Agricultural Development Projects Research Articles

Developing a sustainability assessment framework for integrated management of water resources systems using distributed zoning and system dynamics approaches

The management of large-scale water resources systems requires including of different stakeholders and users from municipal, agricultural, industrial and environmental sectors. This has baffled the process of decision making for integrated water resource systems. In such systems, the interactions between various stakeholders must be carefully taken into account with the goal of aggregating interests around the sustainability concept. In this study, first, the integrated water resources systems of Big Karun Watershed, Iran, have been modeled using the system dynamics approach. The system dynamics model represents the interactions between different components of the system, including water transfer projects, dams, urban, industry, agriculture and fish farming, and environmental demands. Vensim software has been used for the system dynamics modeling. Vensim simulates the dynamics behavior of the sub-systems and overall performance of the system by comparing the current operation policies with the future management scenarios. A wide range of performance indices, such as quantitative and qualitative water stress, income, cost, and productivity, have been used here to represent different aspects of sustainability goals. Finally, the performance of the systems has been evaluated by developing a sustainability index using distributed zoning model in order to identify proper management policies for this watershed. The results indicate that downstream users demand cannot be fully met by solely considering inter-basin water transfer and agricultural development projects. The sustainable and integrated management of the whole system ties into enhancement in both infrastructure systems and the operation of the whole system. It is expected that the sustainability of the basin improves if a water market schema exists and the gained money would be used to enhance the efficiency of existing irrigation networks.

Effects of cuniculture commercialization on household poverty status in south western Nigeria

This study evaluated the effect of Cuniculture commercialization on household poverty in Osun State, Nigeria. Descriptive and inferential statistics of frequency counts, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT), Household Commercialization Index (HCI) and Tobit Regression was used to analyze data collected from 120 respondents randomly selected from the register of Rabbit Farmers and Breeders Association of Nigeria (RFABAN) of Ife/Ijesha Agricultural development Project (ADP). The results of the study show that Cuniculture is a male dominated enterprise. The modal age of respondents was 18-60 with 87.5% of respondents educated. Majority of respondents earned between NGN20000 - NGN100000 monthly from Cuniculture. The study found that 16% of respondents were poor and living below the poverty line. The HCI of Cuniculture indicates that 54.2% of production was done mainly for household consumption. Access to credit and unavailability of markets were the major constraints with Household size and access to credit influencing the commercialization of Cuniculture. The study recommends that more people be encouraged to go into Cuniculture to serve as additional income to household; rabbit farmers become more market oriented beyond their present level; they organize themselves into cooperative for access to credits and market creation and that appropriate solutions be sought for the challenges encountered.

Remote sensing of wildlife connectivity networks and priority locations for conservation in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor (SAGCOT) in Tanzania

AbstractLand conversion is causing habitat loss and fragmentation worldwide, particularly in Africa, where the proliferation of agricultural development corridors may threaten vital areas for ecological connectivity and wildlife survival. To conserve connectivity, careful landscape planning is necessary, which strongly relies on remotely sensed land cover maps. Here, we present a remote sensing‐based framework that efficiently identifies priority locations for connectivity conservation. We applied the framework in the Kilombero catchment and development cluster of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor (SAGCOT) in Tanzania, where new agricultural development projects could act as barriers for connectivity. Using satellite imagery from Sentinel‐1 and 2, we mapped the mixture of mountain and lowland land covers and habitats with an overall accuracy of 75%. Then, we assessed ecological connectivity to predict African elephant corridors and prioritize them in two ways. First, we identified elephant corridors that contribute the most to current landscape connectivity, and second, we identified those whose restoration would significantly enhance landscape functionality and improve the current connectivity level. We mapped 214 potential elephant corridors, identified 43 of them as priority for conservation, and 43 as target for restoration. Our model predicted four already known corridor areas in and around the Kilombero valley floodplain, and other important corridors not yet identified by previous studies in the south of the basin. Priority elephant corridors inside the floodplain showed narrow widths and low permeability, indicating low functionality in the connectivity network. Nevertheless, the abundance of priority corridors for restoration suggests that connectivity could be recovered if the recommended measures are applied during SAGCOT planning and implementation process. Our findings demonstrate the possibilities of combining multispectral and radar data for guiding biodiversity management in development corridors and for assessing ecological connectivity worldwide.

