Agricultural technology, green strategic orientation and rural women farmers green market success: the role of social capital

Purpose This study investigates how agricultural technology (AgTech) innovation, from the perspective of rural women farmers, enhances green knowledge management (GKM) dimensions – namely acquisition, sharing and application – to drive sustainable farming. Additionally, it explores the moderating role of green intellectual capital (GIC) in strengthening the relationship between GKM dimensions and sustainable farming. Design/methodology/approach Guided by a post-positivist philosophical stance, the study employed a quantitative methodological approach and survey strategy. Data were collected from 450 purposively sampled rural women farmers engaged in livestock farming, mixed farming and crop production across three agriculturally vibrant regions in Ghana. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The results reveal that AgTech significantly influences sustainable farming and the GKM dimensions of acquisition, sharing and application. Moreover, GKM dimensions partially mediate the relationship between AgTech and sustainable farming, while GIC moderates the relationship between GKM dimensions and sustainable farming, further strengthening their impact. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to integrate the natural resource-based view (NRBV), knowledge-based view (KBV) and resource-based view (RBV) to explore the interrelationships among AgTech, green knowledge management (GKM) and green intellectual capital (GIC) in promoting sustainable agriculture. It offers a novel theoretical contribution by combining these frameworks to explain sustainability outcomes in an underexplored context. Empirically, the study addresses a significant gap by focusing on rural women farmers in a developing economy, an often-overlooked group, in agri-digital research. Methodologically, it demonstrates the robustness of structural equation modeling (SEM) in capturing complex relationships among knowledge, resources and sustainability in agricultural systems.

The study examined cooperative membership by rural women farmers and agricultural production in Cross River State, Nigeria with the following specific objectives: analyze the socio-economic characteristics of rural women in the area, describe the determinants of participation by rural women farmers in cooperative societies in the area and describe the factors affecting rural women farmers participation in cooperative societies in the area. A multistage sampling procedure was used in the selection of 180 respondents. Descriptive statistics and Logistic regression were employed to analyze the data of the study. Result of analysis showed that forty percent (40%) of the respondents aware of the existence of such society and literacy level (24.4%) respectively as major determinants of level of participation in cooperative society. Others like societal norm, farm business activities, membership formalities also determined participation in cooperative societies by rural women farmers in the area. Furthermore, result of the Logistic regression indicated that household size (1.5643), education (2.1777), access to cooperative society (1.5643), income of rural women farmers (1.4161) and business size (1.5460) where all positively signed and significant at different levels of significance. Eighty six percent of the variation in level of participation in cooperative society was explained by the explanatory variables in the model.Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made: extension services by government should be encouraged, rural women farmers should be accorded more education and training to create awareness for participation in cooperative societies, government should intervene in some obnoxious societal norms limiting rural women farmers socialization.

In spite of an abundance of human and material resources, poverty is a reality in emerging countries and has recently been increasing quickly, particularly in Nigeria. The study evaluated socioeconomic factors impacting rural women in Kuje Area Council, Abuja's use of non-farm poverty coping mechanisms. Determine the socioeconomic traits of rural women farmers; assess the poverty coping mechanisms used by rural women farmers; identify socioeconomic factors influencing the adoption of poverty coping mechanisms by rural women farmers; and identify barriers associated with poverty coping mechanisms used by the rural women farmer. These were the specific objectives of the study. The rural women farming households in the research area were chosen using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the data, including frequency, mean score, percentages, and the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 23. According to the results of the socioeconomic factors impacting the usage of poverty coping techniques, the majority of respondents (26%) were between the ages of 50 and 59, (74%) were married, had households with six to ten members, and (56%) had no formal education. It is clear from the study that the rural women farmers in the study area lived in extreme poverty. Hawking was a common approach for living with poverty, and it was followed by the tailoring industry, an increase in the number of hours worked each day, the weaving industry, and home trading, among other strategies. According to the findings, the biggest obstacles rural women farmers face in overcoming poverty are high transportation costs, inadequate finances, limited access to credit, limited access to land, poor education, and sociocultural restrictions (Purdah), According on the study's findings, the following suggestions were made: In order to strengthen their adopting behavior, managerial skills, and adaptability for diverse coping techniques, farmers must be encouraged to participate in educational programs such as adult education, skill acquisition and training, conferences, and workshops.

