12 pages., Via online journal., Rural Resources Centers (RRCs) managed by community-based organisations, where farmers come together for training and demonstration, have been an innovative extension approach in Cameroon since 2006. This paper describes information flow in RRCs and farmers’ assessment of RRCs as information sources. All the RRCs in Cameroon were studied and 29 group interviews, involving 118 producers and 7 individual interviews with RRC managers, were performed. RRCs share information with several stakeholders including farmers, research institutions, and educational and religious institutions; and interpersonal channels are commonly used. Farmers and agricultural extension workers are the most important sources of information for RRCs. Farmers rank RRCs as their second best sources of information after fellow farmers. On average, each year, RRCs organise at least 40 training sessions for about 1777 participants. The themes are mainly agroforestry (29%), marketing (20%), group dynamics (20%) and post-harvest techniques (11%). The issue of funding the activities of the RRCs needs to be addressed, they need to be better structured, and their human resources increased and strengthened.
12 pages., via online journal., Effective communication of risks involved in the climate change discussion is crucial and despite ambitious protection policies, the possibility of irreversible consequences actually occurring can only be diminished but never ruled out completely. We present a laboratory experiment that studies how residual risk of failure of climate change policies affects willingness to contribute to such policies. Despite prevailing views on people’s risk aversion, we found that contributions were higher at least in the final part of treatments including a residual risk. We interpret this as the product of a psychological process where residual risk puts participants into an ”alarm mode,” keeping their contributions high. We discuss the broad practical implications this might have on the real-world communication of climate change.
14 pages, A study on effects of climate change on rice (Oryza sativa) production in Tharu communities of Dang district of Nepal was conducted in 2018A.D to investigate the perception and major adaptation strategies followed by Tharu farmers. The study areas were selected purposively. Cross-sectional data was collected using a household survey of 120 households by applying simple random sampling technique with lottery method for sample selection. Primary data were collected using semi-structured and pretested interview schedule, focus group discussion and key informants interview whereas monthly and annual time series data on temperature and precipitation over 21years (1996-2016) were collected from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu as secondary data. Descriptive statistics and trend analysis were used to analyze the data. The ratio of male and female was found to be equal with higher literacy rate at study area than district. Most of the farmers depended on agriculture only for their livelihood where there was large variation in land distribution. Farmers had better access to FM/radio for agricultural extension information sources. The study resulted that Tharu farmers of Dang perceived all parameters of climate. Temperature and rainfall were the most changing component of climate perceived by farmers. The trend analysis of temperature data of Dang over 21 years showed that maximum, minimum and average temperature were increasing at the rate of 0.031°C, 0.021°C and 0.072°C per year respectively which supports the farmers perception whereas trend of rainfall was decreased with 7.56mm per year. The yearly maximum rainfall amount was increased by 1.15mm. The production of local indigenous rice varieties were decreasing while hybrid and improved rice varieties were increasing. The district rice production trend was increasing which support the farmer’s perception. The study revealed that there were climate change effects on paddy production and using various adaptation strategies to cope in Dang district.
16 pages., via online journal., The goal of this study was to evaluate a radio program as a source of agricultural information and examine the relationship between specific socioeconomic characteristics and listenership. The findings revealed that half of the farmers listen to the radio program, while older farmers are more likely to be listeners. Moreover, there are no significant differences between listeners and nonlisteners with respect to education level. More focus should be given to mountainous and less favored areas where more traditional information sources prevail. It is strongly recommended that the broadcast be sustained and improved based on farmers' suggestions and be regularly assessed.
