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92. The status of perception, information exposure and knowledge of soil fertility among small-scale farmers in Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Zambia
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Spurk, Christoph (author), Asule, Pamellah (author), Ofori-Baah, Rebecca (author), Chikopela, Louis (author), Diarra, Boubacar (author), Koch, Carmen (author), and Wageningen University
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-08-21
- Published:
- Netherlands: Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 108 Document Number: D10944
- Journal Title:
- The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
- Notes:
- 22 pages, via online journal article, Purpose: Soil fertility is decreasing in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. To mitigate this trend, various agricultural technologies are available, but their uptake by farmers has been low. Perception of the problem, information exposure, and knowledge play a major role in adoption of technologies. This study assessed empirically the levels of perception, knowledge and information exposure among African farmers as an indicator for potential adoption of soil fertility technologies. Design/Methodology/approach: The study used survey data of more than 2,400 small-scale farmers selected through random sampling from Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Zambia. The survey investigated socio-economic factors, exposure to media, perception and knowledge of soil fertility and other information. Findings: Many farmers did not perceive soil fertility as a major challenge, except in Mali; farmers were hardly receiving information on soil fertility from professional agricultural sources, and they often lacked accurate knowledge about soil fertility technologies. Radio was by far the most used information source for farmers. Practical implications: The study has exposed the need for interventions to increase awareness, information exposure, and knowledge about soil fertility among farmers to strengthen the adoption of soil fertility technologies. It also calls for innovative ways of strengthening extension services through links with radio. Theoretical implications: The role of communication in the uptake of agricultural innovations is still under-researched, and hence this study exposes the need to investigate in-depth knowledge, perception levels, and quality and frequency of information exposure on various channels of soil fertility management. Originality: This is one of the few studies empirically measuring perception, information frequency on various channels, and knowledge of soil fertility among small-scale farmers in African countries.
93. The use of Twitter for knowledge exchange on sustainable soil management
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Mills, Jane (author), Reed, Matthew (author), Skaalsveen, Kamilla (author), and Ingram, Julie (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-12
- Published:
- Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 121 Document Number: D11121
- Journal Title:
- Soil Use & Management
- Journal Title Details:
- 35:195–203
- Notes:
- 9 pages., via online journal., Encouraging the uptake of sustainable soil management practices often requires on‐farm experiential learning and adaptation over a sustained period, rather than the traditional knowledge transfer processes of identifying a problem and implementing a solution. Farmer‐to‐farmer learning networks are emerging with farmers experimenting and sharing knowledge about these practices amongst themselves. One potential communication channel for such interaction and knowledge sharing is social media and Twitter in particular. A content analysis of a Twitter account for an EU research project, SoilCare, and in‐depth qualitative interviews with five farmers using Twitter, was used to illustrate the extent and type of farmer‐to‐farmer knowledge sharing in relation to sustainable soil management practices. Evidence of farmer learning and knowledge sharing on Twitter with respect to these practices was identified. Twitter can capture the immediacy of the field operations and visual impacts in the field. Furthermore, the brief messages channelled through Twitter appeal to time‐constrained farmers. The ability for interaction around particular hashtags in Twitter is developing virtual networks of practice in relation to sustainable soil management. Within these networks, farmer champions are emerging that are respected by other farmers. Twitter works best for those actively seeking information, rather than passive recipients of new knowledge. Therefore, its use with other forms of face‐to‐face interaction as part of a blended learning approach is recommended. Twitter also offers a potential space for other actors, such as researchers and advisers, to interact and share knowledge with farmers.
