10 pages, Yaried AA, Bullo MS. 2025. Determinants of women’s participation in income generating activities in western Ethiopia. Asian J Agric 9: 84-93. Participating in various income generating activities can improve women’s living standards by providing additional income, increasing agricultural productivity, reducing poverty and improving food security. This study focuses on assessing determinants of women’s participation in income generating activities in Itang special district of Gambella region. Primarily, Itang Special District was selected purposively among thirteen districts and 168 respondents were selected by using simple random sampling method. The data for this study was collected from both primary and secondary data sources. The descriptive analysis revealed that 62 (36.9%) of the households were farm participants, 86 (51.2%) were non-farm, and 20 (11.9%) were off-farm participants, respectively. Correspondingly, the multinomial logit model indicated that education status, household size, land size, livestock holding, access to credit, access to extension contacts, distance to main road, access to training, access to infrastructures, and access to market information is enormously significant variables that affect women’s participation in income generating activities. In conclusion, women’s participation in income generating activities has a greater role on improvements of their means of living. Therefore, government agencies, policymakers, and NGOs should pay attention to strengthening rural women households' participation in various income generating activities to improve their means of living.
20 pages, Smallholder agriculture is one of the imperative segments in the South African economy and it remains the imperative sector for livelihood generation. Farmers use mass media to access information needed for agricultural purposes to enhance agricultural practice and profitability. This study investigates the socio-economic drivers of using mass media for agricultural purposes by smallholder farmers in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study applied a descriptive survey research design to interview 200 smallholder farmers using a semi-structured survey. Data engendered were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Logistic regression model. The investigation outcome displays that 80% of the smallholder farmers currently use mass media for agricultural purposes. The study concludes that socioeconomic factors influence the use of mass media for agricultural purposes by smallholder farmers. Therefore, the study recommends the government to train farmers on the use of mass media usage and subsidize farmers so that they can purchase these modern technology tools.
16 pages, Agricultural extension is one of the essential services that are offered by the South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development (DALRRD), to facilitate agricultural development in rural communities. The significance of agricultural extension is that it offers new knowledge to farmers and allows space for growth through various interventions such as agrarian transformation and improving livelihoods through the promotion of agriculture as a vehicle for ‘pro-poor’ economic growth. However, there is a concern that extension services are invisible in resource-restricted and previously marginalised rural communities. The study presented in this paper examined farmer’s experiences with extension practitioners and the impact of a lack of extension services on the development of impoverished rural communities. The researchers adopted a qualitative design wherein six focus group discussions were held to gather data from the farmers. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti22, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). Four themes of extension services that have a direct linkage to livelihood development, namely, the impact on rural livelihoods, production challenges, marketability, and economic impact, and the invisibility of extension services, were the central point of discussion.
