Agricultural Service Delivery Research Articles

TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES OF EXTENSION PERSONNEL IN THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AGRICULTURAL SERVICE DELIVERY IN SOUTHEAST, NIGERIA

The study assessed the technological capabilities of extension personnel in the use of social media for agricultural service delivery in Southeast, Nigeria. One hundred and eighty-nine agricultural extension professionals constituted the population for the study. Data was analyzed using percentages, charts and mean scores. Results show that 97.4% of the agricultural extension professionals indicated that they use whatsapp for agricultural extension service delivery while 93.2% of the respondents indicated that they use facebook for service delivery. Data show that 95.3% of the respondents indicated that they use social media in linking with their colleagues. Entries show that 93.2% of the respondents indicated that they linked with Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) while 92.6% of the extension professionals linked with farmers group. Result show that 84.2% of the respondents had linkage with the ministry of agriculture. Also, 60.5% of the respondents interacted with the ministry of agriculture between 1-10 times while 54.2% of the respondents interacted with the ADP between 5-10 times in the last one year. Government should therefore ensure improved job satisfaction for agricultural extension professionals possibly by increasing their remuneration and providing logistics that would help them to keep in touch with other institutions for latest research results for the interest of the farmers.

Looking at human healthcare to improve agricultural service delivery: The case of online chatgroups

Abstract This study analyses the opportunities and pitfalls of using chatgroups for plant health systems. It also examines the conditions for strengthening chatroom functions and considers the possibility of replicating reported successes in healthcare settings to plant health systems. We use mixed qualitative methods, which include stakeholder surveys and observation of chatgroup activity interactions in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Sri Lanka. Our findings show that there is evidence of the benefits of chatgroups to human health which can be replicated in plant health. Replication should, however, not be a ‘copy and paste’ approach. This is due to the general lack of evidence-based guidelines and lessons learned to move beyond the initial adoption success of communication applications. Also, in practice, plant doctor chatgroups are generally much larger than groups in healthcare settings and it remains to be seen whether increasing chatroom activity could benefit specific plant health objectives; or whether it would lead to increased labour costs, and/or diminish the participation of plant doctors. One Health impact statement The article is relevant in a One Health context as it demonstrates that there is a lot to learn between sectors about interventions and approaches. The work used literature from human health interventions to shed light on how a similar intervention in plant health functioned and could be improved. It shows that if actors in the plant health sector had engaged early on with actors in the human health sector, they may have avoided pitfalls in the ways that chatgroups can be used to support plant health management. It is expected that human, animal and plant health sectors would benefit from the knowledge and recommendations in this article to establish new online chatgroups that can support transformative change.

