"The finding of the research reveals that majorities (90%) of the farmers were males, within their active productive ages (31-42 years) and 50% of them had attained Islamic education. Most of the farmers obtained agricultural information through radio agricultural programmes (97.8%) out of which maj
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ority had access to information through the format of presentation or discussion by an expert and or the extension workers (77.8%). The finding also revealed that farmers adopted the information disseminated through radio, which was found to be highly relevant (32.2%) to the farmers agricultural activities. Farmers gained the knowledge of agricultural management practices (26.7%), prevention of post harvest losses (17.8%) and appropriate application of fertilizer (16.7%), and which was found to be very important and effective to majority (97.8%) of the farmers agricultural activities." (Abstract)
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"This research project addressed specifically the information-seeking behaviour of small scale farming households in Kenya. It focused on how farmers are informed about innovation on new methods of increasing agricultural productivity, which is one of the main challenges for Africa's agriculture and
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its rural population. Shortcomings in information are presumed to be one essential element that might hinder the uptake of new methods that are made available by agricultural research. For this purpose a survey with 600 small-scale farming household was conducted, investigating the information needs and patterns. The main results of the survey point to (a) the dominating role of radio as the main media channel used by almost all farmers for receiving agricultural information and much less the mobile phone that is thought by Western donors and NGOs to be the new information tool (b) the high credibility of Government extension services as the most trustworthy source regarding agricultural information although farmers bemoan the fact that extension officers are difficult to reach and less available than expected, and (c) the apparent gap between what farmers need and what they get in two respects: They mainly get technical information, for example on new varieties, planting methods or new crops, but they also want more information on markets, gaining more income and more basic knowledge. They prefer to receive information as a comprehensive package and not isolated bits. Secondly, they prefer another mode of getting information, not the usual top down approach with little explanation, but a comprehensive mode which provides them with various options accompanied by a lot of explanation. Surprisingly, many farmers say that they lack even basic knowledge of good agricultural practice." (Executive summary)
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"On 1 June 2011, Oxfam launched the GROW campaign to tackle food injustice and build a better food system. The GROW campaign is broad and diverse, operating at national, regional and international levels, across 4 thematic areas – land, investment in small-scale agriculture, climate change and foo
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d price volatility. As of March 2013, teams in 34 Southern countries and 16 Northern ‘affiliate’ countries were involved in the campaign. In this first phase, a number of outcomes were achieved across 50 countries and globally. The most significant achievement was securing policy changes or commitments on food and land from governments, corporations, and global bodies in addition to involving rural women in these processes. The biggest challenge has been to “deeply engage” with a significant global audience of 50 million on one or more of the GROW themes. More success has been seen in building national networks or cross-country initiatives, that while effective, haven’t constituted a global movement on food." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"Through two case studies, this paper evaluates the value of the feminist visual methodology Photovoice as an interactive consultation tool with rural Rwandan women working in agriculture. This exploratory study suggests that it is possible, through an adapted Photovoice process, to engage and empow
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er women in the production of information about what is most relevant to them, and reach and engage practitioners and officials through an exhibition of participants' photographs and captions. This confirmation of Photovoice's applicability with rural women in the generation of information that captures the attention of stakeholders demonstrates its potential for reproducibility in other development contexts." (Abstract)
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"Analyzes the growth and evolution of mobile telephony, including the rise of data-based services delivered to handheld devices through “apps” (applications) and other ways. Summarizing current thinking and seeking to inform the debate on the use of mobile phones to improve livelihoods, the repo
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rt looks, in particular, at key ecosystem-based applications in agriculture, health, financial services, employment, and government, with chapters devoted to each, and explores the consequences of the emerging “app economy” for development. The global conversation is no longer about the phone itself, but about how it is used and the content and applications that it opens up. These apps and “mash-ups” of services, driven by high-speed networks, social networking, online crowdsourcing, and innovation, are helping mobile phones transform lives in developed and developing countries alike." (Back cover)
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"This paper examines the potential role of indigenous knowledge sharing through rural FM radio stations in Ghanaian agriculture. To identify social learning effects, we examine crop productivity trends and their association with participation in radio programs, and compare the strength of these asso
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ciations before and after the emergence of rural radio. Our analysis shows stronger conditional correlations between participation intensity and noncash crop yields, which are consistent with the expectation that noncash crop farmers will more likely adjust farming practice as a result of social learning. The results suggest the potential for agricultural research to have an impact on effective farming by taking advantage of rural FM radio stations." (Abstract)
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"In 2010, Farm Radio International gathered information about farmer radio programs from radio stations in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi. We visited twenty stations and two production houses and listened to their farmer programs. We posed hundreds of questions to the people making the
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programs and to the people listening to them. Stemming from our findings, we are publishing a list of tips for broadcasters who want to improve their farmer programs starting right now! Positive change rarely happens overnight – but it does start with one forward step. We have grouped these tips into three categories: quick fixes, middle-sized improvements, and the big stuff. We encourage you to consider implementing the “quick fixes.” If they work out, move on to more complex improvements. Before long, you will have a transformed radio program – more effective and more fun - with more job satisfaction too!" (Introduction)
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"This technical report seeks to understand the impact of improved access to information technology on farmers’ agricultural production and marketing practices in sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on Niger. Related research suggests in that access to mobile telephony can reduce communicatio
