Agricultural Communication Research Articles

Cultivating Creativity: Faculty Conceptions of Creativity in Agricultural Communications Students

Cultivating Creativity: Faculty Conceptions of Creativity in Agricultural Communications Students

Разработка программ освоения минерально-сырьевых ресурсов Якутии в 1920-е годы

The article is devoted to the development of an industrial policy for the development of natural mineral resources of Yakutia, the main provisions of which were approved in 1927 at the V All-Yakut Congress of Soviets. The relevance of the study of the industrial policy of the 1920s is related to the fact that many approaches to the issues of planning and organizing production later proved themselves, turning into certain practical production results. The article describes the experience of Yakutia in the development of a prospective regional plan. It is based on the principles of economic zoning taking into account the peculiarities of the economy of certain regions of the country and combining the requirements of the Center with the capabilities of the regions. The basis of the industrial policy of Yakutia made up plans for the primary development of the mining industry and the gold mining industry, which were to form the basis for the development of the national economy, the mining and processing local industry, the agricultural production, transport and communications. It was concluded that the development of industrial policy based on economic regionalization allowed Yakutia to take the first steps to integrate the economy into the all-Russian economic development plan and into the process of socialist reconstruction of the country's economy, to determine its place in the division of labor, to identify its economic specificity and specialization.

Converging free and open source software tools for knowledge sharing in smallholder agricultural communities in Sri Lanka

In a world where the notion of ‘sharing of knowledge’ has been gained much prominence in the recent past, the importance of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to promote sustainable agriculture, especially when combined with mobile and open source software technologies is discussed critically. On this rationale, this study was carried out to explore the applicability of the concept of converging ‘Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)’ to promote sustainable knowledge sharing amongst the agricultural communities in Sri Lanka. A multi-stage community consultative process with a set of designated officials (“Sponsors”) and a series of semi-structured questionnaire survey with a cross section of smallholder agriculture farmers (n=246), were carried out in the Batticaloa, Kurunegala and Puttalam districts to gather the baseline data. This was followed by a number of field experiments (“Campaigns”) with the farmers (n=340) from same geographical areas. The two FOSS, namely: (1) “FrontlineSMS” for ‘Text Messaging’ and (2) “FreedomFone” for ‘Interactive Voice Responses’, were applied to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge sharing within the farming communities. It was found that FOSS intervention increases the ‘Text messaging’ and ‘Voice Call’ usage in day-to-day agricultural communication by 26 and 8 percent, respectively. The demographic factors like age and income level of the farmers has positively influence on the knowledge sharing process. And also the ‘Mobile Telephony’ was the most extensive mode of communication within the communities. The outcome of analysis, as a whole, implies that, with a fitting mechanism in place, this approach can be promoted as a “drive for positive changes” in agriculture-based rural communities in developing countries like Sri Lanka, and those in South and East Asia with similar socio-economic and cultural perspectives.

Farmers' contact with agricultural extension in Haditha district and its relation to some variables

The study aimed to identify the communicative level of farmers in the agricultural extension system in Haditha district through various means of communication and the relationship of this level with the age of the farmer, his educational achievement and his confidence in the agricultural extension system. A random sample of 10% of the total number of farmers 1138 was selected. The number of respondents was 114 farmers. A questionnaire was used to collect data from farmers through a personal interview. The results of the study showed that there is a significant weakness in the communication process between the farmers and the agricultural communication system by different means whether individual, collective or public, where 80.55, 94.74 and 90.50% of the farmers indicated that they did not communicate through these means, respectively. The study showed that there is a correlation between the level of communication and the farmers’ age, his educational achievement and his confidence in the agricultural extension system. The study recommended the necessity to develop the extension system and increase its effectiveness at all levels, whether local or central, and provide material and human support for it to carry out his tasks in the delivery of modern agricultural techniques and achieve comprehensive rural development.

Examining Thought Proceses to Understand the Impact of Water Conservation Messages on Attitude

Water availability issues have plagued many regions around the world and is viewed as the top issue facing the world. As a result, encouraging water conservation has become a priority for agricultural communicators. Previous research suggests strategically framed messages can impact attitudes about water conservation, but whether this change is a result of deep thoughts or simple cues has not been explored. This study used semi-structured qualitative interviews to explore the thought processes of individuals who irrigate their home landscape by presenting them with strategically framed messages. This audience was targeted due to the high volumes of water they use for irrigation. The interview process sought to understand how this group processed communication by asking participants to list their thoughts and verbalize their feelings toward a personal and a social message. The analysis was guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model. The findings suggested participants processed the messages peripherally or retained their initial attitude. The findings implied this particular audience had more favorable thoughts toward the social benefits of water conservation than personal benefits. Future messages developed to promote water conservation should focus on the social benefits to promote increased change.

