International Journal of Agricultural Science Research and Technology in Extension and Education Systems
Volume:9 Issue: 2, Jun 2019

Today, the role of start-ups in the new approach to the modern economy has received much attention. The purpose of this study was to present a model for identifying entrepreneurial opportunities for technology start-ups in agriculture in Northern Provinces of Iran. The statistical population consisted of 318 founders and executives of tech start-ups. Using stratified random sampling method, 130 samples were selected. The data collection tools in this section included a researcher-made questionnaire containing a set of identified markers for effective factors in identifying opportunities. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts' opinions and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha (0.958). The dominant statistical method was structural equation modeling using partial least squares method implemented with Smart PLS software. The results showed that in the process of opportunity recognition, individual capability and previous knowledge on social network and social network on entrepreneurship ecosystem as well as entrepreneurship ecosystem have positive effect on opportunity recognition performance and on opportunity recognition performance on opportunity development, But the impact of prior knowledge and individual capability on the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the impact of the entrepreneurial ecosystem on opportunity development were not confirmed. According to the results, a model has been presented to identify the entrepreneurial opportunity of tech start-ups in agriculture.

The study identified the influence of livelihood indicators on social participation among rural farmers in Eastern Kogi State, Nigeria. A total of 120 rural farmers were selected using a three-stage random sampling procedure. Questionnaire administration and structured interview schedule were used to collect primary data. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics – percentage and mean and inferential statistics - binary logit regression analysis. The findings from this study revealed that the majority of the rural farmers were males (93.3 %) within middle age (34 years), and possessed formal education (85%). The perceived indicators of rural livelihood were on-farm income (M= 3.7), level of savings (M= 3.4), assets owned (M= 3.3), membership of organizations (M= 3.2), level of education (M= 2.8), and occupational status (M= 2.7). At p <0.05, the probability of social participation among rural farmers in the area was positively influenced by education (β=2.559), occupational status (β=2.894), access to loan (β=5.064), assets owned (β=2.565), and membership of organization (β=5.107). The study recommends the formation of cooperative societies and easy access to loan facilities for economies of scale, own more assets and as well, participate in rural developmental efforts. Also, there should be increased access to education.

This study was conceptualized to determine resource use efficiency and misery of sweet potato production window into financial surplus for farming households in Delta State, Nigeria. Multiple sampling technique was applied in picking the samples. One hundred and sixty (160) producers were erratically chosen and interviewed with structured questionnaire. The information gathered were evaluated with descriptive statistics, profitability index and double-log production model. The result indicated that they had average oldness of 38 years, 72.5% of respondents were female with mean family magnitude of 5 individuals and mean number of years spent on farming was 13 years and mean farm land of 0.81 ha and very many of them were educated. On the aspect of costs and returns, it was found that production of sweet potato was highly profitable as specified by the BCR (4.39). The double-log regression model result disclosed that labour, fertilizer, age of farmer, farm size, planting materials expenses and years of farming experience were significantly related with output at 1% and 5% probability levels. The results of resource use efficiency also showed that planting materials, fertilizer farm size and labour were underutilized. The constraints encountered were: inadequate fund, lack of storage and processing facilities and absence of extension visit It is recommended that government intervention is needed to reduce cost and facilitate increased sweet potato production.

To meet the growing food demand of Bangladesh requires efficiently use of inputs and effectively manage of production practices at the farm level. Thus, the present study aims to measure the technical efficiency and establish core factors affecting boro and aman rice production in Bangladesh. The study employed mainly farm level data collected from 80 farm households selected randomly in Dinajpur district. Translog Stochastic Frontier Production function approach used to estimate farm specific technical efficiency of the farmers. Evidence revealed that, overall production efficiency of boro and aman rice production were 83.25, and 85.15 percent, respectively which implies that there is still room to further improve technical efficiency given the same level of inputs and technology. Furthermore, the level of output of boro and aman rice production varied according to area cultivated, employed human labor, irrigation management, fertilizer and manure application. On the other hand, farmer’s education, access to microcredit, training and extension facilities were the important factors influencing the level of inefficiency according to technical inefficiency effect model. In conclusion, the sustainability of the high efficiency will dependent on the continuous support of supply and proper use of inputs in the study areas.

This research was conducted with the mean goal of identifying environmental protection solutions in Naghadeh Township. The statistical population of this research included all employees of the Agricultural Jihad, Environment and Natural Resources Office (N=110). Karaghi and Morgan tables were used to determine the sample size (n=86). The Random sampling method was used in this research. To determine the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha was used (α=0.894) which indicates that the reliability of the questionnaire was appropriate. To analyze the findings and to achieve the research goals, descriptive statistics and inferential or analytical statistics were used. The results show that awareness raising among people to improve their relationship with the environment and the promotion of environmental culture and the definition of environmental guidelines among people and prevention of destruction of land and its change and destruction of rangelands and forests were identified as the most important effective environmental protection solutions in Naghadeh township in west Azerbaijan province. Exploratory factor analysis was used to categorize effective environmental protection solutions. The results showed that seven factors were identified. These factors named as legal, socio-cultural, educational and awareness, managerial, economical, and environmental solutions. These seven factors account 74 percent of variations in environmental protection solutions.

The study analyzed the profitability and constraints to pepper marketing in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 75 pepper marketers from the list of registered pepper marketers with the pepper marketing association in the study area. Structured questionnaire was used to collect the required information. Descriptive statistics, Net profit and mean score were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that the mean age of pepper marketers was 34 years and majority, (60%) of the marketers were married, well experience in marketing with a mean household size of 12 persons. Also, Atarodo (Capsicum annum) was the most common varieties of pepper which are marketed fresh in the area. The net return on pepper marketing in the study area was N1.05 which is an indication of profitability of the business. The study further revealed high cost of transportation (mean score= 2.92), lack of storage facilities (mean score= 2.80) and lack of processing facilities (mean score= 2.72) as the major problems facing pepper marketing enterprise in the area. The study recommends government should provide good feeder roads network to ease transportation of perishable agricultural produce like pepper in the area, storage and processing facilities should be made adequate to enhance marketing.