23 Pgs., Information and Communication Technology is a potent force in the developing world for social, economic and educational transformation of individuals, agencies and institutions. This study examined the veritable roles of ICT in empowering rural women farmers in Rivers State. The specific objectives were to examine the demographic characteristics of the respondents, identify ICT devices in use by the respondents; information needs of the respondents, the roles of ICTs in rural women empowerment and constraints to the use of ICT devices by the respondents. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from respondents and oral interview where necessary. The respondents were 120 rural women farmers purposively selected from the farmers list obtained from the ADP (Agricultural Development Project) Office in the Area. The results indicate that 54.2% of the respondents are married, 57.5% with secondary education, 52.5% hold a farm size of 0.25 – 1 hectare of land. ICT devices in use include mobile phones, television, radio and other devices. They need information on inputs, prices, markets, produce demand, new practices and technologies. ICT play various roles in empowering the women such as offering entrepreneurial opportunity, breaking isolation, providing linkages to inputs and markets, assisting small and medium size business, reducing poverty, and illiteracy and improving income and savings of rural women. The problems affecting use of ICT devices include absence and erratic supply of electricity, lack of ICT skills, low level of awareness etc. Government should provide basic amenities to the rural dwellers to improve their socio-economic well-being.
14 Pages, Science Direct, Public and private agricultural information sources are fundamental components that could overcome the barriers to adopting sustainable reduced tillage practices. This study aims to identify the information sources frequently used by farmers and their role in changing from conventional intensive tillage to reduced tillage practices. The study is focused on the Altai Krai region in southwestern Siberia, which faces severe soil degradation problems, pointing to an urgent need for sustainable reduced tillage practices in the area. It relied upon both quantitative and qualitative data that included a quantitative survey with 110 farm managers and qualitative, in-depth interviews with five farm managers. Descriptive statistics were used to explore farm characteristics and farmers’ actual usage of information sources. A logit model was used to estimate the role of agricultural information sources in the adoption of reduced tillage practices. Results show that the participation frequency of farm managers in trainings and workshops influences the adoption of sustainable reduced tillage practices in a statistically significant and positive way. However, the estimation results give that the frequency of expert consultations (from both private and public sources) does not influence the probability of adopting sustainable reduced tillage practices. This may be explained by the fact that farm managers received limited information about sustainable reduced tillage practices from these sources.
