Farmer Leaders Research Articles

Factors influencing women farmers’ participation in agricultural cooperatives in Ondo-State, Nigeria

Cooperative societies provide channels for sharing of input where women farmers can pool their limited resources together to maximize agricultural output and food security in rural areas. This study, therefore, analyzed factors influencing women farmers participation in agricultural cooperatives in Ondo State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the research were to describe socio-economic characteristics of women farmer’s participation in agricultural cooperative societies, determine the level of participation of women farmers in agricultural cooperatives and examine factors that motivate participation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Likert type scale, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis. The results revealed that women farmers in the study area were average aged (42.9 years) and mostly possessed tertiary education (38.3%), mean annual income (₦777,846) with farm size (0.8 hectares). The level of participation in agricultural cooperative is high (60.4%). Accessibility to loan (M. S= 3.50), getting information (M. S= 3.42) and input facility (M. S= 3.40) were top most factors that influenced participation in cooperatives among the women. At P< 0.05, Age, marital status and income realized per annum were positively significant to the level of participation in cooperatives. The study recommends the timely provision of loan to enable women farmers expand the scope of their farming activities, increased access to training programs for women farmer leaders in cooperatives as well as extension education should also be intensified.

PERCEPTION AND ACCEPTANCE OF STAKEHOLDERS IN AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR IMPROVEMENT OF FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY IN EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

A program intervention has been launched to achieve food and nutrition security in Indonesia. However, the process and implementation are supposed to be smoother than anticipated. This research analyzes the involvement and roles of stakeholders and organizations in implementing the program as the factors affecting the process’s smoothness. This research espoused an actor and institution-centered communication approach to dissect the stakeholders directly and laterally involved in executing the program. The East Java region was selected as the study sample. A qualitative ethnographic-phenomenological approach was adopted for this study. The crucial snatchers include government officers, extension workers, original leaders, and growers. Data were compiled using direct interviews and focus group discussions. This study applied triangulations among government organizations, stakeholders, and end-druggies to corroborate the data and information. Results of the analysis show that the dispatches of actors and institutions played dominant roles in the program’s execution. In the early application stage, the dominant role of actor and institution communication was explosively needed in a new program intervention to smooth implementation. In the provincial position, government officers played significant communication roles. The main actors in the program included women leaders of ménage substance education and farmer leaders at the grassroots position. Agrarian extension officers dominantly communicated between parochial and grassroots situations. The roles and involvements of the stakeholders varied across stages of program implementation. Institutions should reduce the dominant roles of their staff members in the late stages, engage local champions to replace the staff members, and substantially lessen reliance on formal institutions.

Emerging specialty crop farmer perspectives and educational needs related to soil health and nutrient management in the Upper Midwest

Abstract Emerging farmers, including immigrant farmers, play an increasingly important role in the food system of the Upper Midwestern United States but face significant barriers to success. One important barrier is the lack of culturally relevant and system-specific training and technical assistance, particularly related to soil health and nutrient management. A team of researchers and farm support professionals was convened to conduct a farmer engagement process consisting of a survey and focus groups to better understand the experiences and wisdom that emerging farmers already have, and their educational needs related to soils. The broader goal was to inform the development of culturally relevant tools and training. Here we identify key takeaways related to content needs and learning style preferences. While emerging farmers are already skilled in assessing physical and biological aspects of soil health, they often need support in understanding chemical properties of soil, how to do soil testing, and how to translate soil test results into actionable practices. Additionally, many emerging farmers have experience in other countries and in agricultural systems based on practices such as shifting cultivation. Supporting farmers as they adapt these practices to a Midwest context requires educators to learn about these systems and value the expertise of farmers from diverse farming backgrounds. There is a particular need for more nuanced and farm scale-specific training about inputs in highly diversified, mostly organic systems, especially related to compost and manure management. In terms of learning styles, farmers preferred hands-on training opportunities with as much mentorship and peer learning as possible. Many Midwestern emerging farmers participate in incubator farm programs for beginning growers. While such programs provide valuable access to land and infrastructure, they often lack the capacity to provide tailored participant mentorship. This leaves program graduates unsure about how to utilize soil health and nutrient management practices when they start their own farms. To improve soil health and nutrient management outcomes for emerging farmers, we propose investing in train-the-trainer type programs for farmer leaders and staff with beginning farmer organizations. These programs should include tailored one-to-one mentorship and peer learning with an emphasis on organic inputs, chemical aspects of soil health, and diversified production systems.

