Farmers Clubs Research Articles

Perceptions on Influence of Membership in Young Farmers Clubs on Career Interest and Participation in Agricultural Activities Among Secondary School Students in Nakuru North Sub-County, Nakuru County, Kenya

Young Farmers’ Club (YFC) activities globally have played a vital role in the mastery and attainment of knowledge in agriculture subject since it is best learned by use of practical activities. Increased youth participation in agricultural production is necessary and vital in facilitating food and nutritional security. In Kenya, Young Farmers Club of Kenya (YFCK) was established to help boys and girls to develop ideas for better farming, provide social and recreational activities, help give the necessary dignity to agriculture as an occupation and develop good and competent agricultural leadership. The objectives of YFCK included promoting interest in farming, sound training in advanced methods of crop and animal husbandly, leadership skills, self-reliance, self-confidence and responsibility. The purpose of this study was to determine the perception on influence of membership in young farmers clubs on career interest and participation in agricultural activities among day secondary schools students in Nakuru North sub-county. A descriptive survey design was adopted with a target population of 2,660 agriculture students and 32 agriculture teachers. Proportionate random sampling was used to select a sample of 120 respondents from the 19 day public schools. Data was collected from the sampled heads of agriculture subject using a questionnaire. Content validity of the instrument was ascertained by two panels of experts from Department of Agricultural Education and Extension and the supervisors. Reliability of the instruments was ensured through a pilot-test using 40 agriculture students and four agriculture teachers from Nakuru East Sub-county. The reliability of the instrument was tested using Cronbach Alpha coefficient. A reliability coefficient was 0.76 and 0.73 for YFCK members and Agriculture teachers respectively, at a significance level of α= 0.05. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive with the aid of SPSS 20.0 for Windows. Data was analysed using various tables and graphs. The researcher recommends that Agriculture teachers in collaboration with school administration should enhance YFCK activities. This is for proper and effective practical activities in teaching of Agriculture subject according to the syllabus. The findings of the study will be of importance to secondary school teachers, students and other scholars of higher institutions of learning by emphasizing in formation of young farmers clubs in day secondary schools in Nakuru North Sub- County, Nakuru County Kenya.

Adoption of Agroforestry as a Climate Smart Agriculture Practice among Smallholder Farmers in Kakamega County, Kenya

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies help guide actions needed to transform and reorient agricultural systems to effectively support development and ensure food security by increasing farmers’ resilience to climate change. Agroforestry has been vouched for as one of the best CSAs because it provides ecosystem services such as water quality enhancement and prevents land degradation. This study sought to establish and document the adoption of agroforestry as a CSA practice among smallholder farmers in Kakamega County. Stratified sampling was used to select six sub-counties to represent the county's various agroecological zones and regions for the research sample. A combination of purposive and snowball sampling was used to select 428 smallholder CSA farmers, of whom 376 (87.9%) were practicing agroforestry. Primary data was collected using interview guides developed through the Kobo Collect application. Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) statistical packages were used to process and analyze the data. This study found that wood fuel was the main source of energy for 73% of the smallholder agroforestry farmers, followed by solar energy devices (12%), charcoal (7%), electricity (6%), and kerosene (2%). Grevillea Robusta was the most widely preferred agroforestry tree variety, adopted by 91.8% of agroforestry smallholder farmers, followed by fruit trees (73.4%), blue gums (67.3%), Cyprus (34.0%), and Calliandra (37.5%). Fodder tree types such as Sesbania and Casuarina were adopted by 30.9% and 23.9% of the smallholder agroforestry farmers, respectively. This study recommends the integration of agroforestry into farming systems by incentivizing farmers through programs like tree planting, free seedlings, and farm competitions. School agricultural clubs, such as 4K clubs for primary schools and Young Farmers Clubs for secondary schools, could be motivated and supported to use school gardens for food and fruit tree production. This study also recommends the promotion of modern stoves (maendeleo jikos), which use less wood fuel, are more efficient in cooking, and also reduce GHG emissions.

