Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Improved sugarcane varieties have been developed and promoted in Kenya, to enhance sugarcane productivity. However, their acceptance by farmers is low. This paper investigates this phenomenon in attempt to underpin contributing factors to low acceptance. It examines the relationship between farmers’ participation in technology development and dissemination processes; and acceptability of improved sugarcane varieties in Kakamega County. This study used cross-sectional survey research design. Target population was 137,355 small-scale sugarcane farmers from Kakamega County, from which a sample of 384 farmers was randomly selected. Questionnaires were used to collect data, which was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study established limited participation of sugarcane farmers in the development and dissemination of improved sugarcane varieties. Significant relationships were established between farmers’ participation in the development and dissemination of improved sugarcane varieties with their acceptability by farmers. The number of year’s farmers had produced these varieties was found to be a strong indicator of their acceptability by farmers. Research findings indicate need to avail necessary information about the improved varieties to farmers by the extension service providers. Utilization of farmer Participatory Technology Development and Dissemination approaches need to be enhanced in the development and dissemination of improved sugarcane technologies.
Effect of Manual Screw Press Utilization on Output, Income, and Standard of L...BRNSS Publication Hub
The study assessed the effect of utilization of manual screw press for gari production on output, income, and standard of living of gari processors in four local government areas across the agricultural development program zones in Kwara state, Nigeria. Using multistage sampling technique and a semi-structured questionnaire as instrument, data for the study were collected from a sample of 384 gari processors who use the screw press in the state. Descriptive statistics, namely frequency count, percentages, and mean were used for analysis of generated field data. The study revealed a 35.5% increase in gari production was achieved with the utilization of the screw press for gari production. Furthermore, average annual income from gari processing after utilization went from N809662 to N1249375; 35.19% increase. Furthermore, average household properties owned by processors went from 2.31 before utilization to 3.24 after utilization which is an increase of 28.7%. The study concluded that utilization of manual screw press by gari producers in Kwara state has led to increased output, a higher income, and a better standard of living for gari producers. These increases would most probably lead to increase in their probability of escaping poverty, and in the long run, would lead to sustainable food security for the country.
Drivers of Improved Cassava Variety Adoption among Farmers in Oyo State, NigeriaPremier Publishers
Low cassava productivity in Nigeria has been linked to low adoption of modern technologies amongst farmers, creating a large gap between the current and the potential yield of cassava. Therefore, this study examined the level of adoption of improved cassava variety (TME 419) and its drivers among cassava farmers in Oyo state, Nigeria. Data collected from 236 cassava farmers with the aid of structured questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, adoption index and logit regression model. Results showed that cassava farmers in Oyo state were 49 years of age with farming experience of 21 years and farm size of 4 ha. About 69% of surveyed farmers adopted the improved cassava variety while the adoption coefficient was 0.66. The likelihood of adopting improved cassava varieties was significantly influenced by education, household size, primary occupation, farming experience, farm size, land ownership and age. Therefore, increasing the years of farmers’ education, farm size, ownership of land, entry of younger farmers, household size and non-farm occupation will increase the likelihood of adopting improved cassava variety among farmers.
Lecturers’ Perception on Agriculture Mechanization in Rivers State, NigeriaAI Publications
The study investigated lecturers’ perception on agricultural mechanization in Rivers state, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted, four research questions which sought the information regarding benefits, awareness, challenges and solutions guided the study. Population of the study comprises 360 lecturers from three tertiary institutions in Rivers state. Data collection was achieved using a questionnaire comprising 32 items and rated on a five point likert scale. Mean was used for data analysis. For results, regarding benefits, the respondents agreed that agricultural mechanization boosts food production but disagree that it boosts employment of labour. For awareness, lecturers were generally aware of mechanization in agriculture. For challenges, they perceived lack of skills to use mechanized farm equipment as one challenge to mechanization. They perceived that favourable government policies could enhance agricultural mechanization. The study recommend that awareness on agricultural mechanization should be created and government set up agricultural machinery industries for developing and hiring out mechanized farm tools at subsidized rates to farmers.
