Impact Of Agricultural Extension Research Articles

Exploring Stakeholder Attitudes towards Digital Agricultural Communication and Services

Digital agricultural communication and services enhance agricultural production by delivering real-time data, information, and support to stakeholders, thereby substantially extending the reach and impact of agricultural extension. The study, conducted in 2023, encompassed all three agro-climatic zones within Telangana and employed an ex post facto research design. Data collection involved personal interviews with a sample size of 180 farmers, 30 input dealers, 30 extension personnel, and 30 scientists. The study found that more than half (57.04%) of the overall sample expressed favorable attitudes toward digital agricultural communication and services. Mean attitude scores varied, with scientists scoring the highest (172.87), followed by farmers (169.23), extension personnel (166.37), and input dealers (165.23). Regression analysis using selected independent variables produced R2 values of 0.789 for farmers, 0.805 for input dealers, 0.720 for extension personnel, and 0.870 for scientists, indicating the effectiveness of the chosen independent variables in explaining changes in the dependent variable. These findings indicate the favourable attitude of stakeholders towards digital agricultural communication and services, laying a strong foundation for advancing digitalization in agriculture. This could enhance information dissemination and service improvements in the agricultural ecosystem.

The impact of agricultural extension on farmers’ technical efficiencies in Ethiopia: A stochastic production frontier approach

Background: To address the structural food deficit and top down extension system that persisted for decades, the government of Ethiopia has introduced a new extension system, called Participatory Demonstration and Training Extension Systems, which serves more than 80% of the total population. As the program was streamlined to fit the different agro-climatic condition of the country, the extension approach practiced in the Tigray region (research area) was called Integrated Household Extension Program.Aim: This article reports on research aimed at measuring the technical efficiency levels of extension participants and non-participants; measuring the impact extension service on technical efficiency.Setting: The research was conducted in the northern part of the country, where agriculture is the main sources of livelihoods. Moisture is the most critical factor in the production system. The land holding size averages 0.5 ha per household compared to above three ha 30 years ago; indicating the high population pressure in the area.Methods: A sample of 362 agricultural extension service participants and 369 non-participant farm households from the northern part of Ethiopia, participated in the study. The stochastic production frontier technique was used to analyse the survey data and to compute farm-level technical efficiency.Results: The results showed an average level of technical efficiency of 48%. It is suggested that substantial gains in output and/or decrease in cost can be attained with the existing technology. All the variables included in the model to explain efficiency were found significant and with the expected sign, except education and number of dependants.Conclusion: The research tried to assess the impact of a new extension service (participatory in nature) on farmers’ productivity in a semi-arid zone, as compared with the conventional extension service and found in the literature areas with relatively better climatic conditions. Hence, if extension administrators could work to uplift the average and below average farmers into better performing farmers level, the overall production and living condition could improve substantially in the research area, and more or less in the rest part of the country.

The impact of agricultural extension on households’ welfare in Ethiopia

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the Integrated Household Extension Program (IHEP) on participant households’ welfare and see the policy effectiveness. The government of Ethiopia – in contrast to the majority of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa – invests heavily in agricultural extension but very little empirical evidence is available on the impact of the services on farm performance and household welfare that could justify these investments. The IHEP program is a particularly interesting case as it is an example on how agricultural extension systems in developing countries changed during the past two decades, from centralized top-down technology-transfer-orientated approaches to decentralized, participatory and more integrated approaches.Design/methodology/approach– The authors use household survey data from 730 farm households (361 treated and 369 control) in the Tigray region of Ethiopia and propensity score matching methods to estimate the impact.Findings– The authors find that the extension program had a large positive impact on household welfare – increasing income with about 10 percent – and on investment but have not impacted on income diversification. In addition to the main variable of interest (extension), household characteristics, such as household head age, gender, adult labor availability in the household, asset holdings and social capital variables were found to have an influence on income, investment and income diversification.Originality/value– The paper has tried to assess the impact of a program which claiming substantial public money using primary data. Hence, the findings will serve to inform policy makers as how the program is running.

