11pgs, Nigeria’s current economic plan targets diversification through leveraging the power of the private sector in order to enable and fast‐track business investments and job creation. This paper reports a study of a model of a poultry outgrower scheme ‐ Akwa Prime, used in catalysing private investments in the poultry sector of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The scheme shares the potential of combined strength of the state and that of the private sector in stimulating increased production and integrating of small livestock farmers to the national economy. The study’s specific objectives were to examine the extent of smallholder farmer involvement in contract negotiations including price setting; the role of the key participants, particularly the regulatory function of the state in an out‐grower scheme construct; and the impact of the scheme on socioeconomic improvement of smallholder farmers. This research was conducted with 42 smallholder independent broiler poultry farmers who are registered members of the Akwa Prime outgrower scheme and receiving a range of input support and good production practices aimed at optimization. Findings show a positive impact of the scheme on small independent poultry farmers’ productivity, profitability and survival. Contract negotiations and key participants role were fully documented. Participating farmers were found to have high income and stocking density while the cost of day old chicks and other production inputs provided by the scheme accounted for 99.1% (R2=.991) of the variation in farmers income. This positive change on the bottom line of small independent poultry farmers indicate the prospects for greater deployment of out‐grower model to stimulate agriculture productivity and growth. However, despite some benefits there were major bottlenecks including compromised role of the state, imposed buyback price on farmers and late offtaking of the finished stock. The implication of this finding is that small poultry farmers left alone with their independent business choices may not stimulate much diversification driven by agriculture.
Okello, Julius Juma (author), Okello, Ruth M. (author), and Ofwona-Adera, Edith (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Kenya
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D02156
Notes:
Pages 1-18 in Blessing M. Maumbe (ed.), E-agriculture and e-government for global policy development: implications and future directions. Information Science Reference, Hershey, Pennsylvania. 321 pages.
International: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, ACP-EU, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 153 Document Number: D11614
Notes:
3 pages., Online from publisher., Author addresses "large gap between African extension services ... and the number of farmers being reached." ... "Africa's existing mobile network (currently the second biggest mobile market in the world) could be better utilised to bridge this gap and provide mobile-based agricultural information, advice and support to smallholder farmers."
International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), Washington, D.C.; Rome, Italy; Nairobi, Kenya; and Paris, France.
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
2008-04
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 166 Document Number: C27798
Notes:
1 page., Suggests the answer, "Yes." Executive summary of a set of reports agreed to at an Intergovernmental Plenary Session in Johannesburg, South Africa, in April, 2008. This was a small part of a study during the past three years by UN organizations, the World Bank and many governments involving 400 experts.
4 pages., Online from publisher., "For the first time, a landmark report on digitalisation for agriculture (D4Ag) in Africa compiles and highlights data on digital solutions that are enabling the transformation of African agriculture."
17 Pages., Given the marked heterogeneous conditions in smallholder agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a growing policy interest in site-specific extension advice and the use of digital extension tools to provide site-specific information. Empirical ex-ante studies on the design of digital extension tools and their use are rare. Using data from a choice experiment in Nigeria, we elicit and analyze the preferences of extension agents for major design features of ICT-enabled decision support tools (DSTs) aimed at site-specific nutrient management extension advice. We estimate different models, including mixed logit, latent class and attribute non-attendance models. We find that extension agents are generally willing to use such DSTs and prefer a DST with a more user-friendly interface that requires less time to generate results. We also find that preferences are heterogeneous: some extension agents care more about the effectiveness-related features of DSTs, such as information accuracy and level of detail, while others prioritise practical features, such as tool platform, language and interface ease-of-use. Recognising and accommodating such preference differences may facilitate the adoption of DSTs by extension agents and thus enhance the scope for such tools to impact the agricultural production decisions of farmers.