The paper focused on the role of extension service providers in ensuring that
mechanization is adopted at the grassroot level among farmers. Information
dissemination, farmers’ education and awareness creation in motivating the
smallholder farmers to utilizing these farm machineries optimally plats a major role
Effect of Manual Screw Press Utilization on Output, Income, and Standard of L...BRNSS Publication Hub
The study assessed the effect of utilization of manual screw press for gari production on output, income, and standard of living of gari processors in four local government areas across the agricultural development program zones in Kwara state, Nigeria. Using multistage sampling technique and a semi-structured questionnaire as instrument, data for the study were collected from a sample of 384 gari processors who use the screw press in the state. Descriptive statistics, namely frequency count, percentages, and mean were used for analysis of generated field data. The study revealed a 35.5% increase in gari production was achieved with the utilization of the screw press for gari production. Furthermore, average annual income from gari processing after utilization went from N809662 to N1249375; 35.19% increase. Furthermore, average household properties owned by processors went from 2.31 before utilization to 3.24 after utilization which is an increase of 28.7%. The study concluded that utilization of manual screw press by gari producers in Kwara state has led to increased output, a higher income, and a better standard of living for gari producers. These increases would most probably lead to increase in their probability of escaping poverty, and in the long run, would lead to sustainable food security for the country.
Drivers of Improved Cassava Variety Adoption among Farmers in Oyo State, NigeriaPremier Publishers
Low cassava productivity in Nigeria has been linked to low adoption of modern technologies amongst farmers, creating a large gap between the current and the potential yield of cassava. Therefore, this study examined the level of adoption of improved cassava variety (TME 419) and its drivers among cassava farmers in Oyo state, Nigeria. Data collected from 236 cassava farmers with the aid of structured questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, adoption index and logit regression model. Results showed that cassava farmers in Oyo state were 49 years of age with farming experience of 21 years and farm size of 4 ha. About 69% of surveyed farmers adopted the improved cassava variety while the adoption coefficient was 0.66. The likelihood of adopting improved cassava varieties was significantly influenced by education, household size, primary occupation, farming experience, farm size, land ownership and age. Therefore, increasing the years of farmers’ education, farm size, ownership of land, entry of younger farmers, household size and non-farm occupation will increase the likelihood of adopting improved cassava variety among farmers.
Lecturers’ Perception on Agriculture Mechanization in Rivers State, NigeriaAI Publications
The study investigated lecturers’ perception on agricultural mechanization in Rivers state, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted, four research questions which sought the information regarding benefits, awareness, challenges and solutions guided the study. Population of the study comprises 360 lecturers from three tertiary institutions in Rivers state. Data collection was achieved using a questionnaire comprising 32 items and rated on a five point likert scale. Mean was used for data analysis. For results, regarding benefits, the respondents agreed that agricultural mechanization boosts food production but disagree that it boosts employment of labour. For awareness, lecturers were generally aware of mechanization in agriculture. For challenges, they perceived lack of skills to use mechanized farm equipment as one challenge to mechanization. They perceived that favourable government policies could enhance agricultural mechanization. The study recommend that awareness on agricultural mechanization should be created and government set up agricultural machinery industries for developing and hiring out mechanized farm tools at subsidized rates to farmers.
The paper focused on the role of extension service providers in ensuring that
mechanization is adopted at the grassroot level among farmers. Information
dissemination, farmers’ education and awareness creation in motivating the
smallholder farmers to utilizing these farm machineries optimally plats a major role
Factors Affecting Adoption and its Intensity of Malt Barley Technology Packag...Premier Publishers
Enhancing the probability of adoption and its intensity is not an easy task because there are numerous factors that affect producers’ adoption decision. Hence, the study was aimed to investigate the factors that affect adoption and intensity of adoption among malt barley producers in southern Ethiopia. Using random sampling technique, 251 smallholder malt barley producers were selected to collect primary data through semi-structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and econometrics model (Tobit model) methods were used for data analysis. The study identified five major malt barley technology packages in the study area. Such practices are; improved seed, seeding rate, fertilizer rate, plowing frequency and row planting. Thus, non-adopter accounted for 7.5% of total sample, partial adopter (50.2%), fully adopter (42.3%) and intensity ranges from 0.12-0.84 for partially adopter and 0.85-0.96 for fully adopter. The results of Tobit model indicated that factors influencing adoption and its intensity are; education, family size, land size, access to credit, membership to cooperative, access to training, access to demonstration, total livestock unit and distance to nearest market. Which are affected farmers adoption decision and intensity of adoption significantly in one or another way. Therefore, government and any development interventions should give emphasis to improvement of such institutional support system so as to achieve wider adoption, increased productivity and income to small scale.