Fostering technology stewardship approach to promote knowledge sharing among farming communities in Sri Lanka

Agricultural knowledge plays a pivotal role in the process of transforming the livelihoods of farmers relied on subsistence agriculture. However, development of credible approaches to “share” the indigenous and scientific knowledge in possession of farmers in order to enhance their competitive edge in agriculture has become a challenge at present. This paper explores the applicability of theconcept of ‘Technology Stewardship’ in order to promote sustainable knowledge sharing amongst the agricultural farming communities in Sri Lanka. A community consultative process adopted with the officials (“Sponsors”) and a series of structured questionnaire-based face-to-face interviews and keyinformant surveys carried out with a cross section of smallholder agriculture farmers (n=183) in the Batticaloa and Kurunegala districts facilitated gathering of baseline data/information, and in turn, to select and train six Technology Stewards (TEs). A number of field experiments (“Campaigns”) were conducted then with smallholder farmers (n=260) “with” and “without” the assistance of those TEs during April 2014 to July 2015. The ‘FrontlineSMS’ (a low-cost, user-friendly, free and open source text messaging software) and Freedom Fone (low cost Interactive Voice Responses software) were applied to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge sharing through the TEs work with these communities. It was found that the use of “Texting” and “Voice” facilities in day-to-day agricultural communication has been increased by 22% and 8%, respectively, when the process has been assisted by the TEs. This implies that TEs can effectively be utilized, with capacity development through intensive training modules, to reduce the transaction costs associated with sharing of information with farmers, starting from the lowest socio-economic category in such communities.

Using an Experiential Learning Design to Teach Photography in Agricultural Communications

Using an Experiential Learning Design to Teach Photography in Agricultural Communications

Are We There Yet? Toward an Agricultural Communications Academic Organization

Are We There Yet? Toward an Agricultural Communications Academic Organization

Research Productivity in Development Communication in the Philippines

Pioneered in the 70s by Nora Quebral of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, Development Communication (DevCom) is now recognized globally as a scientific discipline. As such, it is now a part of the research and development (R&D) agenda of national and international research organizations. For almost four decades, no study has been conducted to find out the research productivity in DevCom in the Philippines. We conducted in-depth analysis on the total number of publications and total number of citations of DevCom publications collected from Thomson ISI database. From the 70s to the present, 74 articles were published. The most dominant domains were on health communication (31.08 %) and agricultural communication (29.72%). On the other hand, the most predominant approaches were social mobilization (44.59%) and behavior change (41.89%). With 74 articles, it can be concluded that research productivity of DevCom in the Philippines is low. This paper presents ways to improve publication performance in DevCom in the country. Future studies may focus on identifying the factors that facilitate or impede publication performance of DevCom researchers and educators.

Socioeconomic Conditions, Agricultural Practices and Communication Status of the Vulnerable Haor People in Bangladesh

Haor is basin like structure where water remains either stagnant or in flash flooding condition and agricultural activities are limited to four to five months in any year due to inundate on flood water. The main crop boro are usually damaged by flash floods nearly every year. So, the present study has been conducted with the specific objectives such as to assess the socio-economic background of the households, their agriculture practices and communication status they enjoy in disaster prone haor areas; to investigate reasons of vulnerability in haor community. The whole accomplishment process ensured HH questionnaire survey and sampled 150 HHs was from 6 different villages of three Haors, Dekar Haor, Kalner Haor and Karchar Haor by name. Two villages from each haor were selected at random. The HHs was also selected randomly. Data obtained from the 150 households (HH) undergone simple statistical analysis using MS XL and SPSS for analysing the survey data. The socioeconomic conditions of the peoples of the study area poor as larger family size, smaller income resulting to compensate expenditure according to income, mean land possess are 40.4 decimals only, mean income was 10,346 BDT, 28% are illiterate etc. Agriculture is the main occupation, above 28% are agriculture labor and 56% have secondary occupations. There were 27% who owned livestock, 24% had pond or haor share for fishing. They prefer BRRI dhan 29 and BRRI dhan 28 nearly equally (50% and 48% of them respectively) and duck rearing. Agriculture, livestock and fisheries are ranked as one for choice of occupation by 52%, 36% and 7.3% respectively. Nearly 50% face challenges to get price from their crops. The communication is easy in wet season and good weather by river transport but incurs cost and time consuming. The 100% respondents face floods of varying nature and 98% asked they are not resilient. Therefore, people in haor basins are vulnerable due to their current socioeconomic conditions, agriculture practices, health services and communication status making them limitations in cases of access to high-tech agricultural practices for improved production which in turn lead to sound socioeconomic status of those people.