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n and search costs, thereby increasing rural households’ access to price and labor market information. Reducing information asymmetries should, in theory, allow households to better respond to shocks. We find that increased access to a mobile phone via an adult education program increases the diversity of crops planted, particularly marginal cash crops grown by women. This also increases the likelihood that these cash crops are grown, but does not increase the farm-gate price received." (Abstract)
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"This toolkit is designed to help USAID projects and other implementing organizations use interactive radio to augment the traditional agricultural extension services they are providing. In addition, it aims to provide practitioners with a foundational understanding of what is needed to create compe
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lling radio programming. It is important to stress that this toolkit does not assume that radio is the most appropriate solution for disseminating agricultural information. Rather, given the fact that radio continues to be the most readily accessible communication tool in much of sub-Saharan Africa, this toolkit aims to enable practitioners to develop a more systematic approach to using interactive radio as one medium through which they share information with farmers." (Introduction)
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"In 2011 five UK-based development agencies were given a unique opportunity to pilot the use of participatory video with farmers in six sub-Saharan countries, through small supplementary grants awarded by Comic Relief. The UK-based funder Comic Relief recognises that the impacts of climate change th
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reaten to undermine their grants portfolio. As part of their response, they initiated the participatory video programme to enable those grantees working on climate change related issues, and in receipt of grants to support these activities, to apply for a participatory video project to be delivered by InsightShare. This final programme report aims to present an overview of these six participatory video projects undertaken between January and August 2012. It represents a synthesis of the detailed narrative reports produced by InsightShare’s facilitators, with additional content drawn from conversations with key staff from local partners, UK agencies and the facilitators themselves. In addition it presents conclusions and recommendations drawn from an overview of the collated information." (Introduction)
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"Using low-Cost videos within your agricultural development project can be an effective way for increasing the scale of your activities by leveraging the expertise of local experts and farmers for a broader audience. Since the videos may be created in the field by your staff, the cost will be lower
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than professionally produced videos, and the turnaround time from concept to final product will likely be much faster. Given the cost and time benefits, you will also likely be able to create many more videos than you would be able to do otherwise. Also, if you find that one of your videos is not having the desired impact, it is much less expensive to create a newer, more effective video than it would be using a professional videographer. Last, producing videos with local stakeholders will likely increase local ownership of content, empower local farmers by giving them a voice, and increase local exposure to ICT tools." (Introduction, page ix-x)
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"[...] FAO’s Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension (OEK) organized an Expert Consultation on Communication for Development: Meeting Today’s Agriculture and Rural Development Challenges, that was held at FAO headquarters from 14 to 16 September, 2011. The main purpose was to identi
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fy challenges and strategic actions to maximize ComDev contribution to the agriculture and rural development sector, while positioning it in the work of the Organization. The Expert Consultation was organized by the FAO ComDev team in collaboration with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD). The event brought together 32 international ComDev experts and representatives from development agencies, donors, NGOs, communication networks, rural institutions and the academic community. Participants identified key challenges and strategic areas for ComDev support to agriculture and rural development (e.g. food security, innovation systems, climate change adaptation) such as capacity development for rural institutions and projects, interface with other approaches such as knowledge management, convergence between mass and community media, need for regulatory frameworks, and access to funding. Special attention was given to the need for documenting ComDev impact in the field and for mainstreaming ComDev into agricultural policies and programs." (Executive summary)
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"Despite the massive uptake of mobile phones by agricultural producers, there are few quantitative studies that provide hard evidence of a link between technology and poverty reduction. Those studies that have explored this, however, found that farmer access to market information through radio, mobi
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le phones and internet resulted in higher farm-gate prices and a better bargaining position with local traders. To make good on the promise of ICT transformation, however, the paper suggests that organizations from the public and private sectors will need to create new types of partnerships and business networks with the millions of smallholder farmers in the developing world. Some general recommendations for ensuring these technologies contribute to sustainable and equitable development include: promote investment policies that give communications companies incentives to cross subsidize investments from higher profit areas to expand infrastructure into less commercial rural areas; support income levies within the commercial communications markets so that a percentage of profit is made available for public goods services; in more remote areas combine wireless technologies with electrical power sources that can be used by communities to support other vital sectors, such as health and education; promote and support the development of content in local languages to improve the accessibility and inclusiveness of ICT applications." (Executive summary)
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"The process of knowledge brokering in the agricultural sector, where it is generally called agricultural extension, has been studied since the 1950s. While agricultural extension initially employed research push models, it gradually moved towards research pull and collaborative research models. The
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current agricultural innovation systems perspective goes beyond seeing research as the main input to change and innovation, and recognises that innovation emerges from the complex interactions among multiple actors and is about fostering combined technical, social and institutional change. As a result of adopting this innovation systems perspective, extension is refocusing to go beyond enhancing research uptake, and engaging in systemic facilitation or what has been called ‘innovation brokering’. Innovation brokering is about performing several linkage building and facilitation activities in innovation systems, creating an enabling context for effective policy formulation and implementation, development and innovation. Conclusions are that an innovation systems perspective also has relevance for sectors other than agriculture, which implies that in these sectors knowledge brokering as enhancing research uptake and use should be complemented with broader innovation brokering activities." (Abstract)
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