Sustainable Food Reserve Program as Policy Intervention for Food and Nutrition Security in East Java, Indonesia: Roles of Officials and Local Actors

This paper analyses the implementation of a sustainable food reserve program that empowers the community by mitigating the adverse impacts of malnutrition in Indonesia. This paper adopted an actor- and institution-centered communication approach to analyze the stakeholders, directly and indirectly, engaged in implementing the program. East Java province was selected as the sample of the study. Results of the analysis show that the communications of actors and institutions played dominant roles in the program implementation. In the early implementation stage, the dominant roles of actor and institution communication were strongly required in a new program intervention to guarantee smooth implementation. Government officials played a significant communication role at the provincial level. At the grassroots level, the main actors were women leaders of household prosperity education and farmer leaders. Agricultural extension officials dominantly communicated between provincial and grassroots levels. Institutions must start reducing dominant roles and appointing local cadres to replace and reduce dependency on the institutions.

Reviewer on the role of ethnoveterinary practice for animal health

Ethnoveterinary practices are important because they are easily available, inexpensive and effective, especially in rural areas where veterinary services are absent or irregular and expensive. At this level, indigenous animal health systems are used for emergency purposes. Despite recent efforts to promote the use of ethno veterinary knowledge worldwide, much information is only documented in field reports and scientific publications. Few practical researches have been done to help animal healthcare workers, farmer leaders and farmers to actively train others in the use of effective and validated ethno veterinary practices. The overall objective of the paper is to highlight to importance of traditional medicinal practices used to treat livestock diseases. Local people in the study area possess traditional knowledge of medicinal plants to treat various animal ailments; however, agricultural expansion and disinterest of young generation became the major threat to medicinal plants. It is, therefore, necessary to preserve this indigenous knowledge on traditional medicines by proper documentation, identification of plant species used, and herbal preparation. To save medicinal plants from further loss, involving local communities in cultivation of the most utilized medicinal plants is recommended.

Rural Communication Services (RCS) and Appropriation of Flatbed Dryers among Farmers in Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

This study analyses the impact of rural communication services (RCS) on rice farmers’ appropriation of flatbed dryers in Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. The study faces the problem from the sociopsychological lens of viewing communication problems. A survey of 131 rice farmers from three barangays in Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija, namely Pulong Buli, Mambarao and Malaya has been conducted to collect data. For the key informant interview (KII), informants/interviewees were leaders of farmers’ organisations, municipal agricultural officer, agricultural technicians, and flatbed dryer developers. The findings reveal that there is a source-driven orientation of communication services in the study area as the majority of the rice farmers passively receive information from different sources. The most accessed RCS provider was the municipal agriculture office. Farmers viewed that information as relevant to their needs because they were able to utilise them in their farming practices and they were compatible with the existing methods and practices. Most of the respondents were engaged in person-to-person communication in accessing information about the flatbed dryer. Attending seminars and training, cooperative assemblies and membership in Farmers’ Field School (FFS) were among the opportunities where the respondents engaged in peer learning.