Agricultural Policies and Practices: Pathways for Transformation

Agriculture has been a cornerstone of human civilization for thousands of years, providing food and other essential resources to sustain our societies. However, as we enter the 21st century, we face unprecedented challenges that threaten the very foundations of our agricultural systems. Climate change, resource depletion, and population growth are just a few of the issues that demand urgent attention from policymakers and practitioners alike. Further, the growing population, climate change, the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the depreciation of national currencies have disrupted the global food supply chain and increased food prices and food insecurity in many countries, including Nepal. The Nepalese agriculture sector alone contributed employment opportunities for more than 60 % of the population with a 23.9% share in total value added of the national economy (Ministry of Finance, 2022). Though the majority of farmers in Nepal are engaged in the agriculture sector, there is still a dominance of traditional and subsistence agriculture and the country's agricultural production is not enough to feed its population. The continued rise in import bills and volume of food products in recent years has been a major challenge for the country. Addressing these constraints warrants consortia of efforts from the government, nonprofits, and private sectors to promote sustainable and regenerative agricultural concepts and practices that align with local farm attributes and the agroecological environment. With the above mentioned issue, Policy Research Institute, the publisher of NPPR, collaborated with Association of Nepalese Agricultural Professionals of Americas (NAPA) for the utilization of expert knowledge for public policy making and policy discussion. PRI is open to collaborating with any professional and intellectual society for policy issues. Thereof, a two-day (January 6-7, 2023) virtual symposium on "Agricultural Policies and Practices in Nepal: Pathways for Transformation" was jointly organized by the PRI and NAPA with the aim to discuss and synthesize structural, policy intervention-related procedural, and local barriers and issues inherent to inadequate agricultural growth in Nepal and recommend transformative and pragmatic policies, programs, and practices feasible at local, regional, and national levels. The other symposium collaborators were the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU), Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IAAS, Tribhuvan University), Nepal Agricultural Cooperative Central Federation Ltd. (NACCFL), and Society of Agricultural Scientists-Nepal (SAS-Nepal). The 38 papers presented at the symposium brought together over 500 researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from around the world. The symposium highlighted the importance of innovative policies and practices that can help transform agriculture and ensure its sustainability for future generations. The symposium was organized and facilitated in four thematic areas. The Agriculture Policy theme highlighted an analysis of current agricultural policies, laws, and regulations that have hindered the production and marketing of farm products, land use policies, transformative agriculture for the viable and circular economy, promoting cooperative farming, farm diversity, and sustainability including internationally successful policy practices suitable for Nepal. The Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension theme included diverse subject matters. These were genetic improvement of crops and livestock for diverse agro-climatic zones; technology innovations and dissemination; science-based knowledge and extension practices; climate-smart and organic agriculture; agri-business and entrepreneurship; commercial agriculture; and integration of agricultural research, education, and extension. Similarly, the Technology and Infrastructure Development theme focused on varied avenues of innovative technology (such as UAV, GIS, and Remote Sensing), farm mechanization, and smart and efficient irrigation practices to optimize costs of production, labor, fertilizer shortages, and monitoring of plant and soil health Finally, the Governance theme underpinned coherence and discordance between the policy frameworks and governing structures/mechanisms of three levels of government and opportunities for realignment for agricultural transformation as well as a local governance framework for agricultural service delivery at a municipality level. Finally, the symposium highlighted the importance of partnerships and collaborations in driving transformational change. The papers discussed the potential of public-private partnerships, multi-stakeholder platforms, and other forms of collaboration to leverage resources, share knowledge, and scale up innovative solutions. This special issue received 20 papers for publication consideration, however, after the review process, it is able to manage 12 papers for publication. These papers provide a rich and diverse set of insights into the pathways for transforming agriculture. They offer both practical guidance and theoretical frameworks for policymakers and practitioners seeking to navigate the complex challenges facing agriculture today. We hope this special issue will inspire further research and action towards a more sustainable and equitable agricultural future. We thank all the authors who contributed to this special issue and the reviewers who provided their valuable feedback. We also extend our appreciation to the symposium organizers and collaborators. Finally, we encourage additional authors/presenters to submit their papers in the NPPR’s Regular Issue, which will be published in September 2023.

Government Framework for Agriculture Service Delivery at the Local Level in Nepal

This paper examines the policy, institutional and legal aspects of agriculture service delivery (ASD) of local government in federal Nepal. The aim of this study is to recommend an appropriate framework for improving ASD unit efficiency in delivering agricultural services to citizens. The paper seeks to answer the question of whether the ASD unit of municipalities facilitates a local government framework while discharging their agriculture services to the citizens. To achieve this, both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were collected through structured interviews of agriculture service takers using stratified random sampling and were accompanied by participant observations, FGDs and KIIs. Secondary data were obtained from government documents. A convergent parallel mix method research design was adopted, which implied abductive reasoning with pragmatist research philosophy. The study found that despite poor facilities and structures at the local level, the client experienced extended agricultural service delivery. Local governments are undergoing a transition in harmonizing institutional and legal policies, as evidenced by the differences in service delivery and expertise. The study identified three areas of demand from people with local authorities viz; infrastructure for basic services, quality extension from professional experts, and prioritization of the agriculture sector. Based on the findings, an enhanced ASD framework at the local level is recommended to meet the quality service needs of diversified clients. In this regard, enhanced municipal capacity is crucial.

