15 pages., Via online journal., Plant pests cause crop losses of 30–40%, contributing significantly to global food insecurity. The Plantwise program works alongside national agricultural extension services, who advise smallholder farmers on plant health issues and collect data on problems they face. In a 1-year pilot, Plantwise tested the use of information and communication technologies (ICT)—tablets and short message service (SMS)—with 60 Kenyan extension workers. They were able to assist more farmers with better advice, had significantly improved access to plant health information, valued being able to ask their peers for advice, and dramatically improved the quality and speed of the data they collected.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: KerryByrnes2 Document Number: D01196
Notes:
Kerry J. Byrnes Collection, Academy for Educational Development, Offices of rural development,agriculture, bureau for science and technology, agency for international development. 52 pages., A key objective of the communication for technology transfer in agriculture (CTTA) project is to develop, demonstrate, and disseminate an effective methodology for using communication to support agricultural technology transfer to small farmers in developing countries.
21 pgs., CTs (Communications technologies) have revolutionized agricultural information services at every level in the agricultural sector, thus impacting rural development and catalysing poverty alleviation strategies. This has largely been the case with small-scale farmers in rural areas in developing countries where mobile technologies have penetrated more than most other ICT tools. However, in some of the farming environments, mobile phone use is largely driven by agricultural extension workers. This paper seeks to examine the way mobile phones are used for information access in situations where agricultural extension workers are a critical intermediary in the agricultural information services. Interviews were conducted with 10 randomly selected farmers who were part of the Dzindi irrigation scheme. The findings were that from the variety of information available to the farmers the most important source was the extension officer. The extension officer and the radio were indicated to be the most reliable independent sources of information. The other sources, such as the radio, family members, and friends, suppliers of chemicals, books and magazines, were only considered reliable if the information could be verified or vouched for by the extension officer. Increasing the information handling skills of extension officers, training of farmers to use smart features of their phones and promoting the usual face-to-face communication use of conventional methods, which is what usually gives rise to the mediation of mobile phones, were recommended.
Ingram, Dewayne L. (author), Israel, Glenn D. (author), and Israel: Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Extension Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Ingram: Professor and Chair, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1991
Published:
USA: Madison, WI : Extension Journal.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 92 Document Number: C06752
4 pages, Sustaining farm profitability has been challenging for North Carolina smallholder farmers facing
market failure. Small farms earning between $10,000 or less and $50,000 annually in net farm income need alternative practices that will make them more profitable. This study assesses North Carolina small farmers’ understanding and attitudes towards value-added agriculture. We conducted farmer focus group interviews and analyzed the data using Qualitative Data Analysis Miner Lite. We found that the main drivers of value-added agriculture include improving on-farm profitability, product expansion, and market growth. High production costs and lack of government assistance are some of the factors limiting value-added participation.