Information is very important for sustainable agricultural development. In order to increase agricultural production, enhance good distribution strategies, achieve improve and efficient marketing system, agricultural information should be at the central position. This study evaluated elements of rural economics: access to agricultural information among rural women farmers in Abuja, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to: identify the socio-economic characteristics of rural women farmers, examine the various ways rural women farmers have access to agricultural information, and evaluate the factors influencing rural women farmers’ access to new agricultural information in Abuja, Nigeria. A sample of 90 rural women farmers was selected through a multistage sampling technique from three selected agricultural extension blocks namely: Byazhin, Kubwa and Bwari Central. The data were collected with the aid of a questionnaire. The analytical tools used were descriptive statistics and Maximum Likelihood Estimates using Logit regression model. The results indicated that about 94 percent of the rural women farmers were less than 55years of age which implies that most of the rural women farmers are in their active age. About 86 percent of the rural women farmers were married. Household sizes were large, 76 percent of rural women farmers had less than 10 members. Furthermore, 97 percent of the rural women farmers had less than 30 years farming experiences. In addition, 92 percent of the rural women farmers realized income less than N 100, 000.00 or 318 US Dollar from the sales of their farm products annually. The results further show that the print media and audio-visuals (radio and television) were the major information sources of rural women farmers. The Logit model results revealed that age, marital status and members of farmer’s cooperative association had positive and significant relationships with access to agricultural knowledge and information atrespectively. The coefficient of Nagelkerke determinant (R2) value was 0.658. The coefficient of Cox and Snell determinant (R2) value was 0.488. The study recommends that well-trained female extension agents should be provided in the study area to train the rural women farmers on modern farming techniques that will increase agricultural productivity or yields.

This study determined the impact of micro-finance on poverty level of rural women farm households in Abia State, Nigeria: Implication for policy intervention. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to +select the local government areas, communities and respondents in the three (Aba, Ohafia and Umuahia) agricultural zones of the State. The sample size was 240 (120 a piece for rural women farmer borrowers and non borrowers). Instrument of data collection was a set of structured and pre-tested questionnaire administered on both groups of rural women farmers. The result indicated that incidence of poverty or head count ratio was 0.558 for the rural women farmers borrowers and 0.933 for the rural women farmer non borrowers; poverty gap otherwise known as income short fall was 0.4547 for the rural women farmer borrowers and 0.6995 for the rural women farmer non borrowers. The result of the paired t-test showed that micro-finance impacted significantly on annual farm income, farm size and fertilizer use level of rural women farmer borrowers at given levels of significance. It was however, recommended that increased subsidy policy on agro-inputs and increased funding by the micro-finance will significantly aim at reducing the poverty levels of these women.

Globalization has made agriculture more competitive in a way that access to and control of farm resources is extremely important. This study examines rural women’s access to farm resources in arable small-scale food production in the North West Region of Cameroon. Using a multistage sampling technique a total of 1,120 rural women farmers were surveyed in order to capture their socioeconomic characteristics and access to arable land, agricultural inputs, agricultural extension information and source of finance and involvement in food production in smallholder production systems. All data collected was subjected to descriptive statistics. The results showed that rural women have access to arable land through their families but they do not control arable land. They have access to agricultural inputs but lack rural feeder roads and access to agricultural extension information and/or services. Rural women farmers lack finances and mostly access finance for arable agriculture from traditional social groups and their husbands to solve additional constraints of poor soils, pests and diseases. The rural women are involved in major crop production activities (land preparation (ploughing/ridging), sowing, weeding, harvesting and storage) which necessitate access to and control of farm resources but have limited access to resources in order to be efficient and competitive. Because of limited control of farm resources, they are not involved in decision-making, which usually translates into lateness in carrying out farm operations and consequently low yields. Access to land resources by rural women is controlled by cultural and technical factors. Boosting crop production will require that efforts are made socially and technically to remove the afore-mentioned barriers in the acquisition of farm resources. Therefore, agricultural production policies and programs should establish direct linkage between agricultural extension information and/or services, and rural women farmers, and provide incentives to rural women involved in arable small-scale agricultural production in order to maintain a steady growth rate of food production.

