7 pages, Agricultural extension is the medium through which external agricultural technologies have been transferred to and transplanted in Africa to improve agricultural performance. Over a period of close to a century, different agricultural extension models have been proposed but their structure and content has virtually been the same: top-down, linear, non-participatory transfer of technology with no feedback loops for reverse diffusion. This presumably explains the poor performance of Africa’s agriculture and the scale of food security challenges facing the continent. In this review paper, we trace the history of agricultural extension and examine various agricultural extension delivery models to identify their major strengths and weaknesses, using Ghana and Burkina Faso as case studies. We then review the most recent literature in the field about the philosophy, scope, content, delivery, and outcomes of agricultural extension. The conclusion that agricultural extension has consistently remained out of sync with the needs and aspirations of stallholder farmers was reached. Smallholder farmers are now calling for new agricultural extension delivery models that are truly farmer-led, indigenous knowledge-based, context-specific, culturally-relevant and environmentally-sustainable to guarantee efficient farming systems into the future.
15 pages, The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of extension services on capacity building of smallholder livestock farmers in Midvaal Local Municipality, Gauteng Province, South Africa. A simple random sample technique was used to select the participants, so that individual farmers in the study population could have an equal chance of being selected in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 148 smallholder livestock farmers. The data gathered from participants was coded and captured in Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, mean, percentages, standard deviation, ranking order, and inferential statistics such as binary logistic regression were used to analyse the data. Results showed that technical farm visits (M = 3.3, SD = ±1.36) and informal training (M = 3.2, SD = ±1.31) were effective extension methods. Furthermore, they showed that extension services were less effective at enabling farmers to penetrate formal markets (M = 2,0 SD = ±1.06) and access finance (M = 1.9, SD = ±1.01). The binary logistic regression model revealed that gender and farming status were the main variables that significantly (P<0.05) influenced smallholder livestock farmers’ access to extension services. It was concluded that extension services in the study area were playing a major role in the capacity building of smallholder livestock farmers.
20 pages, Organic agriculture has the potential to improve the environmental performance of U.S. agriculture, supporting increasing food demand and diversification of food consumption while improving the quality of ecosystems. Organic growers are challenged by a lack of Cooperative Extension agent support as agents have not served organic growers to the same extent as conventional growers nationwide. Rogers’ (2003) diffusion of innovations theory guided our phenomenological inquiry to explore (a) what agents experienced while supporting organic growers, and (b) how agents experienced providing support to organic growers in north Georgia. According to participants, the essence of the support offered to organic growers was an uneven bridge. Agents were willing to provide growers with the resources to support organic production; however, they lacked theoretical and empirical knowledge regarding organic agricultural production that would enable them to establish stronger relationships with growers. Findings from the study and the uneven bridge metaphor led to an original model to assist Extension agents in better serving the organic agricultural community.
20 pages., Given the multi-benefits, enset cultivation has been continuously underutilized in Ethiopia. We assess best practices, processing technologies, environmental maintenance, multi-benefits of enset and its potency in hunger reduction in Ethiopia by reviewing evidence on good farm practices, improved technologies, sustainability, hunger reduction, inputs cost, and yields advantage of enset. The review results identify those best practices that optimize enset yield, technologies that facilitate extension services, processing and food qualities of enset. Moreover, we find that enset is a first-rated climate-smart crop, superior hunger solution because of its apparent capability to endure long periods (more than 5 years) of drought, highest yield, energy food supply, and costs advantages. In contrast, its long-period maturity, cultural perceptions, and little development policy attention given to enset limit its expansion. Therefore, exploring and creating universal access mechanism of early maturing and high-yielding varieties, processing technologies and mobile-based advices, involving best practices of enset in regular agricultural extension services, changing social perceptions optimize enset yield and production thereby it contributes environmental sustainability and cuts hunger challenges.
12pgs, COVID 19 has exacerbated and underscored structural inequalities and endemic vulnerabilities in food, economic, and social systems, compounding concerns about environmental sustainability and racial and economic justice. Convergent crises have amplified a growing chorus of voices and movements calling for new thinking and new practices to adapt to these shifts, mitigate their impact, and address their root causes through far reaching changes in social and economic life and values, including breaking with the free market paradigm. In the face of a historic choice between transition or multiple systems collapse that deepen injustice and threaten planetary survival, I make the case for expanding on liberatory tendencies in Extension programs to build capacities for response-ability to transition toward more just and sustainable futures.
18 pages, This research adds to the knowledge of extension education by revealing the quality of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) advice offered by private and public extension sectors. The study was aimed at addressing the paucity of empirical data that exists relating to the quality of CSA advice. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, the descriptive and correlational study gathered data from a systematic sample of 115 farmers. There was a moderate positive correlation between extension effectiveness and adoption of CSA. There were significant differences between public, private, and both sectors in relation to the quality of information disseminated. The quality of private sector’s advice was significantly lower than that of public sector and both sectors. There was no significant difference in quality of advice between public sector and both sectors. The quality of CSA advice was generally fair, however, heightened dissemination of CSA practices by both sectors of extension would yield better quality advice thus improve the adoption of the practices among farmers.
9 pages, Despite agriculture’s great potential to Tanzania agricultural development, the sector faces diverse challenges. For example, existence of gender gaps in accessing agricultural production resources and benefits obtained from the same impede the sector’s growth. Therefore, adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) has been seen as one of the measures to address the sector limited productivity. Nonetheless, there is limited knowledge on how CA has managed to reduce gender inequalities in accessing both reproductive resources and benefits accrued from agriculture. This paper examines gender gaps in conservation agriculture programme implemented by Sustainable Agriculture in Tanzania (SAT), by specifically analyzing gender participation and relations in CA in Morogoro municipality and Morogoro district. This study adopted a mixed method approach whereby both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from four sites where SAT implements its activities. Findings show that CA has significantly reduced gander gaps in accessing production resources and services as well as raising women’s participation in decision making with regards to production and use of income obtained from sales of produce. Farmers regardless of the gender can access extension services, and credit, and are involved in various initiatives collectively. Despite the economic benefits, findings show that CA is laborious and takes much of farmers’ time, women being more affected. Therefore, it is recommended that the central and local governments and various stakeholders should promote the spread of conservation agriculture technologies since it reduces the biasness in agriculture and empowering women. Ensuring access to advanced cheap technologies to farmers. Nonetheless, there is need to ensure that female farmers are not overburdened in the process.