Site-specific nutrient management in rice (Oryza sativa): Status and prospect–A review

Site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) plays a vital role in increasing crop profitability, maintaining soil health and reducing environmental pollution. Field experiments and demonstrations conducted across southeast (SE) Asia were conducted during 2020–21 at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi and observed that SSNM includes various nutrient management practices and each practice have a positive impact on fulfilling its vital role. After a thorough study, this review reflects that fertilizer recommendations based on targeted yield concept were more balanced, profitable and helpful in controlling soil nutrient mining and essential for sustainable crop production. Establishment of an attainable yield target, based on location, season, climate, rice cultivar and crop management ensures effective use of existing indigenous nutrients such as from soil, organic amendments, crop residue, manure and irrigation water and application of fertilizer to dynamically fill the deficit between crop needs and indigenous supply and to maintain soil fertility. Moreover, use of nitrification inhibitor, deep placement of nitrogen (N) and NPK fertilizers reduces the loss of N fertilizers up to 20% and increases rice yield up to 10%. The leaf colour charts (LCC), chlorophyll meter or SPAD are inexpensive need based tools for fertilizer N management that can reduce the excessive application of N (10–50%). Optical sensor-based nitrogen management is an alternative to LCC and SPAD that can quickly and reliably monitor N requirements of rice. On the other hand, the dissemination of SSNM through LCC, SPAD, QUEFT models, optical sensor etc., requires training of researchers, local extension workers, fertilizer retailers, and farmer leaders on techniques and guidelines for enabling rice farmers. Therefore, a simple nutrient decision support tool, Nutrient Expert® (NE) is useful to develop strategies to manage fertilizer N, P and K tailored to farmer’s field or growing environment. However, comparative evaluation of different SSNM approach is essential for location wise fertilizer prescription for increasing crop profitability, soil health and environmental safety.

Farmer social networks: The role of advice ties and organizational leadership in agroforestry adoption.

With the decline in public budgets for agricultural extension support, ties between members of farmer groups are becoming more important to facilitate information transfer about agroforestry. This paper examines the role of social network ties in predicting organizational leadership in an agroforestry-based farmer group. Using social network data derived from interviews with members of farming groups based in the Ayeyarwady Delta of Myanmar, we established a positive relationship between advice-seeking ties and organizational leadership. In other words, farmers who were highly sought for agroforestry advice were more likely to be elected as leaders of the farmer group. Results show the frequency of interactions through advice-seeking ties also had a positive influence on the probability of farmers holding leadership positions. We found a core–periphery structure for the advice networks, whereby farmer leaders were overrepresented at the network core. Interestingly, general members of the farmer group were also in the core of the core-periphery structure, suggesting that engaging with farmers without leadership roles can also effectively disseminate agroforestry information to peripheral farmers. We conclude that farmer groups are valuable in agroforestry adoption and persistence and further analyses of formal leadership structures are needed to support more transparent and accountable governance.

Local leaders and the environment: little resilience/influence to produce a sustainable environment

The Legal Amazon region (LAR) consists on a complex area where multiple actors coexist with conflicting interests. Indigenous population, agribusiness entrepreneurs and small producers are examples of individuals with different behaviors concerning the economic development and deforestation of the area. In this sense, research has been conducted in order to evaluate the impacts of agricultural development and the rise of deforestation levels, the influence of economic incentives on economic development and deforestation and the impact of institutional incentives on deforestation reduction. However, the role of local leadership on these matters has not been analyzed so far. An efficient local leader would be the one who is resilient (e.g. promote both economic development and deforestation reduction on his municipality). Therefore, in our study we test if local leaders are resilient in the Legal Amazon environment, whether or not they make use of economic and/or institutional incentive to promote economic development and deforestation reduction and whether or not sustainable top leaders (e.g. state governors) influence the actions of local leaders (e.g. mayors). For this, we use a Regression Discontinuity methodology and a quasi-randomized experiment (elections with a margin of victory close to zero). Our sample comes from multiple databases and includes over 18000 observations from 755 LAR distinct municipalities for the period between 1996 and 2016. Amongst our results, we identify that local farmer leaders promote economic development but do not produce significant changes on deforestation levels. We also identify that economic incentives are used by these local leaders, but institutional incentives are not. Finally, we identify that top level leaders do not influence local leaders on their actions on behalf of being resilient.