Mobile phone helps in communication and thus, lead to accessing information is gaining popularity in Bangladesh along with many developing countries.In the remote rural areas where mobile network is not up to the expectation yet and scarcity of information is a stark, rural farm women entrepreneur trying to seek information through mobile phone. The focus of the study was to determine the extent and types of information seeking through mobile phones by the rural farm women and explore the contribution of selected characteristics of the rural farm women on the extent of information seeking through mobile phones. The study was conducted in two geographic locations, in the Northern part of Bangladesh Doholpara, and Dakkhinkharibari village under DimlaUpazila, and in the Southern part Borokupot village of ShyamnagarUpazila. A multi-stage sampling technique was followed in conducting the study. The present study was conducted on 150 sampled rural farm women which comprised of 50 from each farm enterprise's crop, fisheries, and livestock. Data were collected by a pre-tested interview schedule that was prepared with simple and direct questions with different appropriate scales from September to December 2020. Along with descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression analysis were also performed. The major findings revealed that the majority of the rural farm women of each three farm enterprises (crop, fisheries, and livestock) in the study area were found in a category of those who seek agricultural information through mobile phone at a medium to a higher level. Findings also revealed that in all three agricultural farm enterprises, rural farm women mostly seek market information i.e. calling market centers, traders, and dealers for checking market price followed by collecting weather forecast and contact with experts during an emergency like information regarding diseases of fish, selection fish fries and contact with the veterinary surgeon or quack doctor regarding domestics animal. Among profile characteristics, family size, experience in managing the farm, attitude towards the mobile phone, and organizational participation were identified as the important contributing factors of the rural farm women in seeking information through mobile phone.

This research paper investigates the impact of mobile technology on empowering rural women farmers and promoting inclusive agricultural development. The primary emphasis is on how mobile technology enables rural women producers to become more self-reliant in agriculture, promotes market participation, strengthens social connections, facilitates socioeconomic integration, enhances rural quality of life, and fosters sustainable agricultural development. In addition, this study also analyses the influence of demographic factors on the use of mobile technology among rural women farmers. This study was carried out in Kerala, a renowned agricultural state in India. In Kerala, the Palakkad district is known to be the granary of Kerala due to the availability of fertile valleys, rivers, forests, and paddy fields. Data were collected from 192 rural women farmers from Palakkad via semi-structured interviews, questionnaire surveys, and focus group discussions (FGD). The data were analyzed using the paired t-test and Garratt ranking method. The results demonstrate that mobile technology markedly enhances access to agricultural information, market engagement, and social connectivity, resulting in greater empowerment for rural women farmers. Nonetheless, obstacles such as insufficient digital literacy and inadequate mobile infrastructure access persist as considerable impediments. The findings demonstrate the revolutionary potential of mobile phone use in bridging information gaps, empowering women farmers in rural areas, and advancing equitable agricultural development, as well as the barriers faced by rural women in using mobile technology.

Among other things, fertility control in Nigeria may not be feasible without recourse to socioeconomic issues such as micro-occupation classification and dominant family cultural traditions facing women and their relationship to fertility behaviour. Rural small-scale women farmers are a relatively closed group with some uniqueness for the understanding of the value of children (VOC) in socioeconomic and cultural contexts and its relationship with fertility behaviour in developing nations. This study, guided by the VOC model, focuses on determining factors for preference for family size (0-4 children) among rural small-scale women farmers in Eha-Amufun in Enugu state. 200 married women (mean age = 33.9; mean age at marriage = 24.5) from 20 agricultural co-operative societies were selected for the study. The study adopted a survey and quantitative research design. Besides the sociodemographic information of the study participants, the study elicited from the respondents information on their choice of family size, the connection of family size with their occupation and the circumstances surrounding son preference and son adoption in the family and rural contexts. The collected data were analysed using the ordinal logistic regression model. The findings show that economic independence, son preference and male child adoption negates limiting family sizes to 0-4 (p<.05) however, age, formal education, children as source of labour and economic independence were positively correlated with the desire for a family size of 4 children and above. In view of the limitations of the study and the ability of the VOC model to unveil spurious factors for fertility behaviour among women, there is a need for comparative studies of rural closed groups in developing nations and their fertility behaviour.Among other things, fertility control in Nigeria may not be feasible without recourse to socioeconomic issues such as micro-occupation classification and dominant family cultural traditions facing women and their relationship to fertility behaviour. Rural small-scale women farmers are a relatively closed group with some uniqueness for the understanding of the value of children (VOC) in socioeconomic and cultural contexts and its relationship with fertility behaviour in developing nations. This study, guided by the VOC model, focuses on determining factors for preference for family size (0-4 children) among rural small-scale women farmers in Eha-Amufun in Enugu state. 200 married women (mean age = 33.9; mean age at marriage = 24.5) from 20 agricultural co-operative societies were selected for the study. The study adopted a survey and quantitative research design. Besides the sociodemographic information of the study participants, the study elicited from the respondents information on their choice of family size, the connection of family size with their occupation and the circumstances surrounding son preference and son adoption in the family and rural contexts. The collected data were analysed using the ordinal logistic regression model. The findings show that economic independence, son preference and male child adoption negates limiting family sizes to 0-4 (p<.05) however, age, formal education, children as source of labour and economic independence were positively correlated with the desire for a family size of 4 children and above. In view of the limitations of the study and the ability of the VOC model to unveil spurious factors for fertility behaviour among women, there is a need for comparative studies of rural closed groups in developing nations and their fertility behaviour.