Integrating Locals’ Importance-Performance Perception of Adaptation Behaviour into Invasive Alien Plant Species Management Surrounding Nyika National Park, Malawi

Invasive species are a huge concern to environmental management across the world because they threaten ecosystems, habitats, and species biodiversity, with largely permanent consequences. This study investigates the aspects of community capital and community resilience for the management of Invasive Alien Plant Species (IAPS) under importance-performance analysis in communities surrounding Nyika National Park (Mhuju and Ntchenachena) in Malawi. The study used the binary logistic regression model to determine the locals’ management and adaptation behaviours to IAPS. The findings show that although both IAPS management and adaptation were considered highly important, their performance was only rated at a low level, indicating a significant gap between the importance of eight management and adaptation behaviours for IAPS and their actual performance. The results also show that IAPS management strategies such as ‘’promoting community awareness of common IAPS and their impacts on livelihood” and “incorporating IAPS issues into the school curriculum” are useful in nurturing the locals’ management behaviour. Furthermore, we have identified the following characteristics as having a significant influence on the locals’ participation in IAPS impact reduction and adaptation: (1) age, (2) residential area, (3) understanding the IAPS impacts, (4) membership of farmers’ club or Village Natural Resource Management Committee (VNRMC), and (5) discussion of IAPS in farmer club or VNRMC. These findings provide empirical evidence to policy makers for an effective IAPS management strategy.

Towards sustainability in the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices: Implications on household poverty, food and nutrition security

The study assessed the impact of sustainably adopting Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) on household poverty, food and nutrition security. Different scholars have assessed the impact of adopting agricultural practices including SAPs on livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Nonetheless, through the focus on one-time survey season adoption decisions, the findings on potential impacts of SAPs which are aimed at informing policy direction remain inconclusive. The current study introduced the concept of sustainability in the adoption of SAPs to iron out inconsistences in the adoption of such practices, and hence assessed whether farmers were better off in terms of poverty status, food and nutrition security than their counterparts. Through the use of Selectivity-corrected Endogenous Switching Regression models on a sample of 2100 farmers, the study notes that gender of household head, education of the household head, natural log of household annual income, Tropical Livestock Units (TLU), farmer membership of farmer clubs and village savings and loan groups significantly influenced the probability of smallholder farmers sustaining their adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices. Furthermore, the study notes tangible evidence of an improvement in household food and nutrition security by farmers sustainably adopting SAPs as compared to their counterparts. Nevertheless, no evidence exists that sustained adoption of the practices would alleviate poverty of smallholder farming households. The study recommends the development of an agricultural productivity enhancement program that cuts across the gender divide and social barriers of smallholder farmers, further focusing on promoting farmer clubs and village savings groups to ensure sustained adoption of agricultural practices. Such a program should employ a clear targeting strategy with an aim of targeting food insecure as opposed to poor households in order to eradicate hunger.

Incentive mechanisms to exploit intraseasonal price arbitrage opportunities for smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Malawi

AbstractSeasonal commodity price fluctuations can potentially offer farmers arbitrage opportunities to increase their income. However, smallholder farmers in most of sub‐Saharan Africa often do not exploit these opportunities to the fullest extent possible. To inform this issue, we conducted a randomized controlled trial among 1739 smallholder farmers in Malawi to estimate the impact of two key post‐harvest constraints, lack of appropriate storage technology and commitment issues, on farmers' legume storage and sales decisions. The treated groups received (i) an improved storage technology in the form of two hermetic (airtight) bags, (ii) the same improved storage technology under the condition that farmers store collectively with members of their farmer club in their village, and/or (iii) the improved storage technology under the condition that farmers store collectively at a centralized association warehouse. We analyzed the impacts of these treatments on storage behavior and revenue from sales. Results indicated that addressing the technological and commitment constraints simultaneously had the largest average impacts. One year after the intervention, farmers offered hermetic bags and the village storage program (Treatment 2) stored 24% more legumes at harvest, stored 27% longer, received a 3% higher price for their legumes and ultimately made 12% more on average than farmers in the control group. Farmers in that treatment also improved some (but not all) outcomes compared to farmers in other treatment groups. These findings suggest that combining technology with collective action that is localized and flexible can lead to better post‐harvest outcomes for smallholder farmers.

