Public Sector Agricultural Extension Research Articles

Determinants of Food Insecurity and the Likelihood for Crop Diversification in Rural Pakistan

Small farmers comprise the majority of Pakistan’s agricultural landscape. However, these farmers cannot achieve self-sufficiency with this livelihood, and are facing food security concerns. This study aims to determine the effect of crop diversification on rural food insecurity mitigation. The study area of Punjab has five distinct agroecologizal zones, and 200 households were surveyed in these geographic locations. Data was collected by conducting observations, interviews, and focus group discussions and was analyzed using logistic regression. The FCS and HFIAS were calculated in order to forecast the possibility of crop diversification. The results indicated that over half of the respondents were in their forties, and that the vast majority of the respondents described themselves as small farmers. Moreover, almost half of the farmers did not attend school. FCS was associated with age, land size, financial resources, and crop diversification, but not with HFIAS. The FCS also indicated that the majority of farmers are malnourished. As crop diversity can help farmers increase their food security and profitability, the results of this study may be utilized by public sector agricultural extension professionals and specialists to create policy recommendations which can contribute to the development of food security strategies in the area.

Determinants of Adoption of Soil and Water Conservation Practices in Rainfed Agriculture: A Case Study in Pothohar Region, Pakistan

Of the total thirteen rain-fed districts in the Pothohar region, Punjab province of Pakistan, four (Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Chakwal and Attock) are completely rain-fed. Erratic rainfall, moisture, soil degradation, soil erosion and droughts are prominent issues in the Pothohar region, augmenting the dire need for soil and water conservation.; to explore the determinants of the adoption of soil and water conservation practices, this study was conducted in Rawalpindi district because it receives maximum rainfall; which is most of the time lost due to absence of sufficient storage reservoirs exuberating the soil erosion and natural resource degradation. A total of 381 respondents participated in the study respondents were interviewed face-to-face on a structured, validated and reliable questionnaire. The Chi-square test of statistics and a binary logistic model were applied to the collected data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results demonstrated a statistically significant (P0.05) association between age, farm size, farming experience, and annual income, with awareness and adoption of soil and water conservation practices. Both awareness and adoption of conservation practices were insignificant (P0.05) with the educational level of respondents. Regression analysis confirmed that awareness and adoption of conservation measures were influenced significantly by the predictors' lack of motivation, reliance on off-farming income sources, and inadequate demonstrations. This study complements the adoption of soil and water conservation technologies in the environment of the Pothohar region. To meet this objective, institutional services need to be mainstreamed. Public sector agricultural extension should emphasize awareness campaigns, advisory services, and training programs for farmers and the establishment of demonstration plots specifying the adoption of soil and water conservation techniques.

Determinants of food security and prospects of crop diversification in rural regions of Punjab, Pakistan

Pakistan is an agricultural economy, yet achieving food security has become indispensable. This study aimed at measuring the influence of different factors on the state of food security among rural households and prospects of crops diversification in tackling the food insecurity. This study was conducted in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Through multi-stage random sampling, 40 households were chosen randomly, making a total sample size of 200 families from the five districts. Face-to-face interviews assisted researchers in collecting data. OLS regression model was used to examine the elements contributing to food insecurity. Of the total respondents, 56.6% were aged between 40-60 years. The majority of respondents (65%) had less than 5 acres of land, accentuating subsistence farming. More than half (53.6%) had at least five years of schooling, indicating a miserable educational situation for participating farmers. Among total population only 23.49% of farmers have practically adopted crop diversification. Age, land size, access to credit and crop diversification were statistically significant (P0.05) with FCS and negatively associated with HFIAS. Findings imply that farmers were small landholders with poor education and inadequate access to services such as credit. Therefore, the majority of farmers were found food insecure according to the FCS score. The findings indicate a great prospect of crop diversification among farmers in the region to expedite the income-generating process to structure farmers' food security. The pre-defined and revamped roles of institutions like Public Sector Agricultural Extension could serve the purpose.

