International Journal of Agricultural Science Research and Technology in Extension and Education Systems
Volume:12 Issue: 1, Mar 2022

Sweet potatoes are extremely adaptable to adverse environmental conditions; they can help increase food security in times of drought and famine. In recent times sweet potato production has been on the decline due to many factors regarding pest and disease management. The objectives were to: (i) describe the socio-economic characteristics of the sweet potato farmers; (ii) identify the common field/storage pest and disease of sweet potato in the study area; (iii) investigate the indigenous measures of controlling field/storage pests and diseases used by the sweet potato farmers; (iv) ascertain the benefits of using indigenous method of controlling pest and disease; (v) identify the challenges to the indigenous method of controlling pest and disease. One hundred and twenty-two sweet potato farmers were randomly selected from two local government areas. The study shows that majority (89.3%) of the sweet potato farmers in the study area were male and very high percentage (80.4%) of the respondents was married. The major field and storage pests are armyworm, grasshopper, rabbit, and rat. Black rot, leaf spot and bacterial wilt are the major field and storage diseases of sweet potato. The major challenges faced by the sweet potato farmers were unavailability of natural herbs. The study concluded that the use of indigenous measures to control sweet potato pest and diseases are very effective and beneficial. Therefore, the study recommends that Extension agent should work with the farmers on how the natural herbs will be available and preserved within the study area.

This paper presents the findings of the study about youth engagement in agricultural activities in Tanzania: It highlights the status and prospects for Tanzania’s Agricultural Sector Development. The study was conducted in Makambako Town Council, Njombe region in Tanzania. Specifically, the study sought to: identify socio-economic characteristics influencing youth involvement in agricultural activities in the study area, identify the potential agricultural activities and other income-generating activities affecting youth livelihood in the study area, examine the contribution of the identified activities in addressing their needs, determine the level of their involvement in agricultural activities and identify factors influencing their engagement in agricultural activities. The study employed a cross-sectional research design. A structured questionnaire was the main tool while information from Key Informants and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) complement the quantitatively generated information. Quantitative data analysis was aided by computer software known as the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to yield some statistics like frequencies and percentages which were later interpreted to conclude the assumptions. The content analysis technique used to analyze qualitative data. The findings revealed that youth perceived agriculture as their first-rate occupation and that majority said they see a lot of prospects as they engage with agriculture, both on and off the farm. The study recommends that intervention strategies for improving youth engagement in agricultural activities should revolve around sufficiently attracting innovative public investment in supportive rural public goods and services to farmers, including making agriculture a national priority promote it as a decent and productive employment.

This study examined the impact of the global pandemic on level of production income and the uptake of insurance covers among agri-food related MSMEs’ in South West Nigeria. The study adopted treatment effects model, the logistic regression model, Pearson’s and Cramer’s V correlation coefficient to analyse the data for the study. Sampled households were selected through a snowballing sampling technique using the online survey method to arrive at 192 MSMEs from Urban South West region of Nigeria comprising of 132 controls and 60 treated MSME operators. The treatment variable for this study is the uptake of insurance cover. Analysis of the sample for the study showed that the uptake of insurance cover MSMEs’ in the study area stand at 31.25%.The result showed that MSMEs’ who were affected by the global pandemic are more likely to take up insurance cover to mitigate future risks than those who were not seriously affected. The result of the treatment effect models further revealed that the production income and MSMEs’ willingness to take insurance cover were both significantly impacted by the global pandemic. It was therefore recommended that insurance companies come up with tailor-made insurance products for MSMEs. Also, that flexible payments methods be allowed so that more micro enterprises can get cover which will in turn boost their confidence that in the event of an adverse market condition they will not be worse off.

The smallholder farmers in the developing countries are struggling to remain in agribusiness due to inadequate access to agricultural finance. It was against this background that this study analysed the benefits of financial credit among smallholder farmers in Plateau State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: (i) describe socio-economic characteristics of the farmers; (ii) determine the sources of credit available to the farmers; (iii) examine the perceived benefits of credit obtained by the farmers; (iv) identify the factors influencing accessibility of credit to the farmers; (v) ascertain the constraints to credit accessibility among the farmers. Two-stage random sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents. A structured interview schedule was used to elicit information from respondents. Data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics, and spearman rank correlation analysis. The results of this finding revealed that mean age of the farmers was 45 years. Majority of the farmers (43.3%) had secondary education. Preponderance (84.2%) of respondents practiced farming as primary occupation. Most (89.2%) of the respondents sourced their credit from money lenders. Increase in income and ability to send children to school were perceived benefits of credit obtained by the respondents. The farmers’ access to credit was significantly influenced by farming experience, farm size, level of education and annual income. The study therefore recommended that government should make adequate and timely provision for soft loans among the potato farmers since most of the farmers sourced their loans from money lenders which attracts high interest rate that may kill potato business.

The purpose of this research was comparative analysis of the status of agricultural cooperative extension training in compliance with the learning organization. Causal-comparative research has been used to achieve the research purpose. In this study, the Ex-Post Facto research method was used. Members of agricultural cooperatives in Alborz province were 25,000 people in the statistical population of the study. Using Krejcie and Morgan table, the sample size of this community was 379 people. Statistical analysis of the research was performed using SPSS software version 22. At first, based on previous studies and conducting three brainstorming sessions with experts on educational dimensions (training needs assessment, educational goals, educational content, educational facilities and methods, professional competencies of educators and educational evaluation) based on the principles of the learning organization (personal mastery, mental models, systems thinking, shared vision and team learning), indicators and sub-indicators appropriate to the study population were identified. In order to compare the current and desired situation of the dimensions of extension training of agricultural cooperatives in Alborz province in accordance with the learning organization, the Wilcoxon test was used. Based on the results of comparing, all educational dimensions, ie educational needs assessment, educational goals, educational content, educational facilities and methods, professional competencies of educators and educational evaluation, it was determined through Wilcoxon test that with 99% probability between current and desired in compliance with the learning organization in Alborz province there is a significant difference.

New Rice for Africa (NERICA) varieties and their associated technologies study was conducted in Sierra Leone. A purposive sampling followed by a multi-stage random sampling technique was employed to select 150 NERICA farmers from the two chiefdoms as the NERICA farmer sample frames were unknown. Quantitative data were collected with a structured questionnaire. With the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Science (IBM SPSS) version 25.0 software, socio-demographic characteristics were analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression to determine the socio-economic characteristics of farmers that influenced the adoption of NERICA varieties. The socio-demographic findings reveal that the bulk of the farmers (62.0%) was in their middle age, 90.0% were married, and 84.7% had no formal education. Nearly half of the farmers interviewed (49.0%) did not adopt any of the recommended production technologies, whilst 56.0% did not adopt any of the recommended post-harvest technologies. The R-square of 0.26 (P<0.0001) indicates that smallholder demographic and socioeconomic factors of farmers significantly influenced their ability to adopt the recommended NERICA varieties. The study, therefore suggests adult functional literacy programmes for the huge number of illiterate NERICA farmers and encourages them to adopt at least one of the recommended production and post-harvest technologies.