8 pages., ISSN: 2284-7995, via online journal., The study accessed agrochemical based information usage among cocoa farmers in Nigeria with a view to determine the sustainability of information sources for an increased cocoa production in the study area. Simple random sampling was used to select 120 cocoa farmers using structured interview schedule. Results showed that farmers were in their 50s with about 12 years of formal education. Radio (mean = 2.56) ranked highest among the sources of information while about 60 percent of the respondents indicated a very high level of usage of agrochemical information in cocoa production. Results of Pearson Product Moment Correlation showed a significant relationship between farmers’ perception (r = 0.365; p≤0.01) and usage of agrochemical based information. The findings conclude that the use of mass media as the most frequently used among farmers for agrochemicals in cocoa production may be sustainable. It is therefore recommended that the use of mass media for agrochemicals usage in cocoa production should be reinforced in passing other information to cocoa farmers.
20 pages., via online journal., During the last 10 years, different initiatives have been implemented to provide mobile-based extension services for the agricultural sector in Egypt. The current study compared the quality of agricultural extension messages between public and private providers. A simple random sample of 120 farmers was selected representing 7% of the total farmers registered in the databases of Ministry of Agriculture (public services) and Shoura company (private services). Farmers assessed a sample of 10 messages delivered by both providers in terms of six indicators namely (1) access, (2) utilization, (3) timeliness, (4) trust, (5) satisfaction, and (6) sharing information with other farmers. The findings revealed the lack of access to messages by the farmers in the two services. However, more than 50% had utilized the majority of messages (in case of access). The study also showed significant differences between perception of farmers to quality attributes in public and private services (Access 6.77, 0.01; Utilization 8.44, 0.004; Timeliness 8.55, 0.002; Satisfaction 8.88, 0.001; information sharing 7.62, 0.009) except for trust (1.11, 0.4). Findings provide practical implications to support mobile-based extension services to enable sharing information and link farmers with other actors in the agricultural value chain.
14 pages., Article #:3FEA9, via online journal., This article reports on a study to determine which information sources organic growers use to inform farming practices by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 organic farmers across 17 North Carolina counties. Effective information sources included: networking, agricultural organizations, universities, conferences, Extension, Web resources, personal experience, books, organic buyers/certifiers, and consultants. Results suggest that grower-to-grower networking is a highly effective information-seeking behavior for organic growers. Recommendations for Extension personnel include reshaping educational programing for organic growers to include peer-to-peer information sharing, as well as increased investment to graduate and undergraduate programs that train future Extension agents in organic production approaches.
3 pages., via online journal., The successful transfer of improved animal husbandry practices depends considerably on the effective communication thereby increasing the adoption level among the livestock farmers and ultimately production of our livestock. An efficient as well as effective communication would create congenial environment to stimulate the adoption of evolved animal husbandry practices. However, the identification and utilization of effective source and channels of communication are the essential prerequisite for the same. Correlation of mass media exposure and extension worker contact was positively significant with degree of adoption of selected animal husbandry practices. It clearly indicates that as the mass media exposure and extension worker contact among livestock farmers increases, the degree of adoption of these selected animal husbandry practices also increases, i.e. vaccination, deworming, urea treatment of poor quality roughages, feeding of mineral mixture, use of hybrid seed for fodder production, concentrate feeding and use of artificial insemination in their animals. It was concluded that due importance should be given to mass media exposure and extension worker contact for effective and successful dissemination of animal husbandry practices
30 pages., via online journal., In this article we present and discuss two experiments designed to test the effectiveness of the Internet as a tool of agricultural information. Subjects were cotton producers from Thessaly, Greece. Findings suggest that, in the early stages of an innovation diffusion process, the Internet is more effective than social sources (Experiment 1). However, when urgent situations that force quick decisions occur (Experiment 2), the Internet is significantly less effective than face-to-face communication channels. In both cases, farmers who used the Internet spent more time and devoted extra effort. The experiments proved that agronomists remain the most effective information source. Results also illustrate that Internet adoption is not necessarily synonymous with its use.
