in e-governance throughout the developing world. Still, little is known about the impact of those investments, partly due to a lack of assessment guidance. In this study modified sustainable livelihood framework approach was used for studying impact of the project on farmers. Before and after data was collected from the registered farmers using recall method to assess the impact of the project on all five types of capital (Natural capital, financial capital, human capital, physical capital and social capital). It was found that after implementation of the project, in the category of natural capital, average production and average sold quantity of rice, wheat, pigeon pea, mustard, and green gram has been significantly increased and in the category of financial capital, respondents’ average family income, earning from agriculture and allied sector and benefit from government schemes has been significantly increased and in the category of human capital, average number of training received by respondents and average number of extension contacts made by respondents has been significantly increased and in the category of physical capital, average storage facility has been increased by respondents and in the category of social capital, average number of meetings attended by respondents in Krishi Gyan Kendra has been significantly increased.
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.
8 pages, Agricultural extension can be defined as the entire set of organisations that support and facilitate people engaged in agricultural production to solve problems and to obtain information, skills and technologies to improve their livelihoods and well-being. Extension officials should ensure that farmers are engaged and capacitated so that they can make production decisions that are not in conflict with nature, yet such decisions ensure that their well-being is improved. With 75% of the world’s poor living in rural areas, the topic of improved agriculture through agricultural extension is viewed as central to poverty reduction. There have been questions posed by stakeholders (communities, policy-makers and politicians) about the non-visibility and accountability of agricultural extension in the communities that it is supposed to help. There are however a number of factors (perceived or real) that make agricultural extension less or not visible nor accountable. Therefore, this paper investigates and proposes a theoretical framework or model to ensure that agricultural extension is visible and accountable to all stakeholders. This will in turn ensure that there are noticeable increases or improvement of the lives of the resource poor farmers and communities.
10 pages., Researchers investigated empowerment in the context of two strategies, Integrated Weed Management and Integrated Pest Management. Findings suggested: "With the rise of chemical resistance, the agricultural industry has placed considerable emphasis on the need to accelerate and achieve farmer adoption if IWM and IPM, but our evidence suggests that greater emphasis should be given to understanding the socio-cultural factors that affect farmer decision making. Farmer empowerment emerged as a core concept from the data."
6 pages., via online journal., This research was conducted to find out the influence of agents on the results of empowerment of farmers, the effect of recipients on the results of the farmer empowerment, the effect of agricultural extension on the results of the farmer empowerment, and the influence of agents, recipients, and agricultural extension on the results of farmer empowerment. This research was carried out in May to July 2017. Quantitative descriptive method was applied by using primary and secondary data. Primary data obtained from interviews with 24 respondents who applied integrated crop management technology (PTT) on paddy fields. Technique of interview was guided with questionnaires while secondary data was taken from some literature work and relevant agencies. The results showed that: there is positive and significant influence between the agents and farmer empowerment, there is positive and significant influence between the recipients on the farmer empowerment, there is positive and significant influence between agricultural extension on the results of the farmer empowerment, and there is positive and significant influence between the agents, recipients, and agricultural extension on the results of farmer empowerment.
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
8 pages, Does it matter whether farmers receive advice on pest management strategies from public or from private (pesticide company affiliated) extension services? We use survey data from 733 Swiss fruit growers who are currently contending with an infestation by an invasive pest, the fruit fly Drosophila Suzukii. We find that farmers who are advised by public extension services are more likely (+9–10%) to use preventive measures (e.g. nets) while farmers who are advised by private extension services are more likely (+8–9%) to use synthetic insecticides. These results are robust to the inclusion of various covariates, ways to cluster standard errors, and inverse probability weighting. We also show that our results are unlikely to be driven by omitted variable bias. Our findings have implications for the current debates on both the ongoing privatization of agricultural extension and concerns regarding negative environmental and health externalities of pesticide use.
