Findings prompt researchers to recommend the use of information and communications technologies with conventional approaches in conservation agriculture knowledge networks.
12 pages, Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is adversely affected by climate variability and change due to the dependence of its economies and livelihoods primarily on rain-fed agriculture. Agro-advisories boost informed decision-making as well as planning of farm activities. The purpose of this study was to characterize the pathways through which farmers receive usable location-specific agro-advisories as well as to evaluate the effect of the socio-economic environment in the access to such information. Data was collected from 400 randomly selected households in lower eastern Kenya in a cross-sectional survey. Multivariate probit regression was used to determine the factors influencing the choice of pathways used in accessing climate change adaptation information. Household socio-economic characteristics that were found to be significant in explaining access to disseminated agro-advisories include phone and radio ownership, level of education, marital status, and farm size among others. Based on these findings a conclusion is made that the socio-economic environment within which information is disseminated is vital in determining those who access information and probably act on it. Additionally, pathways found to be complementary or substitutable give information providers new insights on the channels to use in information dissemination. The study recommends that these factors be considered in efforts geared towards promoting agro-advisory preparation and dissemination to improve adaptation to climate variability and change in dryland areas.
Bentley, Jeffery (author), Boa, Eric (author), and Salm, Mundie (author)
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
2016
Published:
International: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, ACP-EU, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 166 Document Number: D08500
Notes:
ACDC holds citation information, introduction, contents page and the first three stories., Features workshop organized by Access Agriculture, Nairobi. 56 pages.
9 pages., Online via UI electronic subscription., The study involved a survey among 39 respondents from the milling industry and supermarkets, the main processors and distributors of maize products, in seven urban centres of Kenya. Identified information sources, knowledge level of biotechnology, and perceptions and preferences involving genetically modified food.
8 pages., Online via UI electronic subscription., Researchers measured farmer demand for a new agricultural technology , a triple-layered hermetic storage bag which reduces storage loss from insect pests and neutralizes aflatoxin contamination in grain. Findings revealed a highly elastic demand that that the wholesaler could increase profit by lowering the price. Farmers who had prior awareness of the bag were willing to pay 20% more on average than those previously unaware of it. Farmers' valuation of the bags was not significantly different based on the medium (text, audio, or video) through which they received the information.
Chataway, Joanna (author), Robbins, Peter (author), and Smith, James (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Kenya
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08703
Notes:
Pages 194-202 in Gordon Wilson, Pamela Furniss and Richard Kimbowa (eds.), Environment, development and sustainability: perspectives and cases from around the world. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. 290 pages.
Chowdhury, Shyamal (author), Negassa, Asfaw (author), and Torero, Maximo (author)
Format:
Research report
Publication Date:
2005-10
Published:
International: International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 102 Document Number: D10927
Notes:
Food Consumption and Nutrition Division Discussion Paper 195 and Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division Discussion Paper 89. 44 pages., This paper examines how market institutions can affect links between urban and rural areas with specific emphasis on goods market integration in the national context. Traditionally, development researchers and practitioners have focused either on rural market development or on urban market development without considering the interdependencies and synergies between the two. However, more than ever before, emerging local and global patterns such as the modern food value-chain led by supermarkets and food processors, rapid urbanization, changes in dietary composition, and enhanced information and communication technologies point to the need to pay close attention to the role of markets both in linking rural areas with intermediate cities and market towns and promotion of economic development and poverty reduction. This paper begins with a presentation of a conceptual framework of market integration and then identifies five major factors that increase the transfer costs that subsequently hinder market integration between rural and urban areas: information asymmetry, transaction costs, transport and communication costs, policy induced barriers, and social and noneconomic factors. Five specific cases in five developing countries are examined in this study to demonstrate the primary sources of transfer costs and the aspects of market institutions that are important to market integration and promotion of rural-urban linkages. While emerging institutions such as modern intermediaries linked to supermarkets and food processors can reduce information asymmetries between rural producers and urban consumers, existing institutions such as producers’ cooperatives can pool the risks, increase the bargaining power of small producers, reduce enforcement costs, and thereby reduce transaction costs. In addition, new types of partnerships between businesses and NGOs, and between public and private sectors, can improve infrastructure provision which, in turn, can reduce transport and communication costs. To the contrary, the presence of inappropriate policies or noneconomic factors such as those that involve social exclusion take on a negative role in linking urban and rural markets.