Usefulness of Network Analysis to Characterize Technology Leaders in Small Dual-Purpose Cattle Farms in Mexico

The low technology adoption rate is one of the major problems in very small dual-purpose cattle farms in Mexico. Using the social network analysis approach, we characterized the farmer leaders in the innovation network and deepened the knowledge on the low technological adoption causes. The sample consisted of 383 very small farms of dual-purpose cattle characterized by using nine reproductive management technologies. Our findings suggested that the network position of farmers had a significant impact on the technological level. Hence, the farmers farthest from the technology leaders showed the lowest levels of betweenness centrality index and high rates of constraint. Apart from this, advice, productive orientation, and intensification were also differentiating elements at the technological level. The findings provided relevant insights and useful tools to policy makers to better support, coordinate and enhance the adoption of innovation among smallholders.

Complementary practices adopted by farmers of Haryana (India) for conservation agriculture

Aim: To study different complementary practices like zero tillage, agroforestry, crop diversification etc., adopted for conservational agriculture. Methodology: The study was conducted in the year 2018 in Haryana state of India, which is divided into two agro-climatic zones, i.e., North-Eastern Zone and South-Western Zone. A total of 240 respondents were personally interviewed for the present study. Results: The farmers were highly aware of the fact that the zero tillage reduces the field preparatory cost, agroforestry provides healthy environment and extra income whereas crop diversification reduces the risk of crop failure. Major constraints in zero tillage, agroforestry and crop diversification were ?straw burning?, ?lack of interest among respondents due to long duration of return? and ?lack of educational and training facilities?, respectively. Interpretation: Conservation agriculture opens new doors towards mitigating the effects of conventional agricultural systems and to improve the health of our degrading soil. Substantial improvement may be required in research on agriculture policy formulation involving training of scientists, extension workers and farmer leaders.

ANALISIS DAN DESAIN RANTAI PASOK KAKAO BERBASIS BLOCKCHAIN

Abstract— The supply chain in the 4.0 era wanted consumers to be closer to producers. Problems that occur in the supply chain are supply chain information flow is still long, there is no transparency, marketing coverage is less extensive, and documentation of activities is not good. The purpose of this study is to analyze the condition of the Kelompok Tani X cocoa supply chain and to identify the attributes of the blockchain based group cocoa supply chain farmers. The method used is the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Unified Modelling Languange. The results obtained are that the supply chain information flow in the X farmer group is still overlapping, and has not been systematic. Actors consist of farmers, farmer leaders, processing factories (Kelompok Tani X), and retailers. Activities that occur are signing up, logging in, filling content, transactions, shipping, validation, and returning goods. The conclusion is the supply chain activities of the Kelompok Tani X have not been documented. The blockchain system that is designed is adjusted to the situation, so it is expected to be able to make the administration and documentation system better. Keywords—: Agroindustry 4.0; supply chain; system development life cycle; transparency; unified modelling languange.

Strategies Use by Garlic Growers in Coping with Climate Variability in Occidental Mindoro, Philippines

The study determined garlic grower’s perception on livelihoods’ vulnerability to climate variability, the coping strategies employed, and the relationship between the profile and their coping mechanism to climate variability. Correlational research design was employed in this study. The respondents were randomly selected from the registered list of garlic growers in the municipalities of San Jose, Magsaysay, Calintaan, Rizal, Looc and Lubang of Occidental Mindoro, Philippines. Survey, interview guide and observation with the garlic growers and farmer leaders were done. Result showed vulnerability to climate variability indicators that were always perceived were pest and disease, lack of water supply and low quality of crops. The coping strategies that was always practiced was irrigating the land more during dry season using water pumps, since garlic is usually planted in the months of December to April. However, respondents indicated they ‘never’ got crop insurance and do not let their land be leased or rented by other farmers. Further, age and farming experience have significant relationship with coping mechanism employed.
 Keywords: garlic, coping mechanism, climate variability, crop insurance