The Impact of Agricultural Extension and Roads on Poverty and Consumption Growth in Fifteen Ethiopian Villages

AbstractThis article investigates whether public investments that led to improvements in road quality and increased access to agricultural extension services led to faster consumption growth and lower rates of poverty in rural Ethiopia. Estimating an Instrumental Variables model using Generalized Methods of Moments and controlling for household fixed effects, we find evidence of positive impacts with meaningful magnitudes. Receiving at least one extension visit reduces headcount poverty by 9.8 percentage points and increases consumption growth by 7.1 percentage points. Access to all‐weather roads reduces poverty by 6.9 percentage points and increases consumption growth by 16.3 percentage points. These results are robust to changes in model specification and estimation methods.

The Impact of Agricultural Extension and Roads on Poverty and Consumption Growth in Fifteen Ethiopian Villages

This paper investigates whether public investments that led to improvements in road quality and increased access to agricultural extension services led to faster consumption growth and lower rates of poverty in rural Ethiopia. Estimating an instrumental variables model using Generalized Methods of Moments and controlling for household fixed effects, we find evidence of positive impacts with meaningful magnitudes. Receiving at least one extension visit reduces headcount poverty by 9.8 percentage points and increases consumption growth by 7.1 percent. Access to all-weather roads reduces poverty by 6.9 percentage points and increases consumption growth by 16.3 percent. These results are robust to changes in model specification and estimation methods. from authors' abstract

The impact of agricultural extension on adoption and diffusion of lupins as a new crop in Western Australia

The growth of the sweet white lupin industry in Western Australia is a classic case of the adoption and diffusion of a new innovation in agriculture. In 1979, following the release of the cultivar Illyarrie, and the development of effective agronomic practices, the Western Australian Department of Agriculture (Agriculture Western Australia) commenced a major extension campaign to promote lupins. Between 1978 and 1987, the area of lupins grown increased from 39 000 to 877 000 ha. However, the pattern of adoption varied widely between regions, with differences in starting time, rate and ceiling levels of adoption. In this paper, we examine regional differences in the start time of the adoption process, and estimate the impact of various factors by using multivariate regression analysis. Results suggest that both Agriculture Western Australia extension activities and the presence of private consultants contributed to earlier start times of the adoption process.

THE IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION: THE TRAINING AND VISIT SYSTEM IN INDIA

This paper summarizes the results of a study sponsored by the World Bank, The impact of agricultural extension : a case study of the training and visit system in Haryana, India. As a review of the rationale for public sector involvement in the dissemination of technological information to farmers, the paper concludes that free markets do not fully satisfy farmers' information needs. Government support is justified. Agricultural extension is a principal way that governments can disseminate information. One specific approach to extension adopted in many Bank extension projects is the Training and Visit (T&V) system. Data from a World Bank sponsored survey in northwest India and monitoring and evaluation reports issued by several Indian states are used in this article to evaluate T&V extension operations and their impact. Extension agents' interaction with farmers is found to be more intensive and more significant as a source of information in areas covered by T&V extension than in areas with a different extension system. The yield levels of farmers whose main source of information was the T&V extension agent are also shown to be higher. In one case study, the incremental investment in T&V extension is shown to be likely to generate at least a 15 to 20 percent rate of return.

Communication for extension: developing country experience.

This paper characterizes several major approaches to the use of communication in support of agricultural extension and suggests directions for change. The approaches discussed include: direct farmer contact, farmer forums, open broadcasting, advertising and social marketing, print media, multiple channel systems (campaigns and distance teaching), and comprehensive communication systems. Although all programs should be able to use media in interaction with training and the coordination of other inputs, this approach has not been comprehensively implemented in extension programs. There are few examples of cases where multiple methods have been brought together under a comprehensive communications strategy and institutionalized as part of an ongoing extension system. Lessons from social marketing in other sectors have not been exploited, while lessons from distance teaching have been underutilized. In addition, the networking and feedback functions of communication in extenson have not been given adequate attention. There is substantial potential for increasing the coverage and impact of agricultural extension through the more systematic and comprehensive use of communication.