Rural farm women were chickens’ earliest caretakers and did not, as some literature has suggested, disappear from the work of chicken farming as poultry industrialized. From World War II through the end of the twentieth century, many rural Arkansas farm women were primary managers and workers on chicken farms long after industrialization and vertical integration. With their knowledge of how to care for chickens and their experience keeping track of farm finances, they were important participants in the growth of this new sector of American agribusiness. Industry, media, and government played a critical role in obscuring and prescribing gender roles in the production of this booming agricultural commodity.

This study was to investigate the pattern of agricultural information utilization among the rural women farmers in Effium community of Ebony State. Three research questions and null hypothesis were developed to guide the study. A structured questionnaire was also developed, validated and used for eliciting information from 540 rural women farmers. Data were analyzed with mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions; and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. From the findings, rural women farmers are mostly within middle age for active use of agricultural information; but have small farm holdings, and depend to great extent on inter-personal communication for agricultural information. The findings also revealed that most of rural women farmers have low education. The respondents agreed that women farmers use information on fertilizer, herbicides, improved seeds, labour sources and market locations. But, women rarely use information on livestock management, record keeping, farm planning, sources of credit and farm mechanization. It was then-recommended that government should deploy extension agents into rural areas to educate farmers on the need and how to use new agricultural information technologies. Again farmers should be encouraged to form co-operative societies to enable them secure greater inputs to improve their income.

This study looks at how well e-mobile technology empowers rural women, specifically focusing on women farmers in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, who work to advance agriculture. It further highlights how e-Mobile Technology becomes an asset for rural women farmers in self-sustaining farms, how they participate in the market, socializes, and finally how the rural life of the women improves economically. In addition, it looks at the aspect of sustainability and how these technologies help in practicing sustainable agriculture. The research also explains the demographic composition and its variables in terms of e-Mobile Technology by the Kanpur's rural women farmers. Information was gathered from a sample of 160 rural women farmers in Kanpur using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Multiple statistical analyses, such as paired chi-square tests, t-tests and the Garratt ranking method, were employed to assess the impact of mobile technology applications on rural women's lives because this study examined several factors. The evidence indicates that e-Mobile Technology contributed positively to the enhancement of agricultural information access, enabling women farmers to participate more actively in markets and networking, which collectively leads to their empowerment. Nonetheless, the research noted remaining issues such as a huge digital divide and paramount issues of mobile technology and infrastructure in the periphery. Noto standing these constraints, the findings indicate the promise of mobile technology for closing the information wedge, increasing the participation of females in agriculture and the resultant fair agricultural growth. This research highlights the importance of implementing specific measures aimed at enhancement of digital skills and facilities to help the rural women embrace the e-mobile in agricultural practices.

Background : U.S. farm women experience poor access to health care and high rates of health disparities. Demographic shifts are increasing isolation and decreasing social capital for these women. Providing locally meaningful health care requires cultural-historical understanding gained through community partnership. Yet, rural farming communities present challenges to establish local-buy-in and participation for research collaboration. Purpose: This article describes the steps taken to establish an action partnership between rural, farm women and a local researcher, and outlines lessons learned from using participatory approaches to inform ethnographic research. Sample: Based in an agrarian county in the Northern Great Plains, a partnership between two farm women developed into a research study inclusive of 24 female informants (ages 22-92). Methods: Ethnographic data (key informant interviews, focus groups, participant observation, artifact review, analytic memos, and reflective field notes) was analyzed thematically and the findings were examined reflexively to discern partnership building and participatory approaches that supported local community engagement with research. Findings: Promoters of relationship building included: 1) identifying the community gatekeepers, 2) using locally familiar language, 3) using a culturally congruent approach to recruitment, 4) accommodating seasonal farm demands, and 5) capitalizing on enthusiasm and community resolve to build partnerships for action planning. Conclusion: Local knowledge and sustained community presence are essential for rural nurses to engage in participatory action partnerships with rural farm women. Keywords: Partnership, engagement, rural farm women, participatory action, ethnography DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v16i1.397