Soil and Water Conservation Measures in Ethiopia: Importance and Adoption Challenges

Soil and water are under immense pressure due to ever increasing population thereby ensuing growing demand for food, fiber and shelter. Soil erosion is one of the several major deteriorative processes which results in soil degradation and declining agricultural productivity in Ethiopia. Thus, several efforts to control soil erosion through introduced soil and water conservation measures had been conducted in different time and location in the country. A number of soil and water conservation methods were introduced to combat land degradation, but adoption of these practices did not achieve the target. Different soil and water conservation measures and farmer’s adoption barriers on these conservation measures had been reviewed here. Literature indicated that soil and water conservation measures have promising effects on reducing soil loss, retaining nutrient and soil moisture, improving soil physical and chemical properties. But an intensive labour requirement, poor design, reduced land size and other biophysical and socioeconomic factors discourage farmer’s adoption of soil and water conservation structures. The involvement of Farmers and strengthen extension workers as well as mainstreaming soil and water conservation activity in any agricultural development project has a vital role in these resource conservations.

Women's empowerment and gender equality in South Asian agriculture: Measuring progress using the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) in Bangladesh and India.

This introduction to a special section describes how a recently developed measure, the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) can be used to assess empowerment impacts of agricultural development interventions in India and Bangladesh as well as broader changes in rural labor markets. The special section comprises three papers. The first examines the impact of membership in self-help groups in five states in rural India on women's and men's empowerment and gender equality. The second presents experimental evidence from a pilot project in Bangladesh that provided trainings in agricultural extension, nutrition behavior change communication, and gender sensitization to husbands and wives together. The third investigates changes in women's roles within the jute value chain in the Southern Delta region of Bangladesh as household members migrate out of the study area and the availability of male labor declines. Although these papers focus on Bangladesh and India, pro-WEAI can be applied to impact assessments of agricultural development projects more generally. The three papers show both the usefulness of this new measure in detecting changes in empowerment indicators within the lifespan of a project and the value of having explicit empowerment objectives in agricultural development projects. The papers also demonstrate the value of having data on both men and women so that project designers can be more intentional about including both of them and monitoring outcomes for both to promote more gender equitable outcomes.

Nerica Rice Technology Acquisition through Community Agriculture Development Project in Semi Arid Lands (CADSAL) of Kerio Valley, Kenya

The aim of Community Agriculture Development Project in Semi-Arid Lands (CADSAL) in Kerio valley was to increase agricultural production in the project area and it used Community Participatory Extension (CPE) approach. A survey methodology was utilized in the study with target population of 480 small-scale farmers who interacted with the project in Kerio valley locations. The objective of the study was to determine and compare the level of performance between the CADSAL participants and non-CADSAL participants in knowledge acquired in NERICA technologies in Kerio Valley of Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya. A sample of 160 comprising 80 CADSAL-Participants and 80 Non-CADSAL participants was chosen using simple random sampling. A structured questionnaire was administered through personal interviews to the respondents at their homes. Descriptive statistics was used to compute percentages, means and standard deviations. Inferential statistics was used which included multiple linear regression and t-test to test the hypothesis at α = 0.05. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for SocialSciences (SPSS) Version 24.0. The result indicated positive acquisition of NERICA technologies by the community using community participatory extension approach. The t-test p-value of less than 0.05 was achieved upon analysis of data which led to rejection of all the null hypothesis. This means further that community extension approach was key in enhancing the level of acquisition of technology by the farmers and hence extension agents need to utilize participatory approach. The study outcome therefore encourages Community participation in the projects meant to increase knowledge of food production in order to increase food production, accessibility and income both in productivity and diversity of production hence sustainability.

Adoption of improved goat production practices in Ogun State, Nigeria

The study examines adoption level of improved goat production practices by women farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria using Ikenne and Ijebu-Ode zones of the Ogun State Agricultural Development Project (OGADEP) as case studies. A total of 150 respondents were selected for the study using multi-stage random sampling technique. Information was obtained from the women through structured interview schedule. Data were analyzed with the use of frequency counts and percentages while correlation coefficient (r) was used to test the stated hypothesis. Results of data analysis revealed that most of the women were still in active ages of between 40 and 59 years (62%) with 91% of them married and majority (71%) educated. While 6 percent of the women did not adopt improved practices, 40.67% showed low adoption; 33.33% - moderate adoption level and 20% demonstrated high adoption level. Result of hypothesis testing indicated significant relationship between level of adoption and marital status (r = 10.21) and cosmopoliteness(r = 0.30) at 0.05 level of significance and critical level of 0.19.