Farmers Behavior to Participate in Public Sector Agricultural Extension Services: Comparative Analysis of Pakistan and China

Farmers Behavior to Participate in Public Sector Agricultural Extension Services: Comparative Analysis of Pakistan and China

Extension Agents’ Use and Acceptance of Social Media: The Case of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Bangladesh

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been considered as key driving forces for enabling agricultural development ‒ the sector which provides livelihoods for majority of the population in Bangladesh. The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the largest public sector agricultural extension service provider in Bangladesh, has recently enacted a new organizational policy for its staffs to use ICTs such as social media to provide better services. However, there is little or merely anecdotal evidence about how extension agents of DAE have been accepting and using social media for their professional work. Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study is a first attempt to investigate social media use and acceptance among extension agents in Bangladesh. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires from 140 extension agents of DAE who work in the eastern region of Bangladesh. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that most extension agents (51.4%) used social media for half an hour to one hour every day. Perceived ease of use (PEoU) and Perceived usefulness (PU) are the most influential elements that determine DAE staff acceptance of social media for performing professional functions. Social media was perceived by extension agents as a means for improving professional performance, such as disseminating agricultural information; garnering support for new agricultural policy; networking with clients and colleagues and enabling coordination of services provided by colleagues. Overall, the findings indicate potential uses of social media in an ICT-based agricultural development strategy in Bangladesh.

Assessment of e-readiness of extension functionaries of southern states of India in agricultural technology dissemination

Agricultural extension functionaries in India have an important role in dissemination of agricultural technologies to enhance the productivity of the farming community but to implement e-extension initiatives into effectual function, an extension officer must be e-ready to adopt new initiatives for quicker dissemination. A congenial eco-system for e-extension is need to be created for effective implementation of ICT enabled extension. The study investigated the preparedness of the extension professionals and extension organizations to implement ICT enabled extension services for farming community. In this study, e-readiness is defined in terms of awareness, knowledge, accessibility, perception and extent of utilization of ICT tools by extension personnel in agricultural extension system. The present study was conducted in five southern states of India to measure e-readiness of the public sector agricultural extension functionaries towards use of ICTs. A total number of 500 officers of agriculture and allied departments from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Odisha were selected randomly for the study. The data was collected from development officers using structured Interview schedules, questionnaires and check lists. The findings of the study showed that more than 60 per cent of officers perceived moderately favourable attitude towards usage of ICT tools for dissemination of farm information.

TECHNICAL ADVISORY SERVICES IN GHANA

Public extension systems worldwide have been accused of being deficient in management and inefficient in technical advisory service delivery. This is even more in developing countries where fiscal budgetary and human resource allocations are low. This study assessed the current status of technical advisory services delivered to farmers by public sector agricultural extension agents. Survey data revealed that 95% of those with contacts with extension agents rated public extension as the most important source of information. Results revealed that farmers are mostly dissatisfied with some technical advisory packages which points to the need for improvement in these services by the Agricultural Ministry.

Public Sector Agricultural Extension System Reform and the Challenges Ahead

This paper is organized into two main sections. The first section examines extension as an engine for innovation and reviews the numerous priorities confronting extension systems. Section two highlights the current knowledge imperative and the critical connection of extension to post-secondary higher education and training, organizational inservice training, and vocationally oriented self-directed learning. Final comments address ‘The Continuing Role of the Public Sector’, and the prospect of its role in balancing societal interests and promoting extension as an aspect of a knowledge economy. The conclusion proposes what may be agricultural extension's challenges ahead.

Pathways and Tensions in the Family of Reform

This paper distinguishes two pathways in the various proposals for innovative reforms of public sector agricultural extension. The two ‘pathways’ involve the participatory trends toward democratization and farmer association and, in contrast, the push toward capitalistic commercial attitudes toward agriculture as business. The introduction reviews a range of issues surrounding current extension reforms. The body of the paper highlights the pathway tensions that exist between several extension reform measures. The first is between demand-led privatization measures and participatory extension. Privatization is then examined alongside the call for institutional pluralistic extension systems. Finally, the contemporary pressure to expand extension program purposes to include issues such as health, family planning and environmental protection is reviewed.