EFEKTIVITAS DAN PERILAKU PETANI DALAM MEMANFAATKAN TEKNOLOGI INFORMASI BERBASIS CYBER EXTENSION

Information technology based on cyber extension is one of agricultural communication tools to achieve farmers welfare. Cyber extension is a technology innovation to accelerate communication of agricultural information to the user , so that information can be obtained more quickly, precisely and relevant to farmer demands.The study aimed to analyze the effectiveness and behavior of farmers in using cyber extension as a medium of communication and information in support of agricultural development. The study method was survey with 86 farmer as sample respondents. The data were analyzed descriptively and using path analysis. The results show that the effectiveness of cyber extension is influenced by the farmer characteristics, farmers interaction and farmer perception. The effectiveness of cyber extension is the most strongly influenced by farmer characteristics (coefficient rate 0.328 ), and can be seen from the availability of information technology facilities and motivation of farmers to seek required information for farming activities. On the other hand, farmer's behavior is directly influenced by farmer perception and farmer effectiveness in using cyber extension. In addition, cyber extension is strongly effective to influence farmer behaviour with a coefficient of 0.413.

Performance Improvement Using Polarization Diversity in Precise Agriculture Communication Platform

The use of wireless sensor network (WSN) is essential for gathering data and implementation of information and control technologies in precision agriculture. The efficiency of such smart system str...

Science of Industrial Hemp: On the Leading Edge of a Growing Industry

Science of Industrial Hemp: On the Leading Edge of a Growing Industry

English

This study examined staff perception of intranet in enhancing organizational communication in Nigeria Custom Service (NCS). Data were collected from 134 randomly selected respondents using a questionnaire. They were management staff (7.5%), senior staff (41.8%) and junior staff (50.7%). Their age was distributed as 44.8% (18 to 35 years) and 55.2% (36 to 58 years). With regards to computer literacy, 91.8% were computer literate, 95.5% use the internet regularly. 92.5% were ignorant of NCS use of intranet facility. Communication challenges were fear (71.6%), speculations (54.5%), wrong information (65.7%) and inadequate information (55.9%). 75% of respondents considered intranet as effective in management and 91.8% felt it can be used to enhance job performance by providing organizational news. 85.1% considered it important for disseminating staff postings, 81.3% for sending circulars and verifying information, and 73.9% for enabling group discussions, publishing monthly orders and serving as a complaint mechanism for aggrieved staff. Logit regression showed that computer literacy, internet usage and awareness have significant effect on respondents’ perception of intranet effectiveness at 1% level. Chi square test showed that intranet has the capacity to enhance efficient organizational management (X2 cal. = 99.34 > X2 tab = 0.020).  It was recommended that Nigeria Customs Service should strengthen the use of intranet for efficient internal communication and for the Nigerian agricultural extension service organization to adopt intranet for effective organizational management. Key words: Workers perception, intranet effectiveness, organization, agricultural communication, Nigeria.

Expo Milano 2015: The Overview, Issue, and Future for Agricultural Communicators

Expo Milano 2015: The Overview, Issue, and Future for Agricultural Communicators

Using Q Methodology in Agricultural Communications Research: A Philosophical Study

Using Q Methodology in Agricultural Communications Research: A Philosophical Study

INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY USED BY HEALTH CARE WORKER (ASHA) of UTTARAKHAND.

30Jun 2016 INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY USED BY HEALTH CARE WORKER (ASHA) of UTTARAKHAND. Kiran Arya. Assistant professor, Department of Agricultural Communication, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India.

Exploring Agricultural Communications Students’ Perceptions of Communication Apprehension and Writing Apprehension in the Classroom

Employers have identified oral and written communications skills to be the most important skills graduates should possess when entering the workforce. In order for faculty to better understand their students’ oral and written communications skills, they should understand what apprehension the students have toward oral and written communications. Specifically, no studies have been found that explore communication apprehension (CA) or writing apprehension (WA) in agricultural communications students. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore agricultural communications students’ perceptions of CA and WA. Participants believe agricultural communications instructors set up an environment that is conducive to changing behavior. However, students realized and identified areas of improvement that could help them lower their CA and WA. Recommendations for practice are provided in order to help alleviate CA and WA in agricultural communications students.

Teaching Convergence in 21st Century Undergraduate Agricultural Communication: A Pilot Study of Backpack Multimedia Kits in a Blended, Project-Based Learning Course

Teaching Convergence in 21st Century Undergraduate Agricultural Communication: A Pilot Study of Backpack Multimedia Kits in a Blended, Project-Based Learning Course

Agricultural Communications: A National Portrait of Undergraduate Courses

Considerable research has been conducted regarding competencies needed by agricultural communication program graduates during the past four decades. However, no studies have considered actual program offerings. This study used a qualitative approach to analyze courses offered in agricultural communication programs in the United States. Using content analysis methods, researchers analyzed published course descriptions and discovered 21 categories among 172 courses. Most popular were writing courses, followed by courses introducing students to the major, internship courses, and writing for publication and graphic design courses. Categories with the fewest offerings included research, study abroad, and international focused courses. Findings from this analysis are consistent with previous literature noting the variety existing in agricultural communication programs at the national level. With the current growth of agricultural communication as an academic discipline and the fundamental role agricultural communicators play in sharing information about key societal issues at a time when agriculture has never been under greater pressure, this study is a f irst step in creating a national portrait of curricular offerings in agricultural communication programs.