Soil and Water Conservation Measures in Ethiopia: Importance and Adoption Challenges: Review

Soil and water are under immense pressure due to ever increasing population thereby ensuing growing demand for food, fiber and shelter . Soil erosion is one of the several major deteriorative processes which results in soil degradation and declining agricultural productivity in Ethiopia . Thus, several efforts to control soil erosion through introduced soil and water conservation measures had been conducted in different time and location in the country. A number of soil and water conservation methods were introduced to combat land degradation but adoption of these practices did not achieve the target. Different soil and water conservation measures and farmer's adoption barriers on these conservation measures had been reviewed here. Literature indicated that soil and water conservation measures have promising effects on reducing soil loss, retaining nutrient and soil moisture, improving soil physical and chemical properties. But an intensive labour requirement, poor design, reduced land size and other biophysical and socioeconomic factors discourage farmer's adoption of soil and water conservation structures. The involvement of Farmers and strengthen extension workers as well as mainstreaming soil and water conservation activity in any agricultural development project has a vital role in these resource conservations. Keywords : Agricultural production, farmers adoption, moisture and nutrient retention DOI: 10.7176/JNSR12-2-01 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Differentials in Usage of Information and Communication Devices Among Extension Agents: A Study on North-Western Zone, Nigeria

The awareness and the extent of usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) components by Village Extension Agents (VEAs), in three selected States Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs) of Nigeria, were investigated. Two hundred and four (204) VEAs were sampled as respondents for the study. With aid of simple statistical tools (average, cumulative and percentages), and the analysis of the results indicate that the level of awareness of ICTs among the respondents (VEAs) was quite high especially on radio (99%), GSM phones (96%); and television (93%). On the contrary, the level of awareness was low on fax (68%) and Personal Digital Assistant (PDAs) (69%). It was also noted that the following devices were highly used by the respondents; GSM phones, radio, cassette recorder, television, CD/DVD player and VHS Video player. Unfortunately, the respondents recorded least ICT usage on fax and PDAs. It was recommended that both awareness and usage of available ICT formats should be intensified among VEAs so as to optimize their usage in the effective performance on the job.

ICT-Integrated Construction and Utilization of 3-Dimensional Data in Agricultural and Rural Development Project

ICT-Integrated Construction and Utilization of 3-Dimensional Data in Agricultural and Rural Development Project

Application of Environmental DNA Analysis in Agricultural and Rural Development Projects

Application of Environmental DNA Analysis in Agricultural and Rural Development Projects

Greenhouse Gas Calculation Program for Agricultural and Rural Development Projects

Greenhouse Gas Calculation Program for Agricultural and Rural Development Projects

Bowing down and standing up: Towards a pedagogy of cultural humility

Cultural humility is a critical skill for effective intercultural interactions. While common in other scholarly fields, the concept is seldom found in the literature of global learning and international education. Utilizing grounded theory, this study explores the development of cultural humility through qualitative data analysis of in-class assignments and reflection journals from a university course in the United States (n=18). Throughout the semester students worked in teams to write grant proposals for agricultural development projects in Kenya. Examining student work and reflections sheds light on differing avenues of global learning, which has traditionally prioritized international travel as the core means of learning. This article proposes a pedagogy of cultural humility to promote global learning through a variety of educational interventions. Prioritizing cultural humility can yield enhanced respect for others, providing a focus on lifelong learning, more meaningful global understanding and more fruitful intercultural relationships. In an increasingly interconnected globe, cultural humility offers a meaningful framework to support substantive interactions between individuals across the globe or down the street.

Climate-smart cowpea adoption and welfare effects of comprehensive agricultural training programs

Agricultural training programs remain one of the primary mechanisms for disseminating modern and climate-smart technologies with the aim to improve the welfare outcomes of smallholder farmers. With persistent low agricultural productivity in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), the content, effectiveness, and mode of delivery of training programs remain a debate. In this paper, we examine the adoption, productivity, and income effects of participating in a novel comprehensive agricultural training program (CATP) involving cowpea farmers in northern Ghana by using the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model. The CATP requires farmers to complete a set of modules on good agronomic practices to gain informal certification. The results indicate that participating in the CATP increases the adoption of climate-smart cowpea varieties, productivity, and cowpea income by 75, 15, and 24% points, respectively, compared to their mean levels. These positive welfare effects of participating in the CATPs confirm the need to increase capacity-enhancing activities in agricultural development projects, and design mechanisms to eliminate barriers to participation among rural farm households.

