7 pages, Agricultural extension is the medium through which external agricultural technologies have been transferred to and transplanted in Africa to improve agricultural performance. Over a period of close to a century, different agricultural extension models have been proposed but their structure and content has virtually been the same: top-down, linear, non-participatory transfer of technology with no feedback loops for reverse diffusion. This presumably explains the poor performance of Africa’s agriculture and the scale of food security challenges facing the continent. In this review paper, we trace the history of agricultural extension and examine various agricultural extension delivery models to identify their major strengths and weaknesses, using Ghana and Burkina Faso as case studies. We then review the most recent literature in the field about the philosophy, scope, content, delivery, and outcomes of agricultural extension. The conclusion that agricultural extension has consistently remained out of sync with the needs and aspirations of stallholder farmers was reached. Smallholder farmers are now calling for new agricultural extension delivery models that are truly farmer-led, indigenous knowledge-based, context-specific, culturally-relevant and environmentally-sustainable to guarantee efficient farming systems into the future.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 136 Document Number: D11434
Notes:
5 pages., Online from FMI Foundation., This report summarizes findings of an online survey distributed to 2,000 U.S. egg/chicken consumers with demographics representing the U.S. population. Findings indicated that "price is a significant driver for the majority of consumers, that consumer response is sensitive to information provided about cage-free production practices, and that willingness-to-pay for cage-free eggs changes in the presence of other label attributes."
Aurelie, Toillier (author), Baudoin, Alice (author), and Chia, Eduardo (author)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
2014
Published:
Burkina Faso
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 132 Document Number: D11346
Notes:
Paper presented during the 11th European International Farming System Association (IFSA) Symposium, "Farming systems facing global challenges: capacities and strategies," April 1-4, 2014, in Berlin, Germany. 11 pages in proceedings, The study involved "learning regime" as the set of mechanisms that are triggers for and lead to the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, allowing the head of the farm to improve production and management methods. Authors identified four types of regimes, calling into question the assumption of homogeneity of farmers' capabilities to change their routines to acquire new skills. Findings prompted suggestion that creating spaces for exchanges between producers who are at common stages of development or have similar problems, leveraging specific know-how of different ethnic groups and inter-cultural exchanges, and facilitating access to existing information in a given territory seem to be some of the many possible ways of strengthening existing dynamics of learning.
15 pages, The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of extension services on capacity building of smallholder livestock farmers in Midvaal Local Municipality, Gauteng Province, South Africa. A simple random sample technique was used to select the participants, so that individual farmers in the study population could have an equal chance of being selected in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 148 smallholder livestock farmers. The data gathered from participants was coded and captured in Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, mean, percentages, standard deviation, ranking order, and inferential statistics such as binary logistic regression were used to analyse the data. Results showed that technical farm visits (M = 3.3, SD = ±1.36) and informal training (M = 3.2, SD = ±1.31) were effective extension methods. Furthermore, they showed that extension services were less effective at enabling farmers to penetrate formal markets (M = 2,0 SD = ±1.06) and access finance (M = 1.9, SD = ±1.01). The binary logistic regression model revealed that gender and farming status were the main variables that significantly (P<0.05) influenced smallholder livestock farmers’ access to extension services. It was concluded that extension services in the study area were playing a major role in the capacity building of smallholder livestock farmers.
17 pages, The purpose of the study was to design a device for the dissolution of fertilizers for agricultural use in an automatic and environmentally sustainable way to facilitate the work of farmers. To achieve this goal, an outdated blade design was used, which generates turbulent and laminar flows thanks to the angle of inclination of its blades. In tests, the combination of these two flows gave a better result compared to laminar and turbulent flows separately. The best results were achieved by varying the spin and speed, the time between spins, and the rest time. The time it would take to dissolve the mixture was drastically reduced if it were conducted in the traditional way (manually) or compared with commercial mixers. In conclusion, the technique used for the dissolution of agricultural minerals is more effective and reduces time, energy, and effort. This was able to reduce the time necessary to dissolve the fertilizer by 93 percent compared to doing it manually and by 66 percent compared to using commercial mixers, in a solution of 100 L of water per 100 kg of ammonium sulfate.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 30 Document Number: D10563
Notes:
2 pages., From Bayer AG - online via AgriMarketing Weekly., Leverkusen, Germany - Bayer is raising the bar in transparency, sustainability and engagement, reflecting its heightened responsibility and potential as a new leader in agriculture. "We're making good progress on integrating the acquired agriculture business, and are now starting to implement a series of measures to drive transparency and sustainability across our business," Werner Baumann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer AG, said on Friday.
