Bir, Courtney (author), Hagerman, Amy (author), Sahs, Roger (author), and Ladd, Brent (author)
Format:
Abstract
Publication Date:
2021-09-01
Published:
United States: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12530
Notes:
98 pages, If you are considering becoming a farmer or rancher in Oklahoma, then you are about to embark on a journey. As with any long trip, your first step is to plan where you will go and how you will get there. The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service (OCES) at Oklahoma State University has developed this resource guide to help beginning farmers understand the steps needed to achieve the dream of having their own farm.
The first and most important step you should take in beginning a farm is to carefully
research the property and planned enterprises before investing. Attend educational meetings (such as OSU Extension programs) before properties are purchased. Become acquainted with professionals such as the local Extension Educator–Agriculture, who can help. The OSU Extension website, provides links to county offices, publications and many other resources.
11 pages, This study examined village extension agent’s access and use of information and communication technology in extension services delivery to farmers in Plateau State, Nigeria. The population for the study consisted of all the village extension agents (VEAs) of the Plateau Agricultural Development Program (PADP) in the central agricultural zone of the state. Multistage sampling technique was employed in selecting the respondents for the study. Primary data were collected through the administration of questionnaires and interview techniques and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings from the study shows that majority (77%) of the sampled village extension agents (VEAs) were males with a mean age of 43 years, Majority (87%) of the respondents were married with a mean household size of 4 persons. The study also showed that majority (80%) of the VEAs had tertiary education with a mean working experience of 13 years and average monthly income of ₦64875. The result also shows that four (4) out of the seven (7) listed ICT facilities were adjudged the ICT facilities accessible to VEAs in the study area having had mean values above the discriminating index (x̅ =2.50). They included; GSM (phone) (x̅ =3.94), radio (x̅ = 2.83), television (x̅ = 2.73) and computer (x̅ = 2.68). Based on 2.50 discriminating index, only two out of seven listed conventional ICT facilities had mean values above the discriminating index (x̅ 2.50) and thus were adjudged the ICT facilities used by VEAs. The GSM (phone) had the highest mean value of 3.62 followed by radio with mean value of 2.54. The logit regression result shows that coefficients of years of working experience and monthly income were significant and positively related to ICT use, while age and complexity in use of ICT were significant and negatively related to ICT use. Major constraints to use of ICT by VEAs includes; lack of administrative support in provision of ICT (87%), lack of in-service training on ICT use (66%), Poor salary/remuneration (64%), lack of awareness of ICT importance in extension (56%) among others. The study recommends intervention, serious synergy, and proactive response on the part of the government, non-governmental organization,s and extension organizations in ICT provision and training of VEAs on ICT use as well as stepping up campaigns on the importance of ICT use in agricultural extension delivery.
12 pages., The study reported on in this paper investigated smallholder farmers’ access to extension services. The study sought to distinguish the varying degrees of access to services of smallholder farmers engaged in different production systems, that is, home gardening, field cropping, and livestock production. The study was conducted in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, specifically in two communities, namely Ngcabasa and Phathikhala villages. Research activities included a survey of 100 farmers as well as focus group discussions. Employing logistic regression analysis, the study aimed to understand what influences whether or not a smallholder farmer accesses extension. The study also used various types of comparative statistics (T-test) to assess the implications of access to extension support, for instance for production and farm income. The main findings of the study were that 68% of the farming households interviewed in Ngcabasa and 71% of those in Phathikhala had access to extension services. Farmers who had access to extension had more farm income in both enterprises compared to those who had no access to extension services. From the regression analysis, farmers who were more likely to receive extension support appeared to be those who were older, those with less education, and those farming with livestock.
Agole, David (author), Yoder, Edgar (author), Brennan, Mark (author), Baggett, Connie (author), Ewing, John (author), Beckman, Matthew (author), and Biryabaho Matsiko, Frank (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2021-01-29
Published:
United States: OJS / PKP
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12502
16 pages, Cohesion is a fundamental determinant of performance in farmer groups in which collective action is pursued for the benefit of the members. The study examined the influence of individual members’ objectives, participation culture, group rewards, structure of tasks and perceived equity on cohesion of farmer groups that can promote access to agricultural extension services. Quantitative data were collected from 180 members of 19 farmer groups using questionnaires selected in a multi-stage process that combined purposive and random sampling. Qualitative data were gathered from 20 key informants in oral interviews and three focus group discussions. Regression analysis indicated that there were statistically significant negative relationships between individual members’ objectives, structure of the tasks, group reward system and cohesion of farmer groups. In contrast, perceived equity had a statistically significant positive relationship with cohesion in farmer groups. We recommend that, for sustainability of group cohesion, group facilitators work with the farmer groups to ensure alignment of group and NAADS institutions and performance indicators. A group dynamics perspective to understanding farmer group cohesion should be a helpful organizing principle.
9 pages, This study examined the knowledge level of extension agents on six classes of climate smart adaptation initiatives (CSAI). A multi-stage sampling procedure was utilized to collect data from 277 agents in South-West Nigeria with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Data were descriptively analysed using frequency counts, percentages and means. The result showed that extension agents were knowledgeable on crop-mix (56.3%) and tillage-smart (53.4%) related initiatives with more than half of them scoring above the mean benchmark. However, they had a low knowledge level on the majority of the water management (59.2%), fossil-burning (94.2%), soil (75.8%), ICT and other adaptive initiatives (98.9%) as the majority of them scored below the mean benchmark for each of these categories. Seminars and workshops should be provided by extension organizations for these agents to upgrade their knowledge on these initiatives, thus positioning them to effectively be able to render needed advisories to farmers. This will equip farmers to be adept in responding adequately to managing climate change risks and also scale-up their use of CSAI.
14 pages, Climate change has severe consequences not at just local, regional but also at a global scale. Since such shifts in the climate, the substantial agriculture sector of Pakistan has been suffering widely from its drastic change. The present study is carried out in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan, to explore the perception of smallholder farmers related to climate change. Data is collected from 400 smallholder farmers of Malakand, Mardan and Swabi districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This study expounds the perception of farmers and their farming adaptations to variations in climatic occurrence. Binary logistic regression was employed to discover the aspects that shape smallholder farmer’s adaptation strategies. Our results depicted that the awareness and farm household’s exploits methods for climate change adaptation were common throughout the study area. The main adaptation strategies carried out or executed by the smallholder farmers were irrigation, non-farm activities and early planting schemas. This research identified the barriers to climate change adaptation were lack of money, unavailability of required seed, nonexistence of market access, insecure land tenure system and shortage of information. The findings of the study recommend improving farmer’s awareness and providing timely information about climate change. To improve farmer’s well-being, adequate extension services and greater investment facilities are required to support farmers to sustain their livelihoods in the long run to cope with climate change.
