Design/Methodology/Approach:In total, 35 sex-disaggregated focus group discussions with farmers, and 4 interviews with extension officers were conducted in Dedza and Ntcheu districts. Data on the type of training offered, training participants recruitment methods, as well as data on barriers to and opportunities for training were collected. A social relations approach, focusing on gender relations, was used to analyse the data.

Findings:Underlying gender norms and cultural norms mediate access to information. For instance, some men regard themselves as representatives of their households during training and, to some extent, extension officers reinforce these views by using biased training recruitment methods. Gender norms related to household decision-making impact on the ability of women to access training opportunities.

Practical implications: Agricultural extension should not be a purely technical programme focusing only on good agricultural practices. It should also embed modules aimed at addressing social practices that disadvantage some people, particularly women, as well as adopt gender sensitive recruitment methods that do not rely on male-biased recruitment channels.

Originality/Value:The social relations approach used, focusing on gender relations, is aimed at trying to come up with the conditions necessary for agricultural training to be empowering for women. This paper is therefore of interest to extension agents and other development practitioners interested in women’s empowerment and the transformation of gender relations.  相似文献   

Design: We use the network map analysis in a case study approach as a tool to demonstrate the linkages between the key actors and stakeholders in the information network of farmers.

Findings: The government institutions are well networked among themselves but have limited interactions with non-government sources. Farmers in Bihar have strong linkages with few network actors, who are important nodes in the social knowledge network. The study showed heterogeneity and complexity in the network shape and structure across different districts.

Practical Implications: Knowledge networks and social networks are the drivers of information sharing and play a significant role in the diffusion of agricultural technology and related knowledge. Understanding these networks provides a platform for introducing the agricultural technologies and getting connected to a wider group of farming communities.

Theoretical Implications: The study shows that the network is formed by different actors and their role determine the nature and shape of the network. Knowledge of this heterogeneity is important in designing or revamping agricultural information systems.

Originality: Information and knowledge networks are least explored in the agricultural information dissemination process. Some studies have shown the role of actors and social networks, but this study uniquely explores and presents the heterogeneity of these networks.  相似文献   

Design/methodology/approach: A review of the literature highlights the economic and pedagogical need for adopting a networked learning approach. Two examples are described to instantiate the language for learning networks: a small community of farmers in India and large Twitter community of Australian farmers.

Findings: This paper reviews evidence that successful networked learning interventions are already occurring within agricultural extension. It provides a framework for describing these interventions and for helping future designers of learning networks in agricultural extension.

Practical implication: Facilitation of learning networks can serve to achieve efficient agricultural extension that connects farmers across distances for constructivist learning. To realize these benefits, designers of learning networks need to consider set design, social design and epistemic design.

Theoretical implication: This paper contributes a theoretical framework for designing, implementing and analysing learning networks in agriculture. It does this by integrating existing ideas from networked learning and applying them to the agricultural context through examples.

Originality/value: This paper contributes an understanding of the value of networked learning for extension in terms of economic and pedagogical benefits. It provides a language for talking about learning networks that is useful for future researchers and for practitioners.  相似文献   

Design/methodology/approach: Individual interviews and focus group discussions were held with 24 farmers over 20 months. Observations were made of these farmers as they participated with eight agricultural and social scientists in a range of innovative experiences to learn about chicory and plantain establishment and management. These learning experiences were designed around evidence-informed educational pedagogies. Data sets were analyzed using NVivo to determine common themes of affordances and barriers to learning and actual practice changes.

Findings: The affordances for learning and practice change include belonging to a learning community, enhancing self-efficacy, engaging with scientists, seeing relative advantage, reinforcing and validating learning, supporting system’s integration and developing an identity as learners. Barriers to learning and practice change include issues of: trialability, complexity, compatibility and risk.

Practical implications: The importance of basing new models of extension around evidence-informed pedagogies known through educational research to promote learning and practice change.

Theoretical implications: Sociocultural theory and self-efficacy theories of learning are critical to the success of effective agricultural extension programs.

Originality: To date, little empirical research about the affordances and barriers for pastoral farmers’ learning has been based on contemporary educational research.  相似文献   

Design/methodology/approach: We engage in seven participatory exercises with groups of farmers from two farmers’ associations in Inharrime district in Mozambique to identify their needs for solar fruit drying that are crucial for solar dryer technology design. We focus in the analysis on three of these exercises including a daily schedule exercise, SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats) analysis and technology requirement exercise.