Public Sector Agricultural Extension System in the Northern Province of South Africa: A System Undergoing Transformation

The dawn of the new democracy in South Africa brought in its wake the discourse of rapid change and systems transformation unfamiliar to many of her citizens. This paper examines the public sector agricultural extension system and the challenges it faces in the young democracy. Challenges facing public sector agricultural extension in the Northern Province of South Africa are rooted in the history of African smallholder farming, institutional arrangements, structural adjustment programs, the policy framework, new clients, and the reorientation of the agricultural extension system. Statutorily mandated to serve the poor subsistence farmers, the public sector extension system has to be transformed to meet not only the current policy framework, but to adequately serve the “emerging/commercial” farmers. Structural adjustment programs and their implementation continuously determine the delivery capacity of the system. Meanwhile, the morale of stakeholders is declining in this era of transformation. Drawing from a review of literature and personal experiences, we suggest that the public sector extension service is overwhelmed with the new changes. However, there are educational lessons embedded in the province’s “farmer first” principle, implemented through decentralization of management authority, application of participatory extension approaches, and strengthening institutional capacity of African smallholder farmer organizations. The implications of the adjustments programs are discussed.

The Changing Relationship Between Private and Public Sector Agricultural Extension in Australia

(1998). The Changing Relationship Between Private and Public Sector Agricultural Extension in Australia. Rural Society: Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 133-151.

Decentralizing agricultural extension: alternative strategies

This paper is organized into two sections. The first, on alternative decentralization strategies, examines government structures and their strategies for decentralizing public sector agricultural extension service systems. Two basic governmental structures (federal and unitary) and three basic strategies (structural, fiscal and stakeholder participatory involvement in management) are examined; a conceptual framework is developed around these structures and alternative strategies. This framework suggests that decentralizing reforms are determined in part according to a country's constitutional status, and that this status informs the type of strategy adopted or in progress and, in some cases, the type of financial strategy for cost recovery. The second section, on decentralization guidelines and recommendations, considers a number of related questions: the practice of setting national goals, determining institutional strategies and clarifying intended outcomes. Also briefly reviewed are a number of guidelines for promoting structural and fiscal reforms to enhance such decentralization processes, as well as a framework for thinking about participatory management reforms. The concluding section outlines the inchoate tensions that may be encountered during the initial stages of a decentralization process, and suggests that countries seeking to move toward decentralizing agricultural extension services begin by examining the funding and delivery* arrangements of similar extension services worldwide.

Agricultural extension in transition worldwide: structural, financial and managerial strategies for improving agricultural extension

Agricultural extension is in transition worldwide. Governments and international agencies are advancing structural, financial and managerial strategies to reform extension. This article reviews and analyses these reform measures, concluding with a conceptual framework that is intended to underscore at once the diversity and interconnectedness of these structural, financial and managerial strategies for decentralizing public sector agricultural extension.

Agricultural extension in transition worldwide: structural, financial and managerial strategies for improving agricultural extension

Agricultural extension is in transition worldwide. Governments and international agencies are advancing structural, financial and managerial strategies to reform extension. This article reviews and analyses these reform measures, concluding with a conceptual framework that is intended to underscore at once the diversity and interconnectedness of these structural, financial and managerial strategies for decentralizing public sector agricultural extension.

COINTEGRATION, AND CAUSALITY: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGRICULTURAL AND PRODUCTIVITY

This study investigates the causal relationships between total factor productivity (TFP) and explanatory variables, such as public sector agricultural extension, farmer education, private sector patents and the weather. Cointegration and Granger causality tests are applied to the UK data which were used by Hallam (1990). Unlike Hallam, we find that there is a relationship between research spending and productivity. The same methodology is applied to new data for ten EC countries and the USA. In all cases there is evidence of a long run relationship between TFP and. Pooling the data for the ten EC countries and the USA, and then testing for causality shows that expenditures are Granger prior to TFP and that TFP is also Granger prior to expenditures. This result agrees with Pardey and Craig's (1989) US study.