Effectiveness of Adaptation Mechanisms of Farmers in Flood Prone Area of Bihar

The state of Bihar is most vulnerable to floods in India and farmers in flood-prone areas have undergone adaptation through a combination of technological and institutional innovations. The present study aimed to explore the effectiveness of adaptation mechanisms as perceived by the farmers to mitigate the negative effects of flooding on their livelihoods covering a random sample of 80 farmers in flood-prone areas of Bhagalpur district in Bihar during 2022. The findings suggest that farmers have developed a range of adaptation strategies to cope with the impacts of flooding, the most effective being the changes in cropping patterns, adoption of flood-resistant paddy varieties, pest and disease resistance vegetable varieties, vaccination of livestock and management of fish ponds. Institutional innovations like self-help group, farmers interest group, farmers club, seed bank, village level weather advisories were also found crucial to enabling farmers to adapt to floods. Income, cultivated land, information availability, and use of communication sources have explained about 50 per cent variation in the perceived effectiveness of adaptation by farmers. Future extension efforts need to strengthen the institutional infrastructure to promote the flood resilient technologies to reduce the vulnerability of farm livelihoods.

Use of Social Media in Enhancing Farmer’s Satisfaction Level on Agricultural Extension Services: A Case Study of Farmers Club in Thoubal District, Manipur

Social media has become universal and practically inescapable, revolutionizing the way farmers communicate, interact and socialize; and has become an integral part of their social education through expressing opinion on varied issues. The agriculture sector is embracing social media and utilising it to increase knowledges of the farming and cropping management as well as interacting with others like agricultural professionals, Scientists, Subject Experts including research scholars. Social media tools can be viewed as social communication technologies in which opportunities of farmers’ feedback, interaction, and networking are much higher than other forms of extension information delivery. Besides all these opportunities provided by the social media, the farmers’ satisfaction level is also an important measures in dissemination of the information specially for agricultural extension and advisory services in order to improve the present communication system between farmers and the services provider. The present study sought to assess farmers’ satisfaction level towards agricultural extensions servicesby means of social media.

Farm Producers Organizations a collectiveness Approach, Study & Review of Scheme

Small and marginal farmers always face problem in production and income in absence of economy of scale. Farmers and governments always tried to get the advantage of collectiveness to get the both ended advantage of economy of scale. Cooperative societies of farmers were one of the mitigation techniques. SHG, JLG, farmers club etc are the efforts to achieve the economy of scale in production and marketing but distress of the farmers proved all efforts incomplete. In the year 2002 a special structure comprising the characteristics of cooperatives society and company was designed for original farm producers in the form and style of FPOs (farm producer organizations) managed and run by Cluster based Business organization (CBBO).The ownership of the PO (Producer organization) is with its members it is an organization of the producers for the producers. FPO also known as farmers company (FPC) is an legal entity by primary producers. An FPO can be a producer company, a cooperative society or any other form. The small farmers Agri-business consortium (SFAC) developed by Government of India to increase the Income of small and marginal farmers. Central Sector Scheme of “Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)” is the attempt to accelerate the formation of FPO, Govt. assistance at all level of formation and operation of FPO, hand holding support for five year budget allocation GOI budget 2020-21. The study will evaluate and asses the scheme and role to increase the farm producers’ income by way of FPO on account of budget allocation and implementation of central scheme.

Mobiles for Development – A Comparative Analysis of Business Decisions

ABSTRACT Much research on ‘mobiles for development’ focuses on outcomes and impact of services. This paper focuses on the underlying business models. It draws on two case studies as part of a UK Aid funded evaluation of the GSM Association led mNutrition programme. Vodafone Farmers Club in Ghana provides agricultural and nutrition information via SMS and Wazazi Nipendeni in Tanzania is a maternal and child health SMS service. The paper presents the salient points of the two contrasting business models, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of both. The merits of the different approaches depend on the principle motivation, but when it comes to delivering positive outcomes among the poorest, the weight of evidence appears to be in favor of an independent, third party driven model.