This research work examines the impact of technology adoption on agricultural productivity. It considers the south-west region of Bangladesh as the study area. Since most of the farmers in the study area are engaged in rice production, this study surveys randomly selected 60 rice farmers in the IRRI season of year 2015 through using a questionnaire. This study finds sufficient variation in frequency and degree of technology adoption in agricultural practices among the surveyed farmers. The analysis results indicate that farmers are adopting high level of technology in seed variety and irrigation phases, medium level of technology in land preparation, pest management and fertilizer application phases and low level of technology in weeding and harvesting phases. There is a statistically significant difference in productivity between high and low degree technology adopters. Education and land holdings are the statistically significant variables in determining technology adoption level. According to the study findings, a one percent increase in technology adoption leads to increase in productivity by 0.22 percent, holding other factors constant, and this influence is statistically significant at one percent level. Therefore, this study concludes that there is a scope for further increase in productivity through planned manipulation of technology adoption level in different phases of agricultural production.
Adoption of banana tissue culture in Uganda still remains low despite the availability of policies geared to enhancing agriculture. A survey was carried out on 115 smallholder farmers in Central Uganda to establish the influence of agro-related policies in tissue culture banana adoption between January and July 2018. Results from the study indicated that 83.8% of the respondents were aware about the Plan for Modernization of Agriculture policy as compared to National Agricultural Policy (5.5%), National Development Plan (13.12%) and Agricultural Sector Development Strategy and Investment Plan (3.3%). Age, gender and education level all exhibited weak correlations in relation to policy awareness while generally, the study found out that awareness of the of the policies did not significantly influence farmer’s adoption of tissue culture banana in central Uganda (P>0.05). We conclude that most of the agro-related polices were on paper and minimal efforts were in place to enhance their awareness amongst small holder farmers. We therefore recommend that increased awareness of agro-related policies to the farmers as well as integration of farmer interests in policy formulation are paramount in order to achieve wide uptake of agro-technologies like banana tissue culture.
Solutions for Impact in Emerging Markets: The role of biotechnologyICRISAT
To develop and deploy state-of-the-art infrastructure for conduct of transgenic research and to act as a clearinghouse for technology inputs, transgenic research leads/ prototypes with proof of concept derived from Indian research institutes, universities, and other likely sources.Also to evolve the technology to a point where a practical application can be demonstrated, and transfer this “evolved” technology for product development and distribution to appropriate agencies.
A Critical Analysis of Banana Cultivation in Thoothukudi District of Tamil Naduijtsrd
Banana is a very popular fruit due to its low price and high nutritive value. The study was conducted at Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. Two blocks in Thoothukudi were selected for this study and 120 respondents were selected from two villages in each block by proportionate random sampling method to assess the extent of knowledge and adoption of banana cultivation technologies by banana growers and also 40 banana growing farmers who adopted drip-irrigation system were selected as purposively for assessing the performance of drip-irrigation in banana cultivation. The study here explored the extent of knowledge and adoption level of banana growers and performance of drip-irrigation in banana cultivation. With respect to knowledge and adoption level of banana growers, majority of the respondents 54.17 per cent had high level of knowledge on banana cultivation technologies and 87.50 per cent had medium to high level of adoption of banana cultivation technologies. With regard to the performance of drip-irrigation in banana cultivation, the benefits as perceived by the drip adopted banana growers were reduced weed growth, less labour requirement for irrigation, weed management, fertilizer application and also increases the water use efficiency. These studies also suggested that necessary follow up help should be given to the drip adopted banana growers after installation by the company and impart trainings to banana growers on maintenance of drip-irrigation equipment. N. Amaladeepan | J. Pushpa"A Critical Analysis of Banana Cultivation in Thoothukudi District of Tamil Nadu" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-5 , August 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd15816.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/social-science/15816/a-critical-analysis-of-banana-cultivation-in-thoothukudi-district-of-tamil-nadu/n-amaladeepan
Analysis of Land Use Efficiency among Women Cassava Farmers in South-West Nig...Premier Publishers
The study analyzed the land use efficiency among women cassava farmers in Southwest, Nigeria. The study identified the determinants of access to land and land tenure security status of women cassava farmers and also compared farm level efficiencies of the land secured and non-land secured respondents. The study is carried out in Ogun and Ondo State of Nigeria. Primary data obtained from 300 respondents using multistage sampling procedure is analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Heckman Probit model reveals that farm size (0.000), primary occupation (P=0.002), income (P=0.003), number of dependants (P=0.035), proximity to processing industry (P=0.042) and social group (P=0.068) were positively significant to access to land while cassava output (P=0.000), access to extension (P=0.001), household size (P=0.019) and proximity to market (P=0.059) are negatively significant. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) shows that 12.8% of the land secured farmers are technically efficient with the mean efficiency of 0.55 apiece for Constant Return to Scale Technical Efficiency (CRSTE) and Scale Efficiency. The CRSTE and scale efficiency of non-land secured farmers shows that 3.74% of the respondents are both technically and scale efficient with the mean efficiency of 0.38 and 0.39 respectively. Result of paired t-test reveals that there is significant difference in the level of technical efficiency between land secured and non-land secured women cassava farmers (t=2.29).
ICRISAT Global Planning Meeting 2019: Impact Assessment @ ICRISAT by Kizito M...ICRISAT
The outputs from impact assessment studies provide essential insights and feedback to the research and development process at ICRISAT. The majority of ex-post impact assessment studies at ICRISAT have focused on the impacts of genetic improvement of mandate crops. ICRISAT has moved with expanded agenda of Impact Assessment (IA) research
Determinants of Adoption of Improved Maize Technology among Smallholder Maize...BRNSS Publication Hub
Introduction: As part of Ghana’s agricultural modernization agenda aimed at ensuring the National Food Security, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) through its extension directorate has been promoting the adoption of improved maize technologies. Method and Material: This paper presents the finding of a study conducted to assess the determinants of adoption of improved maize technologies among smallholder farmers in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Exploratory survey design was employed with multistage sampling techniques adopted in selecting 400 maize farmers for the study. Result: Personal interviews, administration of semi-structured questionnaire, observations, and focus group discussions were the main methods employed in data collection. Probit regression model was applied in analyzing determinants of the adoption of improved maize technologies. Household annual income, access to labor, access to credit, and extension contact were found as significant determinants of farmers’ level of adoption of improved maize technology. Conclusion: The study recommends to the MOFA to promote the use of labor saving simple farm tools in carrying out the various production recommendations under the improved maize technology. Furthermore, MOFA needs to work with financial institutions to support maize farmers with credit to enable them to acquire the necessary inputs required in the implementation of the improved maize technology.
Determinants of Adoption of Improved Maize Technology among Smallholder Maize...BRNSS Publication Hub
Introduction: As part of Ghana’s agricultural modernization agenda aimed at ensuring the National
Food Security, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) through its extension directorate has been
promoting the adoption of improved maize technologies. Method and Material: This paper presents
the finding of a study conducted to assess the determinants of adoption of improved maize technologies
among smallholder farmers in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Exploratory
survey design was employed with multistage sampling techniques adopted in selecting 400 maize
farmers for the study. Result: Personal interviews, administration of semi-structured questionnaire,
observations, and focus group discussions were the main methods employed in data collection. Probit
regression model was applied in analyzing determinants of the adoption of improved maize technologies.
Household annual income, access to labor, access to credit, and extension contact were found as
significant determinants of farmers’ level of adoption of improved maize technology. Conclusion: The
study recommends to the MOFA to promote the use of labor saving simple farm tools in carrying out the
various production recommendations under the improved maize technology. Furthermore, MOFA needs
to work with financial institutions to support maize farmers with credit to enable them to acquire the
necessary inputs required in the implementation of the improved maize technology.
