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    2. Are smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate variability supported by climatological evidence? Case study of a semi-arid region in South Africa

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    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Rapholo, Maropene Tebello (author) and Makia, Lawrence Diko (author)
    Format:
    Journal Article
    Publication Date:
    2020-08-20
    Published:
    International: Emerald
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11860
    Journal Title:
    International Journal of Climate
    Journal Title Details:
    4
    Notes:
    15 pages, via online journal, Purpose Literature contends that not much is known about smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and the impacts thereof on agricultural practices in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa in particular. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of smallholder farmers from Botlokwa (a semi-arid region in South Africa) on climate variability in relation to climatological evidence. Design/methodology/approach The study area is in proximity to a meteorological station and comprises mainly rural farmers, involved in rain-fed subsistence agriculture. Focus group discussions and closed-ended questionnaires covering demographics and perceptions were administered to 125 purposely sampled farmers. To assess farmers’ perceptions of climate variability, their responses were compared with linear trend and variability of historical temperature and rainfall data (1985-2015). Descriptive statistics were used to provide insights into respondents’ perceptions. Findings About 64% of the farmers perceived climate variability that was consistent with the meteorological data, whereas 36% either held contrary observations or were unable to discern. Age, level of education, farming experience and accessibility to information influenced the likelihood of farmers to correctly perceive climate variability. No significant differences in perception based on gender were observed. This study concludes that coping and adaption strategies of over one-third of the farmers could be negatively impacted by wrong perceptions of climate variability. Originality/value This study highlights discrepancies in perceptions among farmers with similar demographic characteristics. To guarantee sustainability of the sector, intervention by government and other key stakeholders to address underlying factors responsible for observed discrepancies is recommended.

    3. Behavior analysis of farmers in tidal swamp land towards agricultural insurance

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    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Alif, Muhammad (author), Sumardjo (author), Sarwoprasodjo, Sarwititi (author), and Fatchiya, Anna (author)
    Format:
    Journal Article
    Publication Date:
    2022-11-25
    Published:
    United States: Horizon Research Publishing
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12808
    Journal Title:
    Universal Journal of Agricultural Research
    Journal Title Details:
    Online
    Notes:
    8pgs, In many studies, communication and social cognitive theories have been used to investigate people's behaviors toward agricultural insurance programs resulting in varied conclusions on how and why people react to such programs. However, few of them have explicitly investigated the role of social cognitive theory in escalating insurance literacy levels on agriculture and cultural factors. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the behavioral factors of tidal swampland farmers in Barito Kuala Regency, South Kalimantan province, towards agricultural insurance in the perspective of analyzing farmers' knowledge of agricultural insurance products and determinants of community behavior. Under the instrumental case-study research design, the data were collected through interviews and Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) with 35 informants, consisting of the Head of the South Kalimantan Provincial Agriculture Service and the Barito Kuala District Agriculture Service, opinion leaders, academics, representatives of farmer groups, and farmers. Documentation data related to the implementation of the agricultural insurance program were used to complete the interview and FGDs data. The results of this study indicate that tidal swampland farmers are trapped in hoax information or negative issues related to Agricultural Insurance which makes them reluctant to participate in agricultural insurance. Farmers prefer to be resigned and surrender to the state of their agricultural land than to participate in agricultural insurance. Besides, farmers feel there is no point in participating in agricultural insurance, especially those who think the registration and insurance claim process is convoluted. Low insurance literacy is a key problem of the misinformation that is formed.