Social Media Usage and Agricultural Extension Service Delivery. Implications for Effectiveness in Northwest Nigeria

Social media are tools meant for digital communication that aids in the interaction among a group of people and acts as information exchange media across the globe. Since ages newspapers, television, and magazines have been the most used source of information in the agriculture sector. But now the power of the 21st century is literally in our hands. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Whatsapp have 2.6 billion, 2 billion, and 1.6 billion active monthly users respectively as of 2020 (Anonymous1 2020). Agricultural extension agents use social media to access information needed to improve their agricultural service delivery in northwest Nigeria. The broad objective of this study is to assess the implications of social media usage in Agricultural Extension Service Delivery in Northwest Nigeria. Other specific objectives were to ascertain the areas where social media has helped extension agents in engaging youths in agriculture; find out the socioeconomic factors that influences usage of social media for agricultural information transmission. A sample of three hundred and sixty youths in agriculture was randomly selected through the multi-stage sampling techniques in the study area. The instruments used for data collection were questionnaire and focus group discussion. The theories of Utility and Rational served as theoretical framework for the study. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and logit regression model. Data were analysed using Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS). The null hypotheses that guided this study is socio- economic factors do not significantly influence the usage of social media by agricultural extension agents to engage youth in agriculture in the study area. Results of the logit regression analysis carried out to establish the social-economic factors that significantly influence the usage of social media by extension agents to train youth in agriculture showed that the independent variables studied accounted for a coefficient of multiple determination of 0.510 (51.0%). Out of all the socioeconomic factors that influenced usage of social media in agriculture only age (0.994), education (0.642), farm experience (-0.158), income (.000) and sex (1.768) were found to significantly influence the usage of social media in agriculture. Findings revealed that most of the respondents (30.0%) indicated that extension agents used social media to engage youths in agriculture through extension services. These findings recommended the need of the useful of these variables in the usage of social media in agriculture.

Impact of Election Expenditure on Agricultural Service Delivery Expenditure in Zambia, 2000-2021

Purpose: This paper examined the public expenditure changes between elections and agriculture service delivery. The aim was to determine how the relationship trend related to agriculture growth. Early analyses assumed that elections act as a signal for preferential public expenditure. Thus, in Zambia, agriculture would be a priority as the government claims over 70% of citizens, directly or indirectly earn from the sector.
 Methodology: Times series secondary data was analyzed for descriptive statistics from 2000 to 2021.
 Findings: The evidence is that agriculture public expenditure was lower than CAADP targets in this period. Agriculture research as a service received the lowest funding. The trend also revealed that there were very sharp increases in election expenditure in both the preceding year and in the year of elections. In most election years this was close to 2% of total national public spending over the study period. These election spending spikes may have induced cyclical fiscal shocks, difficult to recover from, resulting in limited fiscal space and a reduction in agriculture spending. The electoral cycle induced fiscal shocks, over time, may have also led to a downward trend in agriculture growth. The authors identify this phenomenon as the ‘functionality burden of democracy’.
 Recommendation: Based on the findings the study recommends that agreed policy objectives in agriculture and CAADP commitments must become a national mission. This would mean that the agriculture goals are shared at all levels including family, schools, private sector, civil society and the media.

