22 pages, While climate change threatens global food security, health, and nutrition outcomes, Africa is more vulnerable because its economies largely depend on rain-fed agriculture. Thus, there is need for agricultural producers in Africa to employ robust adaptive measures that withstand the risks of climate change. However, the success of adaptation measures to climate change primarily depends on the communities’ knowledge or awareness of climate change and its risks. Nonetheless, existing empirical research is still limited to illuminate farmers’ awareness of the climate change problem. This study employs a Bayesian hierarchical logistic model, estimated using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) methods, to empirically determine drivers of smallholder farmers’ awareness of climate change and its risks to agriculture in Zambia. The results suggest that on average, 77% of farmers in Zambia are aware of climate change and its risks to agriculture. We find socio-demographics, climate change information sources, climate change adaptive factors, and climate change impact-related shocks as predictors of the expression of climate change awareness. We suggest that farmers should be given all the necessary information about climate change and its risks to agriculture. Most importantly, the drivers identified can assist policymakers to provide the effective extension and advisory services that would enhance the understanding of climate change among farmers in synergy with appropriate farm-level climate-smart agricultural practices.
INTERPAKS, Reports the summary and recommendations of a document published by the Economic Commission for Africa under E/CN.14/AGRIP/10.A. Makes a comparative analysis of agricultural extension organization and administration in Ethiopia, Malawi, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
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.
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
1987-10-05
Published:
Africa: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 130 Document Number: C19525
Notes:
Burton Swanson Collection, pp. 121-132; from "Workshop on improving the effectiveness of agricultural extension services in reaching rural women in Africa" Harare, Zimbabwe, 5-9 October 1987
O'Gorman, Melanie (author / University of Toronto) and Centre for the Study of African Economics, Oxford, UK
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
2006-07-20
Published:
United Kingdom
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C28215
Notes:
Posted online at http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/conferences/2007-EDiA-LaWBiDC/papers/295-OGorman.pdf, Presented at the "Economic development in Africa" conference from March 18-20, 2007 at Oxford University.