    4. Can Mobile Phones build social trust? Insights from rural Kenya

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    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Parlasca, Martin C. (author), Hermann, Daniel (author), and Mußhoff, Oliver (author)
    Format:
    Journal Article
    Publication Date:
    2020-10-01
    Published:
    International: Elsevier
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11862
    Journal Title:
    Journal of Rural Studies
    Journal Title Details:
    79
    Notes:
    15 pages, Generalized trust, which refers to trust towards people that are not well known (Yamagishi and Yamagishi, 1994; Stolle, 2002; Uslaner, 2002; Freitag and Traunmüller, 2009), is needed for many situations of economic interaction such as daily market activities. Considering that trust acts as a lubricant for social interaction, a lack of generalized trust can severely restrict a persons reach of efficient economic exchange. Increases of generalized trust within a society thus have the potential to create large efficiency gains (Fafchamps and Minten, 2002; Fafchamps, 2006). Given the importance of trust for social interaction and various welfare dimensions, a growing body of economic, sociological, and psychological research has been devoted to examining the circumstances under which trust can thrive. A reoccurring notion in all three disciplines is that communication represents a key factor in the formation of trust (Lewicki et al., 2006; Glanville and Paxton, 2007). Ostrom et al. (1992), for example, find that communication and sanctioning in a common pool resource experiment lead to substantially more efficient outcomes. In a laboratory setting, personal communication has shown to enhance trust (Buchan et al., 2006), and is even more powerful in creating mutually benefitting exchanges than the possibility to engage in non-binding contracts (Ben-Ner and Putterman, 2009). In this paper, we analyze whether mobile phones which constitute a fundamental component of modern information and communications technologies (ICT) can help build social trust among pastoral communities in Northern Kenya.1 In most African countries, trust levels are remarkably low; out of all regions in the world, people living in sub-Sahara Africa exhibit the lowest levels of generalized trust (Mattes and Moreno, 2018). In the study region of Northern Kenya, it is particularly relevant to increase trust for several reasons. First, the relatively weak legal system jeopardizes contract enforcement, which means that any economic interaction requires substantial amounts of trust between the contract partners. This has caused a strong reliance on trust-based relationships in Northern Kenyas livestock sector (Mahmoud, 2008; Pavanello, 2010; Roba et al., 2018). Furthermore, low trust levels between ethnic tribes have also reinforced longstanding intertribal conflicts in the region, and impede solutions to share resources peacefully and effectively (Schilling et al., 2012). Lastly, the low population density and long physical distances between settlements in the region make communication over long distances difficult and therefore induce high monitoring costs. Potential benefits of enhancing trust are therefore particularly high in the context of Northern Kenya. To compensate for physical remoteness, rural communities have a high need for digital connectivity but have oftentimes suffered from poor connection and inclusion in existing networks in the past (Salemink et al., 2017). Over the last decade, however, mobile phones have become available to most pastoralists in Northern Kenya (Butt, 2015; Asaka and Smucker, 2016; Parlasca et al., 2020). A large and growing body of research has pointed out that mobile phones can help increase several paramount welfare dimensions of rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa, such as income and income equality, financial development, gender equality, or institutional quality (Aker and Mbiti, 2010; Asongu, 2015; Asongu and Nwachukwu, 2016; Rotondi et al., 2020). However, the research on the implications of mobile phones on social capital formation is much less extensive. To the best of our knowledge, the potential of mobile phones to affect trust is so far solely based on qualitative or anecdotal evidence (Molony, 2006, 2009; Overå, 2006) and lacks quantitative assessments. This paper aims to close this gap. In this study, we elicit trust levels with an incentivized experiment, namely the canonical trust game by Berg et al. (1995). Experimental sessions were conducted from July 2018 to August 2018 in 17 different villages in Turkana County, Northern Kenya, and included a total of 402 respondents. We differentiate with regard to the object of trust by measuring trust towards fellow villagers, trust towards people from a neighboring village, and trust towards city dwellers from the county capital. Past research in rural sub-Saharan Africa indicates that smallholder farmers exhibit less trust towards people from different villages (Etang, 2010; Etang et al., 2011) or people from the next larger city (Parlasca et al., 2019). The differentiation of the object of trust therefore allows investigating heterogeneous effects of mobile phone use on trust depending on the physical distance between trustor and trustee. This research adds add to the existing literature in several ways: to the extent of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the direct link between mobile phone use and trust using quantitative household data from a low-income country. Thus far, no study has analyzed the role of geographical distance in the relationship between mobile phone use and trust. Lastly, this analysis contributes to the extremely sparse literature on trust in the context of pastoralist communities in sub-Saharan Africa. The remainder of the study is organized as follows. Section 2 lays out the conceptual framework that guides the analysis. The data are explained in section 3 and the empirical framework is presented in section 4. The results are discussed section 5, followed by concluding remarks in section 6.