Underutilized Crops in the Agricultural Farms of Southeastern Sri Lanka: Farmers’ Knowledge, Preference, and Contribution to Household Economy

Research on underutilized crops in Sri Lanka is limited. This study, conducted in Uva and Eastern provinces of southeastern Sri Lanka, is aimed at identifying common underutilized crops in the dominant agricultural farms, estimating their contribution to household income and food security, and understanding key actors’ (leaders of farmers’ associations, collectors/middlemen, and traders/wholesalers) knowledge of and preference for underutilized crops. Participatory rural appraisal methods were followed and snowball sampling was used for 88 semi-structured interviews with farmers who cultivate underutilized crops on their farms. In addition, 36 key actors were interviewed to explore their knowledge of and preference for potential underutilized crops. Thirty farming plots were visited to identify the composition of underutilized crops. Three mixed cropping agricultural farms—home gardens (mean area, 0.80 ha), chena (shifting cultivation, 0.82 ha), and off-season paddy lands (1.16 ha)—were observed. We identified 37 underutilized crops of which finger millet (60% of households) was most common, followed by cowpea (50%), cassava (41%), sweet melon (36%), and cashew nut (24%). Key actors prioritized four crops, namely finger millet (Eleusine coracana [L.] Gaertn.), cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.), and mung bean/green gram (Vigna radiata L. R.Wilczek), as high potential underutilized crops. The contribution of underutilized crops to household income and food security in Uva and Eastern province was 31% and 16%, and 61% and 43%, respectively. An integrated approach can be undertaken in order to promote and sustain underutilized crops in the region for agro-biodiversity conservation and benefiting farmers.

ANALISIS DAN DESAIN RANTAI PASOK KAKAO BERBASIS BLOCKCHAIN

The supply chain in the 4.0 era wanted consumers to be closer to producers. Problems that occur in the supply chain are supply chain information flow is still long, there is no transparency, marketing coverage is less extensive, and documentation of activities is not good. The purpose of this study is to analyze the condition of the Kelompok Tani X cocoa supply chain and to identify the attributes of the blockchain based group cocoa supply chain farmers. The method used is the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The results obtained are that the supply chain information flow in the X farmer group is still overlapping, and has not been systematic. Actors consist of farmers, farmer leaders, processing factories (Kelompok Tani X), and retailers. Activities that occur are signing up, logging in, filling content, transactions, shipping, validation, and returning goods.

Research on Self-development Ability of the Leaders of Cooperatives-Analysis Based on Rooting Theory

Under the background of comprehensively winning the fight against poverty and promoting rural revitalization, this paper based on the rooted theory research method, obtained the first-hand interview data of the leaders of 30 cooperatives through face-to-face in-depth interviews, and used the specialized analysis software Nvivo12.0 to carry out coding analysis. The key ability of self-development of the leaders of cooperatives is extracted and refined. On this basis, a self-development capability model of the leaders of farmers specialized cooperatives is constructed, which aims to provide reference for enriching the self-development ability evaluation system of the leaders of f cooperatives, improving the self-development ability of the leaders of cooperatives, regulating the healthy and sustainable development of cooperatives, and helping poverty alleviation to advance rural revitalization.

Review on the role of ethno veterinary practice for animal health

Ethnoveterinary practices are important because they are easily available, inexpensive and effective, especially in rural areas where veterinary services are absent or irregular and expensive. At this level, indigenous animal health systems are used for emergency purposes. Despite recent efforts to promote the use of ethno veterinary knowledge worldwide, much information is only documented in field reports and scientific publications. Few practical researches have been done to help animal healthcare workers, farmer leaders and farmers to actively train others in the use of effective and validated ethno veterinary practices. The overall objective of the paper is to highlight to importance of traditional medicinal practices used to treat livestock diseases. Local people in the study area possess traditional knowledge of medicinal plants to treat various animal ailments; however, agricultural expansion and disinterest of young generation became the major threat to medicinal plants. It is, therefore, necessary to preserve this indigenous knowledge on traditional medicines by proper documentation, identification of plant species used, and herbal preparation. To save medicinal plants from further loss, involving local communities in cultivation of the most utilized medicinal plants is recommended.