Societal Digital Platforms for Sustainability: Agriculture

During the last several decades, international and national agricultural research infrastructures have rapidly expanded, bringing the outputs of agricultural research to the world’s farmers. However, despite huge investments in agricultural research, there have been few systematic efforts to create digital platforms to meet the information requirements of farmers in a changing world. We describe an interactive information system in real time to provide agricultural information to farmers. The goals were to increase yields, reduce or optimize farm inputs, inform farmers about markets and government policies, and enable digital literacy among farmers, which (in the long run) would enhance rural incomes. Farmer clubs were created at the village level to increase engagement in the program and to access information. A call-in help center enabled farmers to get information in real time. In addition, a digital platform named eKisaan delivered relevant and contextual information in the local language, mostly in the video format via mobile and cloud technologies. The platform provided information about crop management and a variety of other parameters. The combined incremental savings and incremental earnings resulted in an estimated increase of 15% in income after 18 months, totaling INR₹26,250,000 (US$365,000), followed by an additional increase of 7% in the third year. The approximate cost of the information technology program and help center was INR₹15,000,000 (US$208,000). Over time, costs can decrease by spreading fixed costs over several years, with benefits reaching more farmers. Thus, the digital systems focused on information alone can be cost-effective, reduce inputs, increase productivity and income, and foster sustainability.

Economic analysis of Farmers club programme and its adoption behaviour for smallholder rice cultivators: An empirical study in Manipur

Economic analysis of Farmers club programme and its adoption behaviour for smallholder rice cultivators: An empirical study in Manipur

Networking of the Farm Women by the Farm Science Centre of North Bengal

Agricultural extension organizations of developing nations confronted numerous limitations in their activities of information age and use. Farm Science Center or Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) assumes a significant job in giving information to the farmers and farm women in India. Rural women structure a huge portion of the agricultural workforce. They likewise need proper and usable information that would assist them with their cultivating exercises. Farm women will, in general, get recycled information from their spouses and companions if they are not the leader of their family. They are less intrigued to go to training activities because of family obligations or versatility imperatives. Thought of the above circumstance, an investigation (by gathering information) was directed on "Networking of the Farm women by the Farm Science Centre of North Bengal". The investigation was directed from March 2018 to April 2019 in North Bengal. The information was gathered from the optional sources. It was found from the examination that participation of farm women in extension activities was nearly higher than in training activities. Farm Science centre dispersed agricultural information through the arrangement of various grass root level extension organisation, for example, Farmers Clubs and Self Help Groups.

Climate smart agriculture extension: gender disparities in agroforestry knowledge acquisition

ABSTRACT Numerous extension efforts promote climate smart agriculture (CSA) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The need to focus on gender disparity within CSA is widely understood. Given the prominence of female agriculturalists in Malawi, such focus can make a large impact on the country's rural sustainable development. This study quantifies the impact of extension techniques, including lead farmers, NGO trainers, and farmer clubs, on men and women farmers in Malawi by applying ordered logistic regression to data concerning post-extension increases in self-assessed CSA knowledge. Male and female farmers achieved increases in knowledge through traditional extension (NGO trainers and farmer clubs). However, these gains were less for female farmers. The interaction of female farmers with lead farmers (i.e. community members trained to train others) made increases in knowledge more likely. The impact of lead farmers was lessened by limited mobility and availability. Based on the study findings, we advocate for innovative approaches to CSA extension that aim to increase understanding of differing needs and preferences of female farmers. A failure to include women farmers in design from the outset misses a key opportunity to develop understanding of related societal challenges, increasing the likelihood of nominal participation and uneven outcomes among participating farmers.

