14 pgs., The provision of farm management decision support and advisory services to insure climate resilient agricultural production systems, especially for subsistence farmers, depends on data on such producers. The main objective of the paper was to generate such data by comparing the status quo regarding dryland, subsistence grain farmers’ perceptions of climate variability, their adaptation strategies and crop productivity. Using a survey questionnaire, the comparison was made across time (2014 and 2017) in selected municipalities of Limpopo province. The findings across time and aggregated for all the different local municipalities investigated were similar regarding respondents’ perceptions of climate variability, adaptation strategies used and crop productivity. The perceptions revealed that respondents were aware of the reality of climate variability and its negative effects on their crop and livestock production, Agricultural productivity amongst extension and non-extension recipients was low, with minimal differences. These findings auger well for the development of common strategies to improve the effectiveness of the support for farm management including climate variability that is provided by the public agricultural extension service to the group of producers in this study to reduce the negative effects of climate variability on their crop productivity. This will eventually help to improve their food security.
19 pages, Agricultural extension service delivery remains pivotal in disseminating contemporary and innovative agricultural information, and the training and capacity building of farmers; all of which are critical to increased farmer productivity. There are several agricultural extension methods used by extension field officers to engage their target farmers; some of the contact methods used, like the individual and group methods amongst others, necessitates close interactions between both parties. As such, physical contact between persons cannot be avoided. In the current spate of COVID-19 threats to global health, there is a possible risk of human-to-human transmission of the disease. Some temporary measures like social distancing and the ban of gatherings are currently utilised by many countries to mitigate the rapid spread of the virus. The findings of several research reports showed that these restrictions negatively impacted agricultural extension service deliveries. This paper, therefore, reviewed alternative media delivery mechanisms as a probable palliative measure in sustaining the continuous delivery of agricultural information to farmers. The paper recommends intensifying the use of the electronic extension (E-extension) system. The mobile and computer/web-based platforms should be significantly harnessed (where applicable), while concurrently promoting the intense use of print media, radio, television, agricultural documentaries and instructional videos.
21 pages, Climate change and variability have adversely affected communities’ pastoral livelihoods in Kenya. The study aimed to investigate sustaining pastoral livelihoods in a changing climate in Loima Sub-County, Turkana County, Kenya. A total of 59 pastoralists were interviewed using a questionnaire. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software Version 22. SPSS employed descriptive statistical techniques like frequencies, percentages, cross-tabulations and proportions, means, and standard deviation. Pie charts, graphs, figures, and tables were used to present the data analysis output. Climate has been observed to vary continuously by pastoralists. Climate hazards mostly reported were livestock diseases and the frequency of droughts. The findings also indicated that livestock keepers preferred to graze their livestock on mountains/hills. Pasture and water availability and security determine the pattern of livestock movement. Pastoralists adopted various strategies to cope with climatic changes. Some of these strategies included diverse utilisation of livestock products, controlled grazing, herd diversification, and labour distribution among household members. In conclusion, climatic change and variability effects on the livelihoods of the pastoralists are evident. However, they have diversified ways of adapting and coping with these catastrophes to sustain themselves. To avert the effects of climate change, Turkana agriculture extension officers should focus on value addition to livestock products, provision of livestock insurance schemes, veterinary services, and livestock disease surveillance. Furthermore, agriculture extension needs to develop and enforce livestock policies and develop appropriate contingency plans. Among the policies recommended are- the management of grazing areas, regulations on migratory routes, and rules governing the use of water sources.
11 pages., This paper was initiated in order to find the usage and relevance of theInformation and Communication Technologies(ICT) by the smallholder farmers of the Umzimvubu Local Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. A survey questionnaire was then developed to collect the relevant data from randomly selected six villages of Umzimvubu Local Municipality targeting 138 respondents. The questionnaires structure employed both closed and open-ended questions that were administered using a face to face interview, conducted on the sample population in each village. There seems to be a correlation between ICT usage and the economies of scale in agricultural development, where smallholder farmers tend to use less of highly modernized ICT, while commercial large scale farmers use more of the modernized ICT. This disparity amongst farmers is exacerbated in many areas by the differing support systems employed by the public extension services.