Federalization of Agriculture Sector: Issues and Challenges

The research examines the current issues and challenges of sectoral restructuring and assesses local governments' performance in agricultural service delivery at the local level under the federal system in Nepal. This study was conducted using a mixed method during 2019-2021 in three local governments at the local, Karnali Province, and federal levels. Qualitative methods such as KIIs, FGDs and field observations were used to analyze the issues and gaps in functions, institutions and policies in the agriculture sector under the federal system. Whilst qualitative methods and an empirical survey among 300 farming households were conducted to assess local governments' performance in agricultural service provisions. The qualitative data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method, and the quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage. Findings revealed that functional overlap, duplication and lack of coordination between the three tiers of the government as major issues in sectoral restructuring. Farming household surveys revealed that local governments are effective in the timely delivery of agricultural services. However, farmers indicated their lower level of agreement on the capacity of the local staff, policies, institutional mechanisms, participatory process in planning and financial resource allocation for agricultural services. The performance of these three local governments on agricultural service delivery was affected by leadership priority and commitment, local policies, local staff capacity, resource allocation and external support. Overlapping and duplication in service delivery roles, weak local capacity, higher conditionality of intergovernmental sectoral fiscal transfer and less priority of local governments in financial resource prioritization are current issues and gaps in agricultural service delivery. The findings suggest the demarcation of the roles and responsibilities between the three tiers of the government, strengthening local capacities and revisiting local governments' institutional arrangement for effective agricultural service delivery under the federal system.

Impact of the COVID-19 control measures on rural households’ access to social capital for mobilizing resources in Eastern Ethiopia

Physical distancing and mobility restriction measures are used as central components of the COVID 19 response globally. In Ethiopia, the measures have been implemented against a complex social structure wherein social support practices (in the form of social capital) and daily social interactions are embedded. However, the mechanism of how such measures interact with various social capital practices and shape household access to various types of resources during the pandemic are less understood. This study examined the way the COVID-19 pandemic and protective measures shaped smallholder farmers’ access to social capital for mobilizing resources during the pandemic. A total of 176 households were randomly selected for the quantitative survey. In addition, 25 key informant interviews were collected. Results show that prolonged physical distancing and mobility restrictions imposed to control the health impact of the pandemic have disrupted normal patterns of social interactions and resource sharing between households. The imposed measures significantly decreased households’ access to food, information, credit/loan, labor, psychological support, and agricultural inputs and extension services. The study strongly suggests that the public health measure imposed for the COVID-19 prevention and control affect the proper functioning of a society's social capital framework, thereby, reducing poor households’ ability to deal with socioeconomic crises and uncertainties. This implies that ongoing as well as future responses to the pandemic should adapt and integrate crisis management measures with the local risk-sharing mechanisms such as indigenous mutual support frameworks and processes. Harnessing inclusive social protection programs and building strong rural financial infrastructure and agricultural service delivery can help vulnerable households cope with shocks, improve the effectiveness of pandemic responses and facilitate post-crisis recovery.

Farmers Response on Agricultural Service Delivery in New Federal System of Nepal

The objectives of the study were to assess the farmer’s satisfaction with agricultural services and the local government’s performance in delivery of agricultural services under the new federal system of Nepal. The responses of 300 farming households covering three local levels (100 farming households from each municipality) were collected during 2019 and 2020 to analyse responses. Based on the information obtained, a relative importance index (RII) was developed by using 16 parameters that were considered as performance variables in a Likert-type scale. Results showed that about one tenth of the respondents were highly satisfied; about two fifth were satisfied, and nearly half of the respondents were moderately satisfied with the agricultural services at local level. The RII analysis revealed that local governments are effective in providing agricultural services that are relevant to the farmers resulting in increased access to services along with implementation of agricultural related activities. Other positive changes include the timeliness of service delivery by the local level governments, which have also become more accountable in terms of service delivery. On the other hand, the respondents have felt lower levels of agreement related to the capacity of the local staff, the institutional mechanisms, and participatory planning and financial resource allocation for agricultural services. Thus, from a policy perspective, the findings suggest there is a strong need for strengthening local staff capacities, the formulation of appropriate policies, and the establishment of institutional mechanisms to ensure farmer’s participation at the local level planning process, and the prioritization of resource allocation to the agriculture sector to achieve improved agricultural service delivery and greater farmer satisfaction.

