1. A hard write
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2. Closing the extension gap: Information and communication technology in sustainable agriculture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Lubell, Mark (author), McRoberts, Neil (author), and University of California, Davis
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-10
- Published:
- Richmond, CA: University of California, Oakland, Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10260
- Journal Title:
- California Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 74(4) : 236-242
- Notes:
- 7 pages., As the information revolution sweeps through the agricultural sector, extension professionals may be lagging behind their clients in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) such as social media, which could be a valuable tool for outreach and education. We surveyed sustainable agriculture stakeholders in California - extension professionals, county agricultural commissioners, and members of farm bureaus and producer groups - to measure their ICT behavior and attitudes. Drawing on diffusion of innovation theory, we characterized the innovation attributes of ICT that may influence the adoption and use of new technology among extension professionals. We also studied their demographic characteristics to establish whether there was a connection with ICT use. The main perceived benefit of ICT was that it can quickly reach larger, more diverse and more distant audiences. The perceived challenges included lack of professional support, the potential for misinformation on social media platforms, and the time requirements and technical complexity of technology use. Extension professionals experienced these challenges more than other sustainable agriculture stakeholders, creating a technology gap between extension professionals and their clientele. An ICT community of practice and clear organizational guidelines for measuring and reporting performance relating to ICT might help extension professionals dose the gap.
3. Farmers' participation in extension programs and techonology adoption in rural Nepal: a logistic regression analysis
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Suvedia, Murari (author), Ghimire, Raju (author), Kaplowitz, Michael (author), and Michigan State University
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2017-05-14
- Published:
- United States: Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 109 Document Number: D10980
- Journal Title:
- The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 23(4) : 351-371
- Notes:
- 20 pages, via online journal, Purpose: This paper examines the factors affecting farmers’ participation in extension programs and adoption of improved seed varieties in the hills of rural Nepal. Methodology/approach: Cross-sectional farm-level data were collected during July and August 2014. A sample of 198 farm households was selected for interviewing by using a multistage, random sampling technique. We employed a logistic regression model, frequency counts, and percentages to analyze the data. Findings: Adoption decisions were mainly affected by extension-related variables – training, membership in a farmers’ group, and off-farm employment. Extension participation was found to be influenced by socioeconomic variables – age, education, household size, and distance to the extension office. Our findings reveal that distance to the extension office and off-farm employment limited participation in extension activities and adoption, respectively, and education, household size, and group membership stimulated participation in extension programs. Practical implications: Recognition of the determinants of farmers’ participation in extension services and innovation adoption ensures that targeted extension approaches are used to address these factors in various stages of planning, delivering, and evaluating extension programs. Theoretical implications: Innovation adoption follows a systematic decision-making process. Although personal characteristics are important, widespread use of new technology requires a conducive social and institutional context. Because contexts vary by country or region, extension services providers should create institutions favorable for innovation adoption within a social system. Originality/value: This research is original and highly valuable to identify the factors associated with extension participation and innovation adoption in the rural hilly region of Nepal. This also provides a new direction to operationalize farmer-oriented policies of agricultural extension and so can be helpful for agricultural policy-makers in devising programs of extension services.
4. ICTs for conservation agriculture: influence of actor positioning in knowledge networks in Laikipia and Machakos counties, Kenya
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Achora, J. C. (author), Sseguya, H. (author), Kyazze, F. (author), Mkomwa, S. (author), and Okello, D. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- Kenya: Australasia-Pacific Extension Network (APEN)
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11206
- Journal Title:
- Rural Extension and Innovation Systems Journal
- Journal Title Details:
- 14(1) : 24-33
- Notes:
- Findings prompt researchers to recommend the use of information and communications technologies with conventional approaches in conservation agriculture knowledge networks.
5. Information needs and source informatin of agricultural extension workers in DIY
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Wuloandari, Retno (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015-07
- Published:
- Indonesia
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 169 Document Number: D08752
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agribusiness and Rural Development Research
- Journal Title Details:
- 1(2)
- Notes:
- 13 pages.