Determinants of adoption of agri-environmental practices by maize producers organised in cooperatives in the Centre region of Cameroon

In response to various environmental problems facing the intensive mode of agricultural production, this study analysed the factors influencing the adoption of agri-environmental practices by maize producers organised in co-operatives in the Centre region of Cameroon by using the case study of PIDMA project. For this reason, the survey was undertaken in all the 15 villages grouping maize producers in two out of the four cooperatives under the regional coordinating unit of the project (PIDMA). Data on the socio-economic situation of producers, level of knowledge and applicability of environmental practices were gathered in the study area from 50 out of 88 (i.e. 56.8%) active maize producers. The descriptive field results revealed that the adoption of agri-environmental practices was related to social, psychological and economic characteristics of producers. The binary logit model results indicated that the adoption of agri-environmental practices was associated with the frequency of PIDMA agricultural training and cultivated area under maize. However, certain variables such as gender, age, education level, marital status, cost of implementing practice, lack of funding, labour type, time spent for the implementation of the practice, income source, technical and professional support did not seem to be associated with the adoption of agri-environmental practices. In conclusion, the study recommended to the maize farmers, the setting up of working groups of at least 10 maize producers in order to practice rotations in the fields of each member of the group. The study also recommended the agricultural development projects to define and provide relatively simple mechanisms to enhance farmers’ performance such as financial assistance, demonstration workshops in the fields and to allocate environmental assistants to each co-operative’s headquarters.Keywords: Cooperative, logit model, maize producer, agricultural development project, socio-economic factors.

SOCIAL IMPACT OF SALINE AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT ON SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN NORTH SINAI GOVERNORATE

The present study aims to identify the social impact of saline agriculture projects on small farmers in terms of awareness, education, increase job opportunities and higher incomes. It also aims to have specific recommendations for the optimization of saline agriculture project. It aims to be aware of the most important problems facing the expansion of such crops to benefit from them in the future. Thus, the importance of this study lies in its attempt to study the new social effects on farmers who participated in the project, in addition to, the importance of saline agriculture in maintaining the environment and help small farmers in improving their income. The implementation of the project in North Sinai Governorate increases the importance of the study regarding the importance of Sinai for national security. A sample of 225 farmers was selected. They have benefited from the project either directly through the participation in activities, or indirectly by learning from neighbors. Basic information has been collected from the data of the project. The respondents have been interviewed using a questionnaire. The study has a number of results such as; there is a rise in farmers' awareness and knowlge of modern methods of farming. They have understood the modern methods of agriculture and began to practice them especially in saline agriculture methods. There is an improvement in the health of farmers and their families. As well as the development of women's skills in the processing of agricultural products (both feed products and dairy). The research had some recommendations such as establishing an agricultural cooperative association for small farmers, increasing the number of agricultural development projects, particularly saline agriculture, helping farmers in marketing the manufactured products, and the development of irrigation systems.

How COVID 19 effect Malaysian paddy industry? Adoption of green fertilizer a potential resolution.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in more than 4.3 million confirmed cases and more than 2,90,000 deaths worldwide. It has also given rise to fears of an imminent economic crisis and recession. Social distance, self-isolation, and travel restrictions have led to a reduction in the workforce across all economical sectors and have led to a loss of many jobs. Schools have closed down, and the need for commodities and manufactured goods has decreased. On the other hand, the need for medical supplies has increased significantly. The food sector is also facing increased demand as a result of panic buying and storing food products. In response to this global outbreak, we summarize the socioeconomic effects of COVID-19 on the various aspects of the world economy. In Malaysia, the COVID-19 epidemic has checked the resilience of the agriculture sector. Especially the Malaysian paddy industry as country imports 30% of its overall consumption from different parts of the world. The real price of rice triplicating for the consumers, which was alarming for nations in this pandemic situation. The Government of Malaysia introduced the National Agrofood Policy 2011–2020 (NAP4) in 2010 as a guidance document for the implementation of agricultural sector development programs and projects in Malaysia. The NAP4 ‘s 10-year term is to be finished by the end of 2020. Several sectors demonstrate substantial success after approximately 8 years of introduction, while the other classes often lag behind the goal and progress quite slowly. Agricultural sector performance is affected by many problems and challenges. In acknowledgment of the poor success of this field, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Based Industry has launched new approaches, policies, and programs that can change the agricultural sector more rapidly. The new direction is aimed at ensuring national food security and boosting farm and revenues. The authorized government agency needs to revise the policy formulation where Malaysia needs to set stages to revolutionize and modernize the rice farming to address the problem faced by the paddy sector in this pandemic situation to adopt GF. In this study, the researcher focuses on the improvisation of the policy to increase the paddy production sustainably.