When public spending goes local: agricultural expenditure at a key stage in Ghana’s decentralisation reform

This paper provides a qualitative analysis that highlights the implications on agricultural services of a key stage in decentralisation reforms in Ghana. We assess the status of agricultural expenditure decentralisation and draw out the likely implications for agricultural service delivery and national strategies. The study finds that agricultural officers at all levels (national, regional and district) had concerns about the implementation of the new decentralisation reform. These included budget cuts and delays in releases that coincided with the reform period; the transfer of staff from the civil service to the local government service; and a sense that agriculture may receive less attention when allocation of government resources becomes the preserve of assemblies and district chief executives, rather than the central agricultural ministry. The structural changes also meant that agricultural local government staff now needed to learn to ‘market’ the value of their public services to local government leadership, in order to protect resources for agriculture. The decentralisation reform also necessitated new public expenditure reporting practices to ensure a clear overview of sectoral spending across government tiers.

Review on Impact of ICTs on Improving Agricultural Productivity and Rural Incomes in Ethiopia

The experience in Ethiopia rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies, which facilitates the flow of data and information, has tremendously enhanced the knowledge management practice in agriculture. The objective of this paper is to review the impact of information and communication technologies to improve agricultural productivity and rural income in Ethiopian and review the recently developed agricultural knowledge and information systems in Ethiopia and others related documents. The study is based on a systematic review of existing literature of agricultural information communication and knowledge management system work in the country and supported documents of others countries. The review paper is organized in four sections. Section I focuses on importance of Information and Communication Technologies to the Ethiopian agricultural extension system. The second section discusses types of Information and Communication Technologies used by the farmers in Ethiopia. The third section to review the challenges and opportunities of Information and Communication Technologies ICT in provision of information services for the developments of agricultural production and generates rural income in Ethiopia. The findings of this study reveal that the various forms of Information and Communication technology have been used in agricultural service delivery and were more in tune with the circumstances and requirements of smallholder farmers. Therefore, the emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in this era has opened new opportunities in agricultural knowledge management that could play an important role in meeting the prevailing challenges related to innovation, sharing, exchanging and disseminating agricultural information, knowledge and technologies to the intended smallholder farmers. Keywords: Information communication technology; Agricultural Information ; productivity; Rural Income; knowledge management system; Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/IKM/10-5-01 Publication date: August 31 st 2020

Agricultural Extension: Challenges of Extension service for rural poor and youth in Amhara Region, North Western Ethiopia. The Case of North Gondar Zone

Ethiopia is one of the countries on the African continent with highest agricultural potential. Its natural resources base is the foundation of any economic development, food security and other basic necessities of its people. Predominantly smallholder agriculture is the dominant sector of the national economy. Smallholder agriculture is the dominant sector of the national economy. To boost the production and productivity of the agriculture sector; the extension systems is expected to play paramount role. However, the agricultural system is still characterized by low level of Agricultural service delivery practice that couldn’t move the existing traditional agriculture in to modern. The objective of the study is toexamine constraints in addressing women farmers and rural youth and to assess constraints of extension system in promoting agricultural technologies to farmers in the study area. Primary and Secondary data was collected for the study purpose. In addition to respondents’ interview, focus group discussion, key informants interview and case studies were used for qualitative data analysis. Descriptive statistics of mean, standard devotions and percent was applied. For statistical tests, chi-square, T-test, Pearson and spearman’s correlation coefficient were employed. As a conclusion, the challenges of existing public agricultural extension service provision institutional, technological and technical and in terms of addressing cross-cutting issues such as environment and gender as theses have wider contexts to look into existing endogenous and exogenous constraints.