Findings: Participatory research takes a dual function for integrated agricultural technology development. First, it can help to identify the technology needs of farmers and second it can enable the exchange and creation of different sets of knowledge for agricultural technology development between multiple stakeholders.

Practical implications: Participatory research provides a tool for joint knowledge exchange and creation, which allows the identified technology requirements to be translated into practical technology design.

Theoretical implications: This paper extends the concept of integrated research to integrated agricultural technology development and shows how participatory research is a tool that enables transdisciplinarity, which presents the most desired form of integrated research.

Originality: This research is highly relevant for researchers working in an interdisciplinary environment with agricultural technology development in cross-cultural contexts. From a meta-level perspective, it provides insights for joint and integrated technology development.  相似文献   

Design/Methodology/Approach: Semi-structured interviews with volunteers from different occupational groups in Bangladesh, and a phone survey with 227 respondents.

Findings: Each occupational group acted differently. Shop keepers, tillage service providers, agricultural input and machine dealers reached fairly small audiences. Tea stall owners had large, male audiences. Non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations, reached more women. The cable TV (dish-line) operators showed the videos on local TV, but some were reluctant to do so again. The Union Information Service Centres showed the videos and reached women viewers. Half of the official government extension agents surveyed also showed the videos publically.

Practical Implication: This video featured maize, wheat and rice seeding machinery. Because the machinery is complex and requires hands-on training, this first video aimed to expose tillage and sowing service providers and farmers to the machinery, without trying to teach them how to use it. But some farmers were so interested that they watched the video many times to learn more about the equipment. Before farmers and service providers decide to buy machinery for direct seeding, they still want to see and learn from demonstration plantings, to examine first-hand how the crop behaves when planted with the new equipment.

Originality/Value: Video can be an effective way of sharing high-quality information with a large audience, if properly distributed.  相似文献   

Methodology: A multiple regression analysis was employed to assess the combined effect of the knowledge bases, factors such as age of the household head, land size, marketing channels and geophysical factors (such as land slope) on linseed productivity.

Findings: The findings reveal no differences in productivity between trained and untrained farmers. They further show that training and the interaction between training and experience positively influence productivity. Our findings, however, reveal farmer education to have an inverse yet insignificant effect on productivity. Furthermore, we found that factors such as the slope of the land and the choice of marketing channel also play an important role in influencing productivity.

Practical implications: Moving away from the traditional top-down approach could be the answer to avoid a mismatch between the information given by trainers and what the farmers actually need.

Theoretical implications: The study used interaction variables of knowledge bases, and attempted to demonstrate the importance of a tacit knowledge base, which is often not well documented and therefore neglected in research.

Originality/value: The research demonstrates the combined effects that interactions between several knowledge bases have on the productivity of linseed farmers.  相似文献   

Design/Methodology/Approach: This study was conducted in Ireland using a pre-test, post-test experimental design. All students were instructed on how to complete two skills using either a traditional or blended methodology. They were subsequently assessed to determine their ability to perform the practical skills.

Findings: The findings stressed the suitability of blended learning not only when it was found that there was no significant difference between method of teaching and skill acquisition but also when it was revealed that student demographics had no major influence on skill acquisition.

Practical Implications: It can be concluded that blended learning can be used effectively for the instruction of a diverse range of practical skills in agricultural college and benefit in the successful knowledge transfer to a growing and diverse student population with more emphasis placed on the students taking charge of their own learning environment.

Originality/Value: The article demonstrates the value of blended learning as a successful medium for practical skill attainment within the agricultural college environment.

Findings: The findings stressed the suitability of blended learning not only when it was found that there was no significant difference between method of teaching and skill acquisition but also when it was revealed that student demographics had no major influence on skill acquisition.

Practical Implications: It can be concluded that blended learning can be used effectively for the instruction of a diverse range of practical skills in agricultural college and benefit in the successful knowledge transfer to a growing and diverse student population with more emphasis placed on the students taking charge of their own learning environment.

Originality/Value: The article demonstrates the value of blended learning as a successful medium for practical skill attainment within the agricultural college environment.  相似文献   

Design/Methodology/Approach: A participatory experimentation approach was followed to arrive at recommendations matching with local preferences and context. In total, 16 groups of 5 farmers were monitored during 4 years.

We monitored research strategy of the farmer groups by considering the following: (1) the type of treatments, (2) the inclusion of responsive treatments, (3) the actual responses achieved and (4) the treatments perceived optimal.

Findings: We found that the farmer groups followed a very rational, context-rooted strategy that, e.g. in its focus on straw production and the use of combinations of organic and mineral fertilizers, differed from that of the researchers.

