2 pages., Via UI online subscription., Purpose: This paper examines extension practises of agricultural workers within the Egyptian government and the perceived barriers they face in implementing participatory approaches, identifying improvements required in research and extension processes to meet the real needs of Egyptian farming communities.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Key barriers for engaging in participatory extension were identified using content analysis of semi-structured interviews, surveys and focus group discussion of 37 government agricultural workers along with participant observation and review of existing literature.
Findings: The majority of workers surveyed understood basic participatory extension principles and desired to use these approaches. Changing from traditional ‘top down’ extension to systems that engage with farmers' needs at the community level is made difficult due to the aging and poorly functioning Village Extension Worker (VEW) network. Thus, it is far easier for the research driven extension programmes to use technology transfer models.
Practical Implications: Participatory extension relies on strong relationship building and open communication between farmers, extension workers, researchers, interest groups and policy-makers. The Egyptian government must properly establish and resource the pivotal role of VEWs within the extension system to meet its strategic aims of modernising agriculture, developing food security and improving the livelihoods of rural inhabitants.
Originality/Value: This paper captures the unique perspectives of government research, extension and education workers involved in agricultural development at a time directly after the 2010 revolution, when they were able to more openly reflect on the past and present situations.
International: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, ACP-EU, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 153 Document Number: D11614
Notes:
3 pages., Online from publisher., Author addresses "large gap between African extension services ... and the number of farmers being reached." ... "Africa's existing mobile network (currently the second biggest mobile market in the world) could be better utilised to bridge this gap and provide mobile-based agricultural information, advice and support to smallholder farmers."
Ngoma, Hambulo (author), Mason-Wardell, Nichole M. (author), Samboko, Paul C. (author), and Hangoma, Peter (author)
Format:
Research summary
Publication Date:
2019
Published:
Zambia: Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 166 Document Number: D11674
Notes:
4 pages., Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy, Research Paper 164., Using games, researchers tested the hypothesis that innate behavioral traits such as risk and time preferences play a role in Zambia farmers' decisions about adoption of Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices. "Given our findings that more risk-averse individuals are less likely to adopt CSA, a practice that is intended to be risk-reducing, a key policy implication is the need for a retooling of both public and private extension services to better demonstrate and educate farmers on the risk-reducing effect of CSA practices such as conservation agriculture. Moreover, if insurance and subsidies are to be used successfully to nudge adoption, extension will need to educate farmers on the structure of and mechanisms of payouts. This is important to build trust in the incentive systems.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 174 Document Number: C29759
Notes:
Recommendations from the 2nd Agriculture Leadership Summit, New Delhi, India, September 4-5, 2009. 13 pages., Summary and recommendations, including those involving extension and communications.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C29792
Notes:
Pages 229-233 in Ian Scoones and John Thompson (eds.), Farmer First revisited: innovation for agricultural research and development. Practical Action Publishing, Warwickshire, U.K. 357 pages.
Brewer, Frank (author), Kemirembe, Olive M. (author), and Krueger, Dave (author)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
2007-05
Published:
Brazil
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 185 Document Number: D00409
Notes:
Pages 191-197 in proceedings of the 23rd annual meeting of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education, Polson, Montana, May 20-24, 2007.
Via website.
Amudavi, David M. (author), Lawver, David E. (author), Udoto, M. (author), and Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education
Format:
Abstract
Publication Date:
2010-05
Published:
Kenya
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 185 Document Number: D00420
Notes:
Abstract of article in the proceedings of the 26th annual meeting of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, May 16-19, 2010.
