Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C19606
Notes:
Pages 197-210 in Karen Gwinn Wilkins, Redeveloping communication for social change: theory, practice, and power. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., Lanham, Maryland. 216 pages.
13 pages, via online journal, Purpose: This study examined knowledge sharing mechanisms in coffee IPs and their effect on actor linkages in four districts of Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach: Thirty one respondents from the public and private sector were interviewed using a qualitative approach. Data were analyzed using the Atlas ti qualitative software version 7.5.18 to generate themes for information sources, types and channels. Social network analysis was used to measure the actor centrality positions and influence in the IP network.
Findings: Results revealed seven main categories of actors in the Coffee IPs who shared information on coffee inputs, agronomic practices, processing and markets through three main channels. Level of cohesion was less than 10% which had negative implications on the knowledge flow, trust and collaboration among the actors. Influential positions were occupied by the processors and farmer leaders in IPs in the southern districts of Luwero and Rakai, while nursery operators were most influential in IPs of the western districts of Ntungamo and Bushenyi. Weak linkages within the social networks indicated that initiatives of the actors were fragmented, as each actor acted as an individual detached from the platform activities limiting inter-actor knowledge sharing.
Practical implications: Innovation intermediaries should focus on integrated systemic and innovative approaches to strengthen actor social linkages for knowledge sharing and better platform performance.
Theoretical implications: Actor positions and relationships in innovation networks are critical tenets for fostering knowledge exchange and performance. In an innovation platform, diverse actors are multiple sources for accessing information within a given social and institutional context.
Originality/value: The study contributes to existing debate and knowledge on institutional change in agricultural innovation systems.
Gelb, E. (author), Maru, A. (author), Brodgen, J. (author), Dodsworth, E. (author), Samii, R. (author), Pesce, V. (author), and Global Forum on Agricultural Research.
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
2008-08
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 174 Document Number: C29701
Notes:
Summary of a pre-conference ICT Adoption Workshop - AFITA, IAALD and WCCA Conference in Atsugi, Japan. 20 pages., Participant organizations: Asian Federation of Information Technology in Agriculture (AFITA) , International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD ) and the World Congress on Computers in Agriculture (WCCA).
13 pages, The study explored the contribution of information and communication technology (ICT)-based information sources to market participation among smallholder livestock farmers. Use of ICTs is considered paramount for providing smallholder farmers with required market information, and also to reduce market asymmetries. A double hurdle regression was utilized to analyze data collected from 150 smallholder livestock farmers in the study area. The results show that while use of ICT-based market information sources significantly influenced market participation, the effect of using ICT-based information sources on the intensity of market participation was not significant. Other variables shown to influence both market participation and the intensity of market participation were age, additional income and membership of farmer cooperatives. This suggests the need to consider other associated factors in the application and design of interventions that utilize ICT-based information sources to achieve market engagement among smallholders.