The purposes of this study were to determine the extent and nature of livelihood diversification of the rural women and also to explore relationships of 13 selected characteristics of the rural women with their Livelihood diversification. The study was conducted at Bakergonj upazilla of Barishal district. There were a total of 1200 rural women farmers in the 5 villages constituted the population of the study, out of which 10 percent of the total rural women farmers were selected through simple random technique for retrieving the overall idea about livelihood diversification. This gave a sample size of 120 farmers. Data were collected by the researchers themselves with the help of pre-tested interview schedule during 20 September 2012 to 30 October 2012. Findings of the study indicated that the livelihood diversification scores of the respondents ranged from 0.2 to 0.78 with average being 0.41. It is found that more than half of the (54.2 percent) of the farmers had medium level of livelihood diversification compared to 18 percent having low livelihood diversification and 27.5 percent had high livelihood. Out of 13 selected characteristics of the rural women seven of those viz. education, family education, income generating experience, household annual income, communication exposure, organizational participation, attitude towards livelihood diversification had positive significant relationship with livelihood diversification.

Among Indian rural women, malnutrition remained a significant problem because of their high energy needs and insufficient food intake. Under rainfed, medium-land conditions in Bargarh, Puri, Ganjam & Boudh districts of Odisha, the study aimed to assess the nutritional benefits, economic feasibility, and agronomic performance of two bio-fortified sweet potato varieties: Bhusona (yellow-fleshed, rich in β-carotene) and Bhukrishna (purple-fleshed, rich in anthocyanins) in comparison to the native variety Nalikaanda. With rural farm women as the primary participants, a randomised block design (RBD) was used in an On-Farm Trial (OFT) approach. The findings revealed that in terms of yield, profitability, and nutritional content, both bio-fortified varieties considerably surpassed the conventional type. In comparison to the native variety, Bhusona recorded a 33% increase in yield, while Bhukrishna demonstrated a 24.8 % improvement. Higher net profits and benefit-cost ratios for both varieties were found through economic analysis, indicating greater profitability and suitability for smallholder farmers. According to the nutrient profile, Bhusona has 14 mg/100g β-carotene and Bhukrishna has 90 mg/100g anthocyanins, indicating that they may be able to help with vitamin deficits. According to the sensory evaluation, the superior appearance, sweetness, and flavour of Bhusona contributed to its higher overall acceptability score (8.55 ± 0.50) while Bhukrishna received lower preference ratings due to its darker colour and mildly astringent taste. The knowledge, abilities, and confidence of rural women in embracing nutrient-rich, climate-resilient crops were improved by the participatory trials. According to the findings, bio-fortified sweet potatoes are a viable agri-food innovation that can help rural women by increasing their dietary diversity, nutritional security, and economic resilience. It was proposed that widespread distribution, online awareness efforts, and incorporation into public nutrition initiatives might hasten adoption even more and support long-term ecological and social development in rural India. Malnutrition among rural women in India remained a pressing concern due to high energy requirements and inadequate dietary intake. An on-farm trial (OFT) was conducted across four districts of Odisha—Puri, Bargarh, Ganjam, and Boudh—to evaluate the agronomic performance, economic feasibility, and consumer acceptability of two biofortified sweet potato varieties, Bhu Sona (yellow-fleshed, β-carotene-rich) and Bhu Krishna (purple-fleshed, anthocyanin-rich), compared to the local variety Nalikanda (FP). Using a randomized block design (RBD) with three replications per location, data on yield, vine length, tubers per plant, cost-benefit ratio, and sensory attributes were collected. The results indicated that both biofortified varieties significantly outperformed the local check. Bhu Sona recorded the highest tuber yield (161.04 q ha⁻¹), longest vine length (212.43 cm), superior sensory acceptability (8.57 ± 1.35), and highest economic return (B:C ratio 2.18), followed by Bhu Krishna (yield 151.12 q ha⁻¹; B:C 2.15). Nalikanda exhibited the lowest performance across all parameters. Sensory evaluation revealed strong consumer preference for Bhu Sona due to its appealing appearance, sweetness, and flavour. The study demonstrated that biofortified sweet potatoes enhanced dietary diversity, nutritional security, and income among rural farm women. Participatory trials also improved knowledge, skills, and confidence in adopting nutrient-rich, climate-resilient crops. The findings suggested that widespread dissemination, awareness campaigns, and integration into public nutrition programs could have accelerated adoption and supported sustainable livelihoods and nutritional well-being in rural India.