Profiting from New Breeding Techniques: The Latest Technical Seminar Organised Jointly by BCPC and the Farmers Club 11 July 2019

This Technical Seminar was the third in a series organised jointly by BCPC and the Farmers Club, explaining the science, benefits, drawbacks and regulatory issues surrounding new breeding technology (NBT). Overall, the author left the seminar with mixed feelings. He felt optimistic that NBTs can make a difference in future development of new crop varieties due to the positive messages from all the speakers on the technology and its benefits. However, the scientists and the other stakeholders in agriculture need to convince the politicians and society in general, that this technology will be critical to feeding the future world and that it can be responsibly and effectively managed so that it poses no threat to man and the environment.

Determinants of Market Participation among Smallholder Mango Producers in Assosa Zone of Benishangul Gumuz Region in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Commercial transformation of smallholder agriculture entails production decisions based on market signals and significant participation in output markets. Consequently, this research attempts to contribute to the understanding of smallholder commercialization of mango production and analyzing factors determining the extent of smallholders’ participation in output market. The study was based on the cross-sectional data collected from 150 sample households which were randomly selected from 6 rural kebeles. Both descriptive statistics and econometric analysis were used to identify and analyze factors that determine the extent of smallholders’ participation in output market. Accordingly, out of the included 16 variables, 10 were found to significantly influence the quantity of mango sold. The Tobit truncated regression model results showed that the determinant of mango volume of sale includes resources ownership (land allocated for mango and land fragmentation), households assets ownership (number of productive mango trees and mango seedling availability), access to institutions (farmers club membership), social-network (critical support from non-relatives within the village and brokers), and economic (previous income from mango sale, Income from livestock sale, and mango market price) are the significant determinants of mango market participation. Given the current high market demand for Assosa mango, there is a room to enhance the level of mango commercialization, thereby enhancing mango market participation. To improve quantity of mango sold policies and development, endeavors must target at improving household resource endowment, creating market linkage and synergy among mango value-chain actors, and strengthening the existing mango nursery sites and infra-structure.

Influence of Agricultural Education Programme in Revamping Young Farmers Club for Food Security in Rivers State

Influence of Agricultural Education Programme in Revamping Young Farmers Club for Food Security in Rivers State

A Study on Opportunities in Open Farm Cultivation for Abhinav Farmers Club of Seasonal Vegetables in Songaav Village in Pune District

A Study on Opportunities in Open Farm Cultivation for Abhinav Farmers Club of Seasonal Vegetables in Songaav Village in Pune District

Psychological Role of Debating Clubs in Educational Systems and Personality Development Among Students

Debating club is one of the clubs which prepare students in schools and colleges psychologically into the world of politics and communication. Debating club gives students opportunities in all levels of education (primary, tertiary and university) to discuss on selected topics of choice. The topics selected gives students leeway for students to discuss on the proposer side (Supporting) and oppose side (opposing) to argue on their points to support or oppose the motion. The problem many students in educational system do not join debating club in fear of discussion because of language difficulties of challenges. The objective is to study the best way/strategy to be used in educational system to encourage students to join debating clubs in schools or colleges and develop their personality leading to careers such as law, politics, journalism and teaching. The research employed analytical method and data was collected by interview tool from students in university level through purposive random sampling technique in ten universities. The results indicate that very few students like joining debating club and very many like joining other cubs such as religious clubs where they sing, young farmers club, forest and environment club and others. It is concluded that students who join debating club develop their personality and are likely to be lawyers, politicians, journalists and teachers after graduation. It is concluded that the students who like debating are inclined in social sciences subjects such as History, English, Geography and not applied sciences such as chemistry, physics and biology. It is recommended that students in educational systems to be encouraged by teachers and parents to join debating clubs and develop their personality for future careers posterity.

Cats on farms in the United Kingdom: numbers and preventive care

Studies concerning domestic cats on farms have historically explored social interactions and roaming patterns. Limited information exists on the numbers of farm cats, and care provided for them. Questionnaire-based exploration...

Farmers Clubs and Livelihood Opportunities through Livestock Development: An Analysis in Select Villages of Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu

Farmers Clubs and Livelihood Opportunities through Livestock Development: An Analysis in Select Villages of Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu