International Journal of Agricultural Science Research and Technology in Extension and Education Systems
Volume:8 Issue: 1, Mar 2018

The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of farmer field schools on adoption of technical packages of wheat production in Gezira Scheme, Sudan. Field survey was used to collect data from 50 FFS-participants of two schools (25 from each school), and also equal number from Non-FFS participants were selected for comparison. Close ended questionnaire was used in data collection. The data were statistically analyzed using (SPSS), discussed interpreted using percentage, frequency distribution and chi-squire test. The descriptive analyses showed that the FFS-participants were adopted the application of wheat production technical packages: land preparation ( First :86%, second:74%) , method of land preparation (92%),use of recommended wheat varieties (92%), seed rate(66%) , seed treatment with gaucho (86%), sowing date ( 76%), fertilizers rates(66%) ,number of irrigations(82%) , harvesting time (52%).The chi-square test showed significant association between farmer`s adoption of wheat production technical packages and their participation in FFS weekly training. From this study it can be concluded that the FFS is very effective agricultural extension approach which can be adopted to transfer knowledge, recommended cultural practices of agricultural crops to farmers, and consequently increase income of them through their participation in various FFS activities. The study recommends that FFS should become national policy, share authority of extension organizations in finance, control and execution of FFS activities with farmer unions and other partners for more effective participations of farmers in all activities of the schools and the current curriculum of FFS should be developed.

The study analyzed farm management extension services (FMESs) performed by the extension agents of Agricultural Development Projects in South West Nigeria. Study representatives were sampled randomly from Oyo ADP, Osun ADP and Ekiti ADP, making a 50% representation of the South-West. A proportionate sample of 80% of the total of the extension agents in each of the 3 case studies was randomly selected; making a total sample of 164 respondents for the study. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages and mean. Findings revealed that majority (76.8%) of the respondents were males, had higher certificates than ND (92.7%) and supervised more than 199 farmers (61.6%). However, more than half of the respondents were still new in the extension work with working experience of between 1-10 years (55.5%). The results further showed that only few of the change agents performed farm management tasks related to finance and marketing. The major constraints facing the extension agents in performing FMESs in the study area were lack of incentives, farmers’ illiteracy and inadequate training ranking 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. This study recommends that extension agents should be trained more in the core aspects of FMESs which include linkage to finance and marketing. Also, extension professionals should be well motivated with incentives to ensure that FMESs are adequately rendered to their clients for increased productivity.

The main purpose of this descriptive-correlative study was to design the structural equation model of agricultural entrepreneurship development in villages of Kamfiruz district, Marvdasht County in Iran. The population of the study consisted of all 3106 families of 20 villages. According to the Bartlett et al. table, a sample of 197 households was selected using stratified random sampling technique. The data were collected by the questionnaire consisting of personal and professional features of the respondents and preceding studies related to measuring the components of agricultural entrepreneurial development (including innovativeness, renewal, pro-activeness and risk-taking) and the structures affecting the development of agricultural entrepreneurship in rural areas (including social capital, subjective norms, self-efficacy belief and local institutions). The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. The construct validity and the composite reliability of the research instrument were tested by estimating the measurement model and they were satisfied after making necessary corrections. The data were analyzed using SPSSwin22 and AMOS21 soft wares. The results showed that there was found an acceptable fitness of the model used in the present study, which confirm the study hypothesis. Based on the villagers opinion, social capital, subjective norms, self-efficacy belief, and local institutes explained 46.8 percent of variance in developing the agricultural entrepreneurship. It is recommended that the role of government and officials in agricultural entrepreneurship should be more highlighted to encourage the villagers in entrepreneurship.

Proper use of climatic forecast information in planning and implementing agricultural activities is critical for the improvement of the wellbeing of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods depend on rain-fed agriculture. This study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design involving 12 focus group discussions and 255 household interviews to determine the extent to which smallholder farmers in Mount Elgon Region of Eastern Uganda accessed and used climate forecast information. Results showed that 84% of the farmers had received scientific climate information especially on timing of onset and cessation of rainfall and likelihood of landslides. The information was mainly accessed through radio and rarely from extension workers and fellow farmers. Over 60% of farmers considered the different types of climatic forecast information received to be less reliable and inappropriately timed relative to their needs and this barred most of them from applying it in their agricultural production decisions. The likelihood to use climate forecast information was enhanced by farmers' formal education, ownership of a radio set, perception that the information was reliable and timely. Thus efforts to enhance farmers’ use of rainfall forecast information customize it to the needs of the targeted farmers.

The study was undertaken to determine the socio-economic impact on agricultural farmers converted to fish farmers of Muktagachha Upazila in Mymensingh district. Questionnaire survey method was followed to collect data from the sample farmers. From the survey it was found that all 30 fishermen were male. Large portions (34%) of the fishermen were in the age group between 41 and 50. It was also found that 86% of the fishermen families lived in joint families and 57% family consist of 6 to 10 family members. All the fishermen families enjoyed electricity facility. Major portion of the fishermen took their health service from the Upazila Health Complex. Moderate educational status were observed in the study area though 14% possessed no education, 20%, 22%, 14% and 9% were educated up to primary, SSC, HSC and higher education, respectively. Majority of the farmers (50%) used their own land for fish farming. Only 7% fishermen borrowed loan from commercial bank/friends or relatives while 67% used their own money for culturing fish. Only 8 fishermen (27%) had received training on fish culture. About 86 % farmers increased their family income through fish farming. Almost every fisherman expressed that they were happy but not fully satisfied by culturing fish due to some obstacles.

Soil conservation is the only known way to protect the productive land. In country like Ethiopia, where droughts and floods cause food scarcity problem, soil and water conservation not only increases crop yield, but also prevents further deterioration of land. Soil and water conservation preserve soil moisture and drain water sustainably to avoid soil erosion and depletion of soil nutrients. So that, the main objectives of this study is to analysis factors affecting soil and water conservation adoption and to identify gender role in soil and water conservation practice in the study area. Both primary and secondary data were collected for the study. The data were collected by means of a semi-structured questionnaire during the period of January 20-February 20/ 2017. The study implemented binary logit model to identify factor affecting adoption of soil and water conservation. Level of formal education, market distance, labor force, slope of the farm land and size of livestock were significant variables which are found to affect the soil and water conservation of household in study area. Level of education was related with adoption of conservation structures, because literate farmers are in a better position to get information and use it in such a way that it contribute to their soil and water conservation than illiterate ones. Therefore, designating and implementing adult education should be encouraged by the government. In addition, soil bunds, Fanya juu and stone bunds are the major soil and water conservation measures that are widely implemented by farmers in the area.

This study examined constraints and adoption in poultry production in the Northern Agricultural Zone of Delta State, Nigeria. A sample size of 80 respondents comprising of supervisors of selected farms was used for the study. Data were collected in March 2017 through the use of a structured and validated questionnaire. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean score, standard deviation and percentage were used to summarize data. Results of the study reveal that major constraints to poultry production include: high cost of veterinary services (M = 2.32), high cost of poultry feeds (M = 2.30), lack of credit facilities (M =2.30) and high cost of poultry equipment (M = 2.18). There was high adoption of the following poultry production practices: adequate preparation of the poultry house before arrival of chicks (90%), restriction of sudden entry into the poultry house (93.8%), provision of adequate ventilation (87.5%), provision of clean water without restriction (86.3%) and regular cleaning of drinkers and feeders (83.8%). Strategies identified in this study for enhancing poultry production include: qualified personnel should be used to manage poultry farms (M = 3.19), provision of credit facilities (M = 2.95), subsidy on poultry feeds and equipment (M = 2.91), and the removal of duty on importation of raw materials for poultry feeds formulation (M = 2.69). Furthermore, a significant difference in the mean scores of constraints to poultry production and adoption of poultry production practices implies that constraints affect the adoption of practices in poultry production.