94. The use of mobile phones as a panacea to facilitate quick food trade rollout between markets and countrysides: a study of Ayaou-Sran
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Oura, Raphaël Kouadio (author) and Kouassi, François N’goran (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015
- Published:
- Ivory Coast
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 158 Document Number: D07590
- Journal Title:
- Net Journal of Agricultural Science
- Journal Title Details:
- 3 (4): 104-111
95. The utilisation of groups for innovation and knowledge transfer
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Owen, Wyn (author) and Williams, Eirwen (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2012
- Published:
- Wales
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 187 Document Number: D01003
- Journal Title:
- Studies in Agricultural Economics
- Journal Title Details:
- 114 : 99-105
96. Tools to keep communities of practice ticking
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Bheenick, Krishan (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2016-02
- Published:
- International: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, ACP-EU, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 166 Document Number: D08522
- Journal Title:
- ICT Update
- Journal Title Details:
- 81 : 10-11
97. Transforming communication and knowledge production processes to address high-end climate change
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Tàbara, J. David (author), St. Clair, Asun Lera (author), and Hermansen, Erlend A.T. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2017-04-01
- Published:
- Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 7 Document Number: D10272
- Journal Title:
- Environmental Science and Policy
- Journal Title Details:
- 70 : 31-37
- Notes:
- 7 pages., Via online journal., Recent GHG emissions trends are in stark contrast with the Paris Agreement’s target to hold the increase in average global warming to “well below 2 °C and pursue efforts to stay below 1,5 °C” by the end of the century compared with preindustrial times. This disconnect has further unveiled the limitations of current knowledge production and communication processes in Southern European countries, where fast institutional changes are needed to address the potential impacts as well as the opportunities for transformation derived from High-End Climate Change (HECC). The prevailing knowledge deficit-model – aimed at producing ‘more knowledge’ about climate impacts, vulnerabilities and long-term scenarios to decision makers – has long proven inadequate in tackling the many complexities of the present socio-climate quandary. The growing emphasis on assessing and implementing concrete solutions, demand new and more complex forms of agent interactions in the production, framing, communication and use of climate knowledge; and in particular, explicit procedures able to tackle difficult normative questions regarding assessment of solutions and the allocation of individual and collective responsibilities. To explore these challenges, we analyse the views of 30 Spanish knowledge contributors and users of the latest UN IPCC AR5 report and share the insights gained from the implementation of a participatory Integrated Assessment procedure aimed at developing innovative solutions to high-end climate scenarios in Iberia. Our analysis supports the view of the need to institutionalise transformation, and in particular underlines the potential role that transformative climate boundary organisations could play to address such difficult ethical choices in different contexts of action.
98. U.S. bread basket shifts thanks to climate change
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Heikkinen, Niina (author)
- Format:
- Online article
- Publication Date:
- 2015-12-23
- Published:
- United States: Springer Nature
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 34 Document Number: D10672
- Notes:
- 7 pages., via Scientific American website., Farming across the Midwest will be challenged by a shifting climate and may struggle to keep up crop production.
99. Understanding risk in forest ecosystem services: implications for effective risk management, communication and planning
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Blennow, Kristina (author), Persson, Johannes (author), Wallin, Annika (author), Vareman, Niklas (author), and Persson, Erik (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2013-09
- Published:
- Oxford Academic
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 138 Document Number: D11501
- Journal Title:
- Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research
- Journal Title Details:
- 87(2): 219–228
- Notes:
- 10 pages., via online journal., Uncertainty, insufficient information or information of poor quality, limited cognitive capacity and time, along with value conflicts and ethical considerations, are all aspects that make risk management and risk communication difficult. This paper provides a review of different risk concepts and describes how these influence risk management, communication and planning in relation to forest ecosystem services. Based on the review and results of empirical studies, we suggest that personal assessment of risk is decisive in the management of forest ecosystem services. The results are used together with a review of different principles of the distribution of risk to propose an approach to risk communication that is effective as well as ethically sound. Knowledge of heuristics and mutual information on both beliefs and desires are important in the proposed risk communication approach. Such knowledge provides an opportunity for relevant information exchange, so that gaps in personal knowledge maps can be filled in and effective risk communication can be promoted.
100. Urban agriculture in shared spaces: the difficulties with collaboration in an age of austerity
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- St Clair, Rebecca (author), Hardman, Michael (author), Armitage, Richard P. (author), and Sherriff, Graeme (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- SAGE Journals
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10527
- Journal Title:
- Urban Studies
- Notes:
- 16 pages., via online journal., The expanding critical literature on Urban Agriculture (UA) makes links between the withdrawal of state services and the institutionalisation of volunteering, while observing that challenging funding landscapes can foster competitive environments between third-sector organisations. Where these organisations are forced to compete for survival at the expense of collaboration, their ability to collectively upscale and expand beneficial activities can be compromised. This paper focuses on a lottery-funded UA project and draws predominantly on observations and interviews held with project staff and growing group volunteers. Research conducted in Wythenshawe, Manchester (UK), highlights difficulties experienced by organisations attempting to function in an environment disfigured by depletion, illustrating conflicts that can arise between community groups and charitable organisations competing for space and resources. Inter-organisational dynamics are considered at two scales: at the grassroots level between growing groups, and at a structural level between project partners. In a landscape scarred by local authority cutbacks and restructures, a dearth of funding opportunities and increasingly precarious employment, external initiatives can be met with suspicion or hostility, particularly when viewed as superfluous interventions. The resulting ‘siege mentality’ reflects the need for organisational self-preservation but perhaps paradoxically results in groups with similar goals and complementary ideologies working against each other rather than in cooperation.