Practical implications: Farmers often follow research strategies different from standard scientific approaches. Consequently, in participatory experimentation, involvement of farmers in defining the actual experimental design is required to deal with local preferences and context.

Theoretical implications: Outcomes of participatory experimentation are directly relevant for further outscaling of the technologies involved. In addition, insights and understanding obtained also might support upscaling in the form of designing rural development policies.

Originality/Value: Participatory experimentation processes are applied in development work for different reasons but often concentrate primarily on direct outputs. For development workers engaged in such processes, it is important to realize that actual involvement of participants in the whole process is equally important.  相似文献   

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.  相似文献   

_____ comprehensive and unified;

_____ able to take into account the particular possibilities of individual adult educators; and

_____ easily adjustable to the particular needs within the community.

Such a scheme can only be realized through the application of a modular structure. A scheme like this is being developed at Gwent College of Higher Education for a professional training programme which will give a Certificate in Continuing Education, conferring full teacher status in adult and further education. This development is used to illustrate the points the author wants to make. The development of a programme on such a scheme raises considerable structural and methodological problems, which are discussed and compared with what is done elsewhere.  相似文献   

Methodology: The study used the logit model to predict the probability of adoption behaviour, and Social Network Analysis (SNA) was conducted to analyse the question of whether validating information about organic farming provided by interpersonal information sources is associated with communication frequency.

Findings: Our findings demonstrate that being an early adopter of organic farming practices and frequent contact with young and highly educated farmers increases the probability of adoption of other AEM. However, contact frequency in interpersonal networks was found not to be a significant determinant for explaining adoption decisions. Frequently communicating farmers in the network are more likely to attribute higher levels of importance to organic farming information received from formal actors than to information received from informal actors.

Practical Implications: If young and highly educated farmers, who can be considered as informal opinion leaders, are approached by the extension services, then an effective diffusion of information on AEM can be expected. To support the AEM adoption, a platform should be provided by state agencies that would enable organic farmers to understand the environmental benefits achieved over the time.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the scientific discussion on the role of interpersonal communication on AEM adoption. A new aspect is our consideration of organic farmers adopting additional AEM. Moreover, we highlight organic farmers' validation of the importance of formal and informal information sources on organic farming.  相似文献   

Design/methodology/approach: A stratified survey including 103 villages and 823 farmers was conducted in all districts of Haryana (India). Firstly, technical efficiency (TE) was modeled using biophysical data including grain yield, seeding rate, wheat varieties, tillage, sowing date, seed source, harvesting method and the application of fertilizer, herbicide and irrigation. The relationship between TE and social community factors such as farm size, farmer age, level of education and agricultural support programs was analyzed by regression tree.

Findings: TE was lower with the farmers who only have education to a primary standard. Farmers with high TE scores were mostly between 35 and 40 years of age, and a higher TE association was common for farmers who use technical publications. Social individual factors such as farmers’ views on the future of farming were also analyzed across different TE levels.

Practical implications: Farmers with lower TE are an obvious target for production improvement, particularly given the understanding that the overall production yield gap is small in Haryana.

Theoretical implications: Our conceptual framework shows a quantitative way to establish the socio-ecological linkage, and to identify the opportunities for changes in management with extension services leading to productivity improvement.

Originality/value: This paper provides a novel framework with detailed methodology to effectively identify the socio-economic factors that limit the biophysical production in an agricultural system.  相似文献   

Methodology/approach: Cross-sectional farm-level data were collected during July and August 2014. A sample of 198 farm households was selected for interviewing by using a multistage, random sampling technique. We employed a logistic regression model, frequency counts, and percentages to analyze the data.

Findings: Adoption decisions were mainly affected by extension-related variables – training, membership in a farmers’ group, and off-farm employment. Extension participation was found to be influenced by socioeconomic variables – age, education, household size, and distance to the extension office. Our findings reveal that distance to the extension office and off-farm employment limited participation in extension activities and adoption, respectively, and education, household size, and group membership stimulated participation in extension programs.

Practical implications: Recognition of the determinants of farmers’ participation in extension services and innovation adoption ensures that targeted extension approaches are used to address these factors in various stages of planning, delivering, and evaluating extension programs.

Theoretical implications: Innovation adoption follows a systematic decision-making process. Although personal characteristics are important, widespread use of new technology requires a conducive social and institutional context. Because contexts vary by country or region, extension services providers should create institutions favorable for innovation adoption within a social system.