6. Innovation communication of submergence tolerant rice variety and effect of farmer's external factors on innovation diffusion
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Suhaeti, Rita Nur (author), Hubeis, Aida Vitalaya S. (author), Pranadji, Tri (author), Sarma, Ma'mun (author), and Saleh, Amiruddin (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015-11
- Published:
- Indonesia
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 144 Document Number: D06510
- Journal Title:
- International Journal of Research in Agriculture and Food Sciences
- Journal Title Details:
- 3(3) : 1-9
7. Innovation intermediation in a digital age: comparing public and private new-ICT platforms for agricultural extension in Ghana
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Munthali, Nyamwaya (author), Leeuwis, Cees (author), Van Paassen, Annemarie (author), Lie, Rico (author), Asare, Richard (author), Van Lammeren, Ron (author), and Schut, Marc (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-11
- Published:
- Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10421
- Journal Title:
- NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences
- Journal Title Details:
- (86-87) : 64-76
- Notes:
- 13 pages., Via online journal., Agricultural extension in sub-Saharan Africa has often been criticised for its focus on linear knowledge transfer, and limited attention to systemic approaches to service delivery. Currently, the region is experiencing a new-ICT revolution and there are high expectations of new-ICTs to enhance interaction and information exchange in extension service delivery. Using an innovation systems perspective, we distinguish the roles demand-articulation, matching demand and supply, and innovation process management for innovation-intermediaries. The study explores literature on how new-ICT may support these roles, with specific interest in the possibilities of environmental monitoring and new forms of organisation enabled by enhanced connectivity. In order to contribute to the understanding of this area, the paper reports on a comparative study of two new-ICT platforms embedded in Ghanaian public and private extension organisations respectively. We assess the roles that these platforms (aim to) support, and document achievements and constraints based on interviews with extension staff and farmers. The findings indicate that while both platforms aim to support innovation-intermediation roles the focus areas and level of detail differ due to diverging organisational rationales to service delivery. In addition, we see that new-ICTs' potential to support innovation-intermediation roles is far from realised. This is not due to (new) ICTs lacking the capacity to link people in new ways and make information accessible, but due to the wider social, organisational and institutional factors that define the realisation of their potential. Therefore, more conventional modes of interaction around production advice and also credit provision continue to be dominant and better adapted to the situation. However, beyond the two platforms that were developed specifically by and for the extension organisations, there were indications that more informal and self-organised new-ICT initiatives can transform and enhance interaction patterns in innovations systems to achieve collective goals through standard virtual platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
8. Learning from experts and peer farmers about rice production: experimental evidence from Cote d’Ivoire
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Takahashi, Kazushi (author), Mano, Yukichi (author), and Otsuka, Keijiro (author)
- Format:
- Journal article abstract
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10534
- Journal Title:
- World Development
- Journal Title Details:
- 122: 157-169
- Notes:
- Abstract via online journal. 2 pages., Technological innovation is vital to economic growth and food security in sub-Saharan Africa where agricultural productivity has been stagnant for a long time. Extension services and learning from peer farmers are two common approaches to facilitate the diffusion of new technologies, but little is known about their relative effectiveness. Selection bias, whereby well-motivated training participants would perform better even without extension services, as well as knowledge spillovers, where non-participants can indirectly benefit from extension services, are among the major threats to causal inference. Using a unique sequential randomized experiment on agricultural training, this study attempts to meet the dual objectives of executing rigorous impact evaluation of extension services and subsequent spillovers on rice production in Cote d’Ivoire. Specifically, to reduce selection bias, we randomly assigned eligibility for training participation; and to satisfy the stable unit treatment value assumption, control-group farmers were initially restricted from exchanging information with treated-group farmers who had received rice management training. Once some positive impacts were confirmed, information exchange between the treated and control farmers was encouraged. We found that the initial performance gaps created by the randomized assignment disappeared over time, due presumably to social learning from peer farmers. A detailed analysis concerning the information network and peer effects provided suggestive evidence that there were information and technology spillovers from treated to control farmers after removing the information exchange restriction. Overall, our study demonstrates that information dissemination by farmers can be as effective in improving practices as the initial training provided by extension services.
9. Reconfiguring the agricultural knowledge system in Switzerland
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Obrist, R. (author), Moschitz, JH. (author), and Home, R. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article abstract
- Language:
- German with English abstract
- Publication Date:
- 2015
- Published:
- Switzerland
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 132 Document Number: D11344
- Journal Title:
- Agrarforschung Schweiz
- Journal Title Details:
- 6(5) : 218-223
- Notes:
- Online from the University of Illinois Online Catalog, using article title search, via Scopus, Results of a workshop prompted a conclusion that "a change is under way in the understanding of the role of stakeholders in science, extension and education, with the latter progressing from mere conveyors of information to facilitators who generate new knowledge jointly with the various actors." ... "There is still a need to shape more clearly the choice of research topics, the efficient and effective performance of the practice-oriented research, the processing of research results, stakeholder discussions, and joint implementation."
10. Salt blocks and mental blocks
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Bentley, Jeff (author)
- Format:
- Article
- Publication Date:
- 2014-03-16
- Published:
- Malawi
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 138 Document Number: D05737
- Notes:
- "Blog Stories on Extension." Online via the website of AgroInsight, Ghent, Belgium. 2 pages., Example of negative results from a top-down approach to Extension teaching.