The drivers of women farmers’ participation in cash crop production: the case of women smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana

ABSTRACTPurpose: Participation in labour markets and high-value crops among men and women smallholder farmers has always been an important strategy for poverty alleviation and attainment of food and income security. In contributing to the generation of gender-disaggregated empirical literature, this paper examined determinants of women smallholder farmers’ participation in their households’ decision-making regarding cash crop production.Methodology: Data for the paper were sourced from a baseline survey conducted by Monitory and Evaluation Technical Support Services, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research and Ghana Statistical Service for the USAID Feed the Future Programme in their Northern Ghana Zone of Influence. The data were analysed using probit regression analysis to identify factors which significantly influence women farmers’ participation in cash crop production.Findings: The probit analysis identified intra-household power relations such as women participation in household decision-making, control over household productive resources and control over household income as significant determinants of smallholder women farmers’ participation in cash crop production.Theoretical Implication: Improving women smallholder farmers’ power to participate in household decision-making, access to and control over household productive resources and income are therefore imperative in boosting women farmers’ participation in cash crop production.Practical Implications: It is therefore recommended that any gender-targeted policy and programme with the aim of women’s economic empowerment must critically examine the sociocultural barriers impeding women’s participation in their household decision-making and control over household productive resources. Women farmers’ participation in their households’ decision-making regarding cash crop production and the use of income generated from it should be encouraged through gender mainstreaming in agricultural service delivery.

Agricultural service delivery: strengthening private crop protection service in southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACTAs one element of agricultural service delivery, in Ethiopia crop protection service has generally only involved the private sector on a small scale. This article outlines a case study where private crop protection service (PCPS) was strengthened from 2006 to 2010 in Halaba Special District, southern Ethiopia. The study used questionnaires, analysis, service comparison, ranking, and indicator-based assessments. The study shows that PCPS in 2007/08 crop seasons served 1,104 households on 1,707 ha of land in 19 Kebeles, contributing US$327,752 in total. Assessment indicators values were better for PCPS than the informal crop protection service. Piloting PCPS strengthening is recommended to improve crop protection service and reduce crop loss in Ethiopia.

Agriculture Education for Rural Development in Nepal

This paper appraises the possible importance of accessible agriculture education program in agriculture and rural development sectors. Rural development is a strategy for reducing poverty and uplift socio-economic infrastructures in rural areas especially through agriculture development which is almost impossible without proper management of agriculture graduates and trained farmers. An attempt is also made to examine the transformative role of responsible public and private mechanism, skilled farmers and agriculture graduates for achieving ultimate goals and objectives of agricultural policies and rural development efforts during various plan periods. However, still most of agriculture graduates have to be encouraged to working with farmers and need to be devoted in agricultural based occupations. Nepalese economy has undergone a gradual structural shift in the recent years and there is 4.03% average GDP contribution by agriculture sector. Still 2.5 million people need immediate assistance because of insufficient land and production and 4.4 million people are trapping in food insecurity because of raising price in food grains. But Nepal ranked as the sixth largest producer of lentils and the third largest producers of ginger. Cardamom, lentils, tea and ginger are also the leading agricultural export items. This situation suggests that the country is still potential destination form the perspectives commercial farming and agricultural transformation, if the government gives excessive emphasize to providing accessible and affordable agriculture education opportunities to socio-economically backward students whose family members are still working in agriculture sectors. This paper emphasizes that formulating agriculture and rural development policies are not proper way to solve socio-economic problems but it is inevitable to diffuse agriculture education program in rural areas for producing skilled and knowledgeable workforce. The government needs to expand agricultural service delivery mechanism and mobilize agriculture graduates in remote areas and private sectors also need to invest in agriculture sectors as for struggling against food insecurity.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jtd.v1i0.13089 Journal of Training and Development Vol.1 2015: 38-45

Investigating the Institutionalized Co-Production in Delivery of Agricultural Services: Realities from Cashew Value Chain in the Southern Regions of Tanzania

The research on investigating “Institutionalized co-production in delivery of agricultural services: Realities from cashew value chain in the southern regions of Tanzania” aimed in investigating realities of type, level and sources of services going in the cashew value chain in Tandahimba district council as representative of other districts growing cashew in Tanzania. The research focus arose in the contextual fact that cashew form a main cash crop that contributes to huge per centum of financial gain of district councils, for farmers and citizens of southern region of Tanzania as a whole. The main research question the research intended to answer is ‘What are realities of services offered by LGAs to agricultural sector, particularly cashew sub sectors? The subsidiary questions and issues includes who (actors) are involved in the delivery of services to cashew along value chain? What model of service delivery is used and what is relationship between those actors? More important, is the implications of all actors and their role to the development of cashew crop and livelihood of farmers in particular?