The Impact of Agricultural Mechanization Development Project on the Yield of Wheat Crop: A Case Study of Punjab, Pakistan

A traditional method known as iron triangle (time, cost, quality) was used to evaluate the success of projects in the past. A project was assumed to be successful if it had been completed within time, did not overrun its allocated budget and its outcomes satisfied the predetermined criteria. However, to evaluate the impact of any project considering merely its success is not enough, the impact of its product should also be appraised. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the program “Agricultural Mechanization Development Project” recently implemented in Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose, Punjab province was categorized into three zones on the basis of agro-climatic conditions. Two districts were randomly selected from each zone. Face to face structured interviews were conducted to collect primary data from beneficiary farmers (n=210). Regression analysis was applied to evaluate the significance of mechanization. The research findings revealed that improvement in technical efficiency through the use of agriculture mechanization program has a significant effect on the production of wheat crop. It is suggested here that ‘Agricultural Mechanization’ and other such programs ought to be considered efficient tools to fight poverty, bring mprovement in socioeconomic conditions and promote income generating activities among rural communities.

Adoption of community-based agricultural development project technologies among smallholder farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract The study described socio-economic characteristics of the beneficiaries of the Community Based Agricultural and Rural Development Project (CBARDP), profiled the agricultural technologies disseminated and adopted. The study was carried out in Kwara State, Nigeria among smallholder farmers. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select respondents who participated in CBARDP in Local Government Areas (LGAs). At the first stage, one participating LGA was purposively selected from each of the agricultural zones, making a total of nine LGAs. At the second stage, three rural communities were randomly selected from each of the selected LGAs while the final stage involved a simple random selection of ten participating farmers from the selected rural communities making a total of 270 respondents. Data collected were described with the frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviations whereas Chi-square and correlation analyses were used for inferential purposes. The results showed that the mean age of farmers was 52.1 ± 6 years, majority (92.2 % and 74.1 %) were married and male, respectively. The overall results indicated a moderate level of adoption of CBARDP technologies but high adoption in orchard, fishery, poultry and cattle packages while the respondents had low adoption in livestock, processing, crop production and agro-processing packages. The results showed that significant associations existed between sex (χ2 = 23.934), marital status (χ2 = 34.66), membership of social organisation (χ2 = 23.43), compatibility (χ2 = 362.88, relative advantage (χ2 = 211.69) and adoption of CBARDP technologies whereas there were significant relationship between household size (r = 0.201), farm size (r = 0.537), years of experience (r = −0.375) and farmers’ adoption of CBARDP technologies. The study concluded that adoption of CBARDP technologies was moderate among beneficiaries in the study area. It is therefore recommended that more awareness should be created by relevant stakeholders to encourage especially more women to actively participate in similar projects in the future.

Piloting of the Concerns-based Adoption Model: Farmer Concerns About the Participatory Guarantee System in Cambodia

While there is a large body of adoption and agricultural extension literature on the process of introducing a new technology, agricultural development projects are often expected to produce immediate results that do not always allow for the integration of these theories into practice. The Concerns-based Adoption Model (CBAM) is a framework that places participants at the center of the change process to identify their concerns and challenges, providing a roadmap for projects to guide individuals with the correct support for their particular stage of adoption. CBAM has typically been used for the introduction of new curriculum in formal education. But this study assessed the potential for CBAM to be applied to agriculture innovations. In this study, we adapted and piloted the CBAM “Stages of Concern” model to assess adoption of an agriculture innovation. The innovation is the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) for Cambodian vegetable farmers. We assessed the potential for CBAM as a tool for agricultural development project management. We found that the adapted survey consistently placed farmers in the anticipated Stage of Concern. Identifying users’ Stages of Concern can inform program designers and practitioners, assisting in tailoring support across the adoption process. CBAM has the potential to inform participatory project design and give project administrators an evidence-based, systematic protocol for assessing the adoption process, adding another tool to the development practitioners’ toolbox. Keywords: Diffusion of Innovations, adoption, project design