Jäckering, Lisa (author), Gödecke, Theda (author), Wollni, Meike (author), and Department of Agricultural Economics and
Rural Development, University of Goettingen,
Goettingen, Germany
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019-07-10
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 114 Document Number: D10997
16 pages., Wiley Online Library, To date, little is known about how information flows within farmer groups and how extension interventions could be designed to deliver combined information on agriculture and nutrition. This study uses unique network data from 815 farm households in Kenya to investigate the structure and characteristics of agricultural and nutrition information networks within farmer groups. Dyadic regressions are used to analyze the factors influencing link formation for the exchange of agricultural and nutrition information. In addition, we apply fixed-effects models to identify the characteristics of central persons driving information exchange in the two networks, as well as potentially isolated persons, who are excluded from information networks within their farmer groups. Our results show that nutrition information is exchanged within farmer groups, although to a limited extent, and mostly flows through the existing agricultural information links. Thus, diffusing nutrition information through agricultural extension systems may be a viable approach. Our findings further suggest that group leaders and persons living in central locations are important drivers in the diffusion of information in both networks and may thus serve as suitable entry points for nutritionsensitive extension programs. However, we also identify important heterogeneities in network characteristics. In particular, nutrition information is less often exchanged between men and women, and some group members are completely isolated from nutrition information exchange within their farmer groups. We derive recommendations on taking these differences in network structure and characteristics into account when designing nutrition-sensitive extension programs.
22 pages., This study assessed the accessibility to nutrition education sources and level of knowledge on soya bean products as alternative/cheap source of protein by rural women. Multistage sampling procedure was utilized in selecting 234 respondents in the study area. Interview schedule and focus group discussion was used to collect information from the rural women. Data was analysed through descriptive statistics (percentages, frequencies and means) and inferential statistics (Analysis of variance). The results showed that the women had access to nutrition education on soya beans mostly through; family and friends (x̅= 0.82), local health centres (x̅= 0.78), radio (x̅= 0.80) and television (x̅= 0.71) programmes. The women had overall ‘below average’ knowledge on the products. There was no significant difference in the knowledge scores of the women across the three products (soya milk, iru and cake) (F= 0.167, p≥ 0.05). The result of the bivariate analysis indicated that local health centres (P = 0.035) and Women in Agriculture (P = 0.019) were nutrition education sources whose accessibility had a significant relationship with the level of soya bean product knowledge of the rural women. There is an urgent need for an aggressive campaign on the soya product nutrition education programme in order to increase the knowledge of this important and cheap protein source.
