23 pages, Increasing doctoral degree holders in Sub-Saharan Africa may significantly impact the quality and quantity of undergraduate and graduate programs. Research capacity is crucial to successfully completing a thesis or dissertation and obtaining a graduate degree. Unfortunately, in Sub-Saharan Africa, many students abandon or delay their degrees at this stage due to limited research and writing skills. This study aimed to identify the most critical thesis and dissertation (TD) research needs of masters and PhD students from Sub-Saharan Africa. Thirty-eight skills were identified from the literature and presented to agricultural education and extension/leadership students. Borich (1980) and Witkin (1984) needs assessment models were used to ascertain the perceived importance and extent of students' knowledge of TD topic areas. The top identified needs were extracting a manuscript from a thesis, writing a journal article, choosing inferential statistics, deciding the descriptive statics, and what to review in the literature. A total of 15 items were identified as critical needs using the Witkin model. The findings identified challenges and opportunities for improving Sub-Saharan African graduate students' research knowledge and TD performance, implying that combining the two models to identify training needs may produce more comprehensive results than using only one methodology.
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.
Saweda O. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis (author), Salim Nuhu, Ahmed (author), Awokuse, Titus (author), Jayne, Thomas (author), Muyanga, Milu (author), Aromolaran, Adebayo (author), and Adelaja, Adesoji (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2022-04-19
Published:
United States: Wiley Online
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12576
27pgs, In spite of mounting evidence about the growth of medium-scale farms (MSFs) across Africa, there is limited empirical evidence on their impact on neighbouring small-scale farms (SSFs). We examine the relationships between MSFs and SSFs, with particular focus on the specific mechanisms driving potential spillover effects. First, we develop a theoretical model explaining two propagating mechanisms: learning effects (training) and cost effects (reduced transactions cost). An empirical application to data from Nigeria shows that SSFs with training from MSFs tend to use higher levels of modern inputs (have higher productivity), and receive higher prices and income. The results also show that purchasing inputs from MSFs reduces the costs of accessing modern inputs and is associated with higher inorganic fertiliser use by SSFs. Our results suggest that the benefits of receiving training and purchasing inputs from MSFs are particularly important for very small-scale producers, operating less than 1 hectare of land. This implies that policies which promote the efficient operation of MSFs and encourage their interaction with SSFs can be an effective mechanism for improving the productivity and welfare of smallholder farms, hence reducing their vulnerability to extreme poverty.
5pgs, The Covid-19 pandemic, global trends, and technological advancements lead to the perception that digitalization is about the most sustainable means of growing Africa’s agribusiness and food supply chains. Many global agribusinesses have successfully integrated digital technologies to enhance operational efficiencies and business relations with their upstream and downstream actors. However, evidence is scant on the uptake of digital technologies among small and medium agribusiness firms in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Against this backdrop, this review paper identifies research gaps regarding the adoption and implication of digitalization in building sustainable food systems for African economies. Our preliminary finds show some sustainable practices in the SSA food supply chains by adopting specific technologies related to production, grain storage, food waste management, and warehouse management but very low adoption of food processing technologies and digital marketing platforms. Most importantly, the application of the Internet of Things, Big data, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and/or Business Analytics is very rare. Most of the digitalization process tends to be mobile-based.