Actor social networks as knowledge sharing mechanisms in multi-stakeholder processes: a case of coffee innovation platforms of Uganda

ABSTRACTPurpose: This study examined knowledge sharing mechanisms in coffee IPs and their effect on actor linkages in four districts of Uganda.Design/methodology/approach: Thirty one respondents from the public and private sector were interviewed using a qualitative approach. Data were analyzed using the Atlas ti qualitative software version 7.5.18 to generate themes for information sources, types and channels. Social network analysis was used to measure the actor centrality positions and influence in the IP network.Findings: Results revealed seven main categories of actors in the Coffee IPs who shared information on coffee inputs, agronomic practices, processing and markets through three main channels. Level of cohesion was less than 10% which had negative implications on the knowledge flow, trust and collaboration among the actors. Influential positions were occupied by the processors and farmer leaders in IPs in the southern districts of Luwero and Rakai, while nursery operators were most influential in IPs of the western districts of Ntungamo and Bushenyi. Weak linkages within the social networks indicated that initiatives of the actors were fragmented, as each actor acted as an individual detached from the platform activities limiting inter-actor knowledge sharing.Practical implications: Innovation intermediaries should focus on integrated systemic and innovative approaches to strengthen actor social linkages for knowledge sharing and better platform performance.Theoretical implications: Actor positions and relationships in innovation networks are critical tenets for fostering knowledge exchange and performance. In an innovation platform, diverse actors are multiple sources for accessing information within a given social and institutional context.Originality/value: The study contributes to existing debate and knowledge on institutional change in agricultural innovation systems.

Knowledge in action: Negotiating power in development

How can sociopolitical theories inform participatory action research and what are the implications for development? I answer this question by reflecting on a research, training, and networking project that I conducted with small-scale rooibos tea farmers in postapartheid South Africa. My research team was comprised of community-based farmer leaders who sought representation in an industry marked by acute inequalities. Guided by Freire’s theory of conscientization, we employed a multi-paradigmatic framework to address questions pertaining to governance and identity. Theoretical training enabled my team to systematically interrogate differential power dynamics, illuminating the sociopolitical terrain. In return my co-investigators taught me to embrace a more situated understanding of power, helping us to shift the relations of research and practice. Yet we were unable to scale up outcomes due to material barriers, suggesting that knowledge alone is not power. Our experience illustrates the limitations of conscientization as a model for participatory development as well as its potential for delivering a multi-paradigmatic theory of social transformation.

Soil Clinics: Farmers Teaching Smart-Farming to Farmers

In Thailand, the site-specific nutrient management technology, known as “Tailor-made Fertilizer Technology (TFT)”, for rice, maize and sugarcane in the Northeastern region was developed between 1997-2007, using the concepts of precision agriculture together with an approach of building capacity of small farmers. TFT, also called Smart-farming, comprises four components, namely 1) soil series identification, 2) N-P-K testing by soil test kit, 3) fertilizer recommendations using decision-aids and a simplified version of a complex model and 4) farmer empowerment. The benefit of TFT at the rice field of the Huay Kamin chairman farmer group was one example, the technology has been disseminated to the 80 members with a total planting area of about 320 ha. The results revealed chemical fertilizer reduction of 69%, and rice yield increased some 10% - 20% with the improved fertilizer application method. The farmers were encouraged to establish “Soil Clinics” in their communities. In a Soil Clinic, designated and trained farmer leaders analyze soil samples for member farmers and provide TFT recommendations while providing access to fertilizer materials available for sale at competitive prices. At present, there are about 70 soil clinics in 20 provinces with the support of many government and private sectors.