Farmers’ constraints in rice production in South-East Nigeriaresearchagriculture
The study was carried out in South East Nigeria to evaluate the socioeconomic attributes of rice farmers and identify the major constraints facing the rice enterprise in the area. The study relied mainly on primary data obtained by questionnaire and interview administered on a total of 158 farmers across four states that constitute the South East Agro-ecological area. Descriptive statistics was mainly used to analyze the data collected. Findings show that farmers in rice production were dominated by married, literate, male farmers. Major constraints to rice production include poor extension contact, lack of finance, high cost of agrochemical, lack of inorganic fertilizer, lack of processing facilities/ standard measure for rice, lack of credit, and delay in supply of improved rice varieties. It was recommended that the government should expose farmers to skills and knowledge required to overcome the constraints in rice production through the development of extension training/ teaching service, development of rural infrastructure, irrigation/storage/processing facilities and credit supply at affordable interest rates.
Article Citation:
Emodi AI.
Farmers’ Constraints In Rice Production In South-East Nigeria.
Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1(2): 114-123.
Full Text:
http://www.jagri.info/documents/AG0026.pdf
Farmers’ Constraints In Rice Production In South - East Nigeriaresearchagriculture
The study was carried out in South East Nigeria to evaluate the
socioeconomic attributes of rice farmers and identify the major constraints facing the
rice enterprise in the area. The study relied mainly on primary data obtained by
questionnaire and interview administered on a total of 158 farmers across four states
that constitute the South East Agro
-
ecological area. Descriptive statistics was mainly
used to analyze the data collected. Findings show that farmers in rice production were
dominated by married, literate, male farmers. Major constraints to rice production
include poor extension contact, lack of finance, high cost of agrochemical, lack of
inorganic fertilizer, lack of processing facilities/ standard measure for rice, lack of
credit, and delay in supply of improved rice varieties. It was recommended that the
government should expose farmers to skills and knowledge required to overcome the
constraints in rice production through the development of extension
training/ teaching service, development of rural infrastructure, irrigation/storage/
processing facilities and credit supply at affordable interest rates.
Factors Affecting Adoption and its Intensity of Malt Barley Technology Packag...Premier Publishers
Enhancing the probability of adoption and its intensity is not an easy task because there are numerous factors that affect producers’ adoption decision. Hence, the study was aimed to investigate the factors that affect adoption and intensity of adoption among malt barley producers in southern Ethiopia. Using random sampling technique, 251 smallholder malt barley producers were selected to collect primary data through semi-structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and econometrics model (Tobit model) methods were used for data analysis. The study identified five major malt barley technology packages in the study area. Such practices are; improved seed, seeding rate, fertilizer rate, plowing frequency and row planting. Thus, non-adopter accounted for 7.5% of total sample, partial adopter (50.2%), fully adopter (42.3%) and intensity ranges from 0.12-0.84 for partially adopter and 0.85-0.96 for fully adopter. The results of Tobit model indicated that factors influencing adoption and its intensity are; education, family size, land size, access to credit, membership to cooperative, access to training, access to demonstration, total livestock unit and distance to nearest market. Which are affected farmers adoption decision and intensity of adoption significantly in one or another way. Therefore, government and any development interventions should give emphasis to improvement of such institutional support system so as to achieve wider adoption, increased productivity and income to small scale.
This research work examines the impact of technology adoption on agricultural productivity. It considers the south-west region of Bangladesh as the study area. Since most of the farmers in the study area are engaged in rice production, this study surveys randomly selected 60 rice farmers in the IRRI season of year 2015 through using a questionnaire. This study finds sufficient variation in frequency and degree of technology adoption in agricultural practices among the surveyed farmers. The analysis results indicate that farmers are adopting high level of technology in seed variety and irrigation phases, medium level of technology in land preparation, pest management and fertilizer application phases and low level of technology in weeding and harvesting phases. There is a statistically significant difference in productivity between high and low degree technology adopters. Education and land holdings are the statistically significant variables in determining technology adoption level. According to the study findings, a one percent increase in technology adoption leads to increase in productivity by 0.22 percent, holding other factors constant, and this influence is statistically significant at one percent level. Therefore, this study concludes that there is a scope for further increase in productivity through planned manipulation of technology adoption level in different phases of agricultural production.