The role of rural producer organizations for agricultural service provision in fragile states

This article assesses the extent of external linkages and the provision of agricultural services by rural producer organizations in a post-conflict setting. Using new survey data collected by the International Food Policy Research Institute in three provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this study finds that various internal and external factors affect the capacity of organizations to interact with external organizations. External linkages, ability to collect financial support from their members, management capacity, and formal governance structures all contribute to explaining relative performance in agricultural service delivery. We also find that exogenous events affect the relative performance of rural producer organizations. Our results suggest that closeness to conflict reduces the capacity of producer organizations to provide agricultural services.

The Role of Rural Producer Organizations for Agricultural Service Provision in Fragile States

This paper assesses the role of rural institutions in the speedy recovery and growth of the agriculture and food sector in postconflict setting. This research was conducted to identify strategies and approaches to strengthen local institutions in the agricultural sector of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Using a semi-structured interview approach with 181 rural producer organizations in three provinces of western DRC, this study finds varying types of rural producer organizations in the study areas and shows various internal and external factors affecting these organizations’ capacity to provide and facilitate agricultural services for their members. Greater interactions with other organizations, membership commitment through financial contributions, management capacity, and formal governance structures contribute to explaining these organizations’ performance in agricultural service delivery. Exogenous events were also found to affect organizational performance and service delivery outcomes. Organizations closer to areas with past conflict events face greater risks of conflict re-occurrence and experience limited agricultural and rural development programs, which reduce their ability to provide and facilitate agricultural services to their members. This result implies some evidence of negative relationship of conflict and collective action, in contrast to several studies that show a positive relation.

Managing the Process of Decentralization: Transforming Old Public Entities into New Agencies in the Agricultural Sector

ABSTRACT In an effort to reconfigure the system for the delivery of agricultural services, the Regional Government of Sardinia in Italy decided, in 2006, to suppress five public entities, and to establish three regional agencies in their place. Based on interviews conducted with managers and staff within these agencies, this article narrates the episode of implementing the organizational restructuring of this part of the regional government's agricultural policy. Drawing on this case, this article then presents an explanation of the process of carrying out organizational transformations (namely, mergers and demergers) within sub-national governments' administrative systems. The study finds that policy process features and context conditions figure prominently as explanatory factors for the path and outcome of the implementation of the organizational restructuring. On the whole, the research argument made in this article suggests some qualifications of existing generalizing arguments about the management of organizational transformations in the public sector.

Gender roles in agricultural production in the Seychelles

This study examined the role of each member of the family in food production, investigated the type of farming activities the farm families are engaged in, gender specific roles, level of participation of the female gender, gender stereotypes and suggested the use of the information for policy advocacy and strengthening of agricultural service delivery in the Seychelles. Two investigative tools were used namely Focus GroupDiscussion (FGD) and Interview Schedule.Atotal of 100 farmers were interviewed. The study revealed that the farmers were mainly crop farmers. There were no gender specific roles or stereotypes. Men were more involved in all the food production activities except food processing. Other areas of high level women participation were marketing (81%), farm hygiene (76%), record keeping (42.9%)and purchasing of inputs(81%). Low level female participation was a result of attitudinal change, difficult agricultural land terrain, unfavorable government policy and unwholistic approach of agricultural extension services which focused on only the farmer instead of the entire farm family. To achieve sustainable food production in order to ensure food security, the extension services need a new orientation and better funding to enable it carry out its function. The government should make available cultivable lands for food production and encourage women to own their own farms by giving priority to them in land allocation.Keywords: Gender, role, production, stereotype