Originality/value: This research is original and highly valuable to identify the factors associated with extension participation and innovation adoption in the rural hilly region of Nepal. This also provides a new direction to operationalize farmer-oriented policies of agricultural extension and so can be helpful for agricultural policy-makers in devising programs of extension services.  相似文献   

Aims.

The aims of the study were to investigate whether the style of pupils with behaviour problems was different from that of children with no reported problems, and also to consider how pupils of different style manifested their problem behaviours.

Sample.

The sample comprised 83 male pupils aged 10‐18 years from two residential special schools.

Method.

The sample were given the Cognitive Styles Analysis to assess their positions on the Wholist‐Analytic and Verbal‐Imagery style dimensions. The pupil records of the special school pupils who were at the extreme of the style dimensions were also examined.

Results.

When their style characteristics were contrasted with a Comparison Sample of 413 12‐16‐year‐old males attending 10 secondary schools, the special school pupils had a significantly higher proportion of both Wholists and Verbalisers, than the Comparison Group. Further, the inspection of the records indicated that the types of social behaviour and behaviour problems exhibited varied with style, and particularly on the Wholist‐Analytic dimension.

Conclusion.

The results were considered to have implications for the origins and treatment of problem behaviour.  相似文献   

Design/Methodology/Approach: We calculated information scores to measure channel preference from a randomly selected sample of farmers: 285 in Tamale, Ghana and 300 in Kakamega, Kenya. Using t-tests we compared the information score differences of different channels between farmers who adopted Integrated Soil Fertility Management and those who did not.

Findings: The highest information scores were observed for radio along the entire value chain for both locations. However, farmers in Tamale prefered interpersonal channels for processing information. Radio and farmer field days had the highest rankings for production information at both locations. Radio, workshops and interpersonal channels (traders and neighbours/friends/relatives) were best-bet channels for marketing and procesing information.

Practical implication: Extension agents should place more emphasis on channels such as radio, farmer field days, and workshops as they may offer more efficient delivery of information packages at all levels, whilst recognizing the central role of interpersonal channels.

Theoretical implication: The nexus between the uses and gratification, adoption, diffusion of innovations theories and the collaborative communication theory on one hand, and the agricultural product value chain framework on the other, is highlighted. Farmers’ preference for information channels is not predicated on the stage of the value chain.

Originality/Value: In the current context of weak agricultural knowledge and innovation systems in African agriculture, agricultural producers are poorly informed about the current innovations. This study furnishes empirical evidence on the best-bet information channels to be used by extension workers and change agents to disseminate and communicate system innovations.  相似文献   

Design/methodology/approach: Household impacts were estimated using two-stage regression with instrumental variables to account for selection bias. Gains in household income were extrapolated to estimate the net incremental benefit of the program and its financial return at district level. These analyses were underpinned by a rigorous sampling design.

Findings: The results show that the outsourced extension service made a significant and substantial contribution to household crop income and net income. In addition, clients perceived a range of socio-economic benefits such as better diets, improved product quality, and job creation. Analysis of the financial cost and benefit of the extension service at district level suggests an annual net incremental benefit of R5 million (US$0.4 million), and a 95% probability that returns to the service exceeded 20% in 2012/2013.

Practical implications: These results suggest that there is good reason for donors to continue funding effective extension services to small farmers in areas of high agricultural potential.

Theoretical implications: This is an empirical study. It uses well-established methods to measure the impact but introduces a local economy multiplier to capture some of the indirect effects of agricultural extension.

Originality/value: This research is valuable as very few studies worldwide have evaluated the impact of agricultural extension services at both the farm and program levels.  相似文献   

Methodology: Multivariate analysis is used to investigate the associations between region, education level, previous experience in dairy farming, herd size, age and the farmer's perception of the usefulness (PU) and ease-of-use of a technology (PEOU), and the likelihood of that technology being adopted.

Findings: The results of this study identify a high rate of grazing, artificial insemination (AI) and financial management technology adoption among NE dairy farmers whose technology decisions are primarily motivated by financial considerations and are closely related to the PU and PEOU scores of the technology. Grassland measurement had the lowest adoption rate (51%) compared to AI (86%) and farm financial management (84%).

Practical Implications: The substantial importance of PU and PEOU to technology adoption decisions indicates that future research, extension and education programmes should place increased emphasis on the benefits and usability of key technologies in addition to evaluating their scientific merit.

Originality/Value: For the first time information assessing technology adoption amongst new dairy farmers is available. This has the potential to improve and increase extension and education for new dairy farmers in a future post-quota environment.  相似文献