Adoption of banana tissue culture in Uganda still remains low despite the availability of policies geared to enhancing agriculture. A survey was carried out on 115 smallholder farmers in Central Uganda to establish the influence of agro-related policies in tissue culture banana adoption between January and July 2018. Results from the study indicated that 83.8% of the respondents were aware about the Plan for Modernization of Agriculture policy as compared to National Agricultural Policy (5.5%), National Development Plan (13.12%) and Agricultural Sector Development Strategy and Investment Plan (3.3%). Age, gender and education level all exhibited weak correlations in relation to policy awareness while generally, the study found out that awareness of the of the policies did not significantly influence farmer’s adoption of tissue culture banana in central Uganda (P>0.05). We conclude that most of the agro-related polices were on paper and minimal efforts were in place to enhance their awareness amongst small holder farmers. We therefore recommend that increased awareness of agro-related policies to the farmers as well as integration of farmer interests in policy formulation are paramount in order to achieve wide uptake of agro-technologies like banana tissue culture.
Solutions for Impact in Emerging Markets: The role of biotechnologyICRISAT
To develop and deploy state-of-the-art infrastructure for conduct of transgenic research and to act as a clearinghouse for technology inputs, transgenic research leads/ prototypes with proof of concept derived from Indian research institutes, universities, and other likely sources.Also to evolve the technology to a point where a practical application can be demonstrated, and transfer this “evolved” technology for product development and distribution to appropriate agencies.
A Critical Analysis of Banana Cultivation in Thoothukudi District of Tamil Naduijtsrd
Banana is a very popular fruit due to its low price and high nutritive value. The study was conducted at Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. Two blocks in Thoothukudi were selected for this study and 120 respondents were selected from two villages in each block by proportionate random sampling method to assess the extent of knowledge and adoption of banana cultivation technologies by banana growers and also 40 banana growing farmers who adopted drip-irrigation system were selected as purposively for assessing the performance of drip-irrigation in banana cultivation. The study here explored the extent of knowledge and adoption level of banana growers and performance of drip-irrigation in banana cultivation. With respect to knowledge and adoption level of banana growers, majority of the respondents 54.17 per cent had high level of knowledge on banana cultivation technologies and 87.50 per cent had medium to high level of adoption of banana cultivation technologies. With regard to the performance of drip-irrigation in banana cultivation, the benefits as perceived by the drip adopted banana growers were reduced weed growth, less labour requirement for irrigation, weed management, fertilizer application and also increases the water use efficiency. These studies also suggested that necessary follow up help should be given to the drip adopted banana growers after installation by the company and impart trainings to banana growers on maintenance of drip-irrigation equipment. N. Amaladeepan | J. Pushpa"A Critical Analysis of Banana Cultivation in Thoothukudi District of Tamil Nadu" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-5 , August 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd15816.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/social-science/15816/a-critical-analysis-of-banana-cultivation-in-thoothukudi-district-of-tamil-nadu/n-amaladeepan
Analysis of Land Use Efficiency among Women Cassava Farmers in South-West Nig...Premier Publishers
The study analyzed the land use efficiency among women cassava farmers in Southwest, Nigeria. The study identified the determinants of access to land and land tenure security status of women cassava farmers and also compared farm level efficiencies of the land secured and non-land secured respondents. The study is carried out in Ogun and Ondo State of Nigeria. Primary data obtained from 300 respondents using multistage sampling procedure is analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Heckman Probit model reveals that farm size (0.000), primary occupation (P=0.002), income (P=0.003), number of dependants (P=0.035), proximity to processing industry (P=0.042) and social group (P=0.068) were positively significant to access to land while cassava output (P=0.000), access to extension (P=0.001), household size (P=0.019) and proximity to market (P=0.059) are negatively significant. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) shows that 12.8% of the land secured farmers are technically efficient with the mean efficiency of 0.55 apiece for Constant Return to Scale Technical Efficiency (CRSTE) and Scale Efficiency. The CRSTE and scale efficiency of non-land secured farmers shows that 3.74% of the respondents are both technically and scale efficient with the mean efficiency of 0.38 and 0.39 respectively. Result of paired t-test reveals that there is significant difference in the level of technical efficiency between land secured and non-land secured women cassava farmers (t=2.29).