10 pages, The study sought to explore the extent to which agricultural policies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
countries incorporate Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and its impact on the efforts to document and share
agricultural IK through communication efforts. A qualitative content analysis of policy documents from seven SSA countries and eight key informant interviews with knowledge management officers from the seven countries was conducted. Purposive sampling was used to select the countries, determine
documents examined, and for the selection of key informants for the interviews. The results revealed that IK was not included in several SSA countries’ governmental agricultural policies. Activities aimed at capturing, documentation and sharing IK in SSA countries were not found despite the presence of evidence of its importance to agricultural research and development. These results provide insights on the need for researchers, communicators, educators, and decision-makers to consider incorporating IK into policy associated with agricultural information dissemination to improve technology generation and adoption
Coggins, Sam (author), McCampbell, Mariette (author), Sharma, Akriti (author), Sharma, Rama (author), Haefele, Stephen (author), Karki, Emma (author), Hetherington, Jack (author), Smith, Jeremy (author), and Brown, Brendan (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2022-03-01
Published:
United States: Elsevier
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12486
10 pages, Digital extension tools (DETs) include phone calls, WhatsApp groups and specialised smartphone applications used for agricultural knowledge brokering. We researched processes through which DETs have (and have not) been used by farmers and other extension actors in low- and middle-income countries. We interviewed 40 DET developers across 21 countries and 101 DET users in Bihar, India. We found DET use is commonly constrained by fifteen pitfalls (unawareness of DET, inaccessible device, inaccessible electricity, inaccessible mobile network, insensitive to digital illiteracy, insensitive to illiteracy, unfamiliar language, slow to access, hard to interpret, unengaging, insensitive to user's knowledge, insensitive to priorities, insensitive to socio-economic constraints, irrelevant to farm, distrust). These pitfalls partially explain why women, less educated and less wealthy farmers often use DETs less, as well as why user-driven DETs (e.g. phone calls and chat apps) are often used more than externally-driven DETs (e.g. specialised smartphone apps). Our second key finding was that users often made - not just found - DETs useful for themselves and others. This suggests the word ‘appropriation’ conceptualises DET use more accurately and helpfully than the word ‘adoption’. Our final key finding was that developers and users advocated almost ubiquitously for involving desired users in DET provision. We synthesise these findings in a one-page framework to help funders and developers facilitate more useable, useful and positively impactful DETs. Overall, we conclude developers increase DET use by recognizing users as fellow developers – either through collaborative design or by designing adaptable DETs that create room for user innovation.
22 pages, In this paper, we investigate the link between windfall gains and losses of income associated with commodity exports and economic performance in a panel of 45 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period from 1990 to 2019. Windfall gains and losses of income are measured in terms of fluctuations in a country-specific commodity terms of trade (CTOT) index in which each commodity is weighted by the ratio of exports of that commodity in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The CTOT index therefore reflects the commodity export specialisation for individual countries. The data on CTOT are taken from the International Monetary Fund. Additionally, we use changes in real GDP per capita as our SSA economic performance measure. We employ a random coefficient model that yields individual estimates for each of the countries included in the analysis. Our approach is based on the assumption that the effect of windfall gains and losses on real GDP per capita growth varies across different SSA countries. Our main conclusion can be elaborated as follows: first, natural resources have undoubtedly contributed to higher economic growth in SSA countries since 1990. Second, when SSA countries are analytically divided into two groups depending on their commodity export specialisation, we find that resource-rich countries—in particular oil rich—are the best economic growth performers during the observation period. Finally, we find that windfall gains from commodity exports are not significantly associated with increased real GDP per capita growth in most agriculture-exporting countries.
15 pages, In the past few decades, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has been promoted to improve food security and raise incomes as a strategy for sustainable agricultural development. The adoption rates among smallholder farmers, particularly in Africa, remain low and have varied in different contexts. This study investigated the market participation spillover effects from the adoption of CSA practices in central Malawi using the control function approach to address any endogeneity in the relationship. The hypothesis that the extent of the use of CSA practices in the past 10 years can lead to production surpluses that enable smallholder farmers to participate in markets and thereby increase in agricultural incomes was tested. Using survey data from 470 households in two districts of rural Malawi, a clear positive association between the number of CSA practices used and the extent of market participation was found. The findings suggest, among others, the need to intensify efforts to promote CSA adoption specifically over a longer period for benefits of the technologies to materialise. The adoption of CSA practices over time enhances crop market participation, an important aspect required for production sustainability as well as for transforming agriculture towards greater market orientation among smallholder farmers.