    6. Enhancing farmers’ agency in the global crop commons through use of biocultural community protocols

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    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Halewood, Michael (author), Villanueva, Ana Bedmar (author), Rasolojaona, Jazzy (author), Andriamahazo, Michelle (author), Rakotoniaina, Naritiana (author), Bossou, Bienvenu (author), Mikpon, Toussaint (author), Vodouhe, Raymond (author), Fey, Lena (author), Drews, Andreas (author), Kumar, P. Lava (author), Rasoanirina, Bernadette (author), Rasoazafndrabe, Thérèse (author), Aigbe, Marcellin (author), Agbahounzo, Blaise (author), Otieno, Gloria (author), Garforth, Kathryn (author), Kiene, Tobias (author), and Nnadozie, Kent (author)
    Format:
    Journal Article
    Publication Date:
    2021-01-06
    Published:
    USA: Springer
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12038
    Journal Title:
    Agriculture and Human Values
    Notes:
    16 pages, via Online Journal, Crop genetic resources constitute a ‘new’ global commons, characterized by multiple layers of activities of farmers, genebanks, public and private research and development organizations, and regulatory agencies operating from local to global levels. This paper presents sui generis biocultural community protocols that were developed by four communities in Benin and Madagascar to improve their ability to contribute to, and benefit from, the crop commons. The communities were motivated in part by the fact that their national governments’ had recently ratified the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol, which make commitments to promoting the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities and farmers, without being prescriptive as to how Contracting Parties should implement those commitments. The communities identified the protocols as useful means to advance their interests and/or rights under both the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol to be recognized as managers of local socio-ecological systems, to access genetic resources from outside the communities, and to control others’ access to resources managed by the community.

    7. Exploring social media and online communication use by direct-to-consumer agricultural businesses in upstate New York

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    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Weingarten, Katerina (author), Settle, Quisto (author), Harvey, Linnea (author), and Cartmell, Dwayne (author)
    Format:
    Journal Article
    Publication Date:
    2023
    Published:
    USA: Association for Communication Excellence
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12936
    Journal Title:
    Journal of Applied Communications
    Journal Title Details:
    V.107, Iss.2
    Notes:
    24 pages, The popularization of social media and an increased interest in local food has led to the need for an online presence of direct-to-consumer agricultural producers. The COVID-19 pandemic quickly pushed the transition from traditional marketing practices to digital marketing practices, further emphasizing the importance of an online presence for small businesses. To better understand the perceptions of direct-to-consumer agricultural businesses, this study sought to understand the current use of social media and online communication and the challenges faced, related to social media and online communication, among these producers. Ten direct-to-consumer agricultural business personnel were interviewed to examine their social media and online communication use. Direct-to-consumer agricultural businesses are using Facebook as a primary social media platform and finding time to focus on social media and online communication is a challenge for agricultural personnel. A website is important to direct-to-consumer agricultural businesses, however many do not currently have a website. Direct-to-consumer agricultural businesses believe social media and an online communication are important to the growth and success of the business and are interested in educational materials and professional support to improve their online presence.

    8. Factors underlying farmers’ decisions to participate in networks

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    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Kühne, Bianka (author), Lambrecht, Evelien (author), Vanhonacker, Feliep (author), Pieniak, Zuzanna (author), and Gellynck, Xavier (author)
    Format:
    Journal Article
    Publication Date:
    2013
    Published:
    Belgium
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 144 Document Number: D06525
    Journal Title:
    International Journal on Food System Dynamics
    Journal Title Details:
    4(3) : 198-213
    Notes:
    16 pages.

    9. Local Knowledge for Addressing Food Insecurity: The Use of a Goat Meat drying Technique i a Rural Famine Context in Southern Africa

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    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    del Valle, Martin (author), Ibarra, Jose Tomas (author), Aguire Hormann, Pablo (author), Hernandez, Roberto (author), and Riveros, Jose Luis (author)
    Format:
    Journal Article
    Publication Date:
    unknown
    Published:
    International: MDPI
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11870
    Journal Title:
    Animals
    Journal Title Details:
    2019 9(10)
    Notes:
    8 pages, Only 30% of households inBairro Boroma(Boromaneighborhood) have a regular proteinintake, mainly due to the lack of a proper cold chain. We analyzed the level of knowledge about alocal dried meat calledchinkui, examining the relationship between this knowledge and its valuefor strengthening local food security. Through surveys ofBairro Boromagoat herders (n=23) about“chinkuiawareness” and passive observation ofchinkuipreparation (n=5) from local biotype goats,we found thatchinkuiwas known to most goat herders (91.3%), but was used only irregularly, mainlybecause knowledge transmission has decreased over time. From passive observation, we foundthat the amount of dried meat obtained from an animal rarely exceeded a yield of 10% and itsperformance and safety depended on weather conditions and the absence of other animals in thearea of preparation. It is, therefore, recommended to strengthen initiatives to increase the amount ofchinkui, based on local knowledge, so as to enhance its frequency of consumption and the possibilityof using it as a sustainable alternative source of protein