ICRISAT Global Planning Meeting 2019: Impact Assessment @ ICRISAT by Kizito M...ICRISAT
The outputs from impact assessment studies provide essential insights and feedback to the research and development process at ICRISAT. The majority of ex-post impact assessment studies at ICRISAT have focused on the impacts of genetic improvement of mandate crops. ICRISAT has moved with expanded agenda of Impact Assessment (IA) research
ICRISAT Global Planning Meeting 2019: Impact Assessment @ ICRISAT by Kizito M...
Similar to Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Determinants of Adoption of Improved Maize Technology among Smallholder Maize...BRNSS Publication Hub
Introduction: As part of Ghana’s agricultural modernization agenda aimed at ensuring the National Food Security, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) through its extension directorate has been promoting the adoption of improved maize technologies. Method and Material: This paper presents the finding of a study conducted to assess the determinants of adoption of improved maize technologies among smallholder farmers in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Exploratory survey design was employed with multistage sampling techniques adopted in selecting 400 maize farmers for the study. Result: Personal interviews, administration of semi-structured questionnaire, observations, and focus group discussions were the main methods employed in data collection. Probit regression model was applied in analyzing determinants of the adoption of improved maize technologies. Household annual income, access to labor, access to credit, and extension contact were found as significant determinants of farmers’ level of adoption of improved maize technology. Conclusion: The study recommends to the MOFA to promote the use of labor saving simple farm tools in carrying out the various production recommendations under the improved maize technology. Furthermore, MOFA needs to work with financial institutions to support maize farmers with credit to enable them to acquire the necessary inputs required in the implementation of the improved maize technology.
Determinants of Adoption of Improved Maize Technology among Smallholder Maize...BRNSS Publication Hub
Introduction: As part of Ghana’s agricultural modernization agenda aimed at ensuring the National
Food Security, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) through its extension directorate has been
promoting the adoption of improved maize technologies. Method and Material: This paper presents
the finding of a study conducted to assess the determinants of adoption of improved maize technologies
among smallholder farmers in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Exploratory
survey design was employed with multistage sampling techniques adopted in selecting 400 maize
farmers for the study. Result: Personal interviews, administration of semi-structured questionnaire,
observations, and focus group discussions were the main methods employed in data collection. Probit
regression model was applied in analyzing determinants of the adoption of improved maize technologies.
Household annual income, access to labor, access to credit, and extension contact were found as
significant determinants of farmers’ level of adoption of improved maize technology. Conclusion: The
study recommends to the MOFA to promote the use of labor saving simple farm tools in carrying out the
various production recommendations under the improved maize technology. Furthermore, MOFA needs
to work with financial institutions to support maize farmers with credit to enable them to acquire the
necessary inputs required in the implementation of the improved maize technology.
Farmers’ constraints in rice production in South-East Nigeriaresearchagriculture
The study was carried out in South East Nigeria to evaluate the socioeconomic attributes of rice farmers and identify the major constraints facing the rice enterprise in the area. The study relied mainly on primary data obtained by questionnaire and interview administered on a total of 158 farmers across four states that constitute the South East Agro-ecological area. Descriptive statistics was mainly used to analyze the data collected. Findings show that farmers in rice production were dominated by married, literate, male farmers. Major constraints to rice production include poor extension contact, lack of finance, high cost of agrochemical, lack of inorganic fertilizer, lack of processing facilities/ standard measure for rice, lack of credit, and delay in supply of improved rice varieties. It was recommended that the government should expose farmers to skills and knowledge required to overcome the constraints in rice production through the development of extension training/ teaching service, development of rural infrastructure, irrigation/storage/processing facilities and credit supply at affordable interest rates.
Article Citation:
Emodi AI.
Farmers’ Constraints In Rice Production In South-East Nigeria.
Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1(2): 114-123.
Full Text:
http://www.jagri.info/documents/AG0026.pdf
Farmers’ Constraints In Rice Production In South - East Nigeriaresearchagriculture
The study was carried out in South East Nigeria to evaluate the
socioeconomic attributes of rice farmers and identify the major constraints facing the
rice enterprise in the area. The study relied mainly on primary data obtained by
questionnaire and interview administered on a total of 158 farmers across four states
that constitute the South East Agro
-
ecological area. Descriptive statistics was mainly
used to analyze the data collected. Findings show that farmers in rice production were
dominated by married, literate, male farmers. Major constraints to rice production
include poor extension contact, lack of finance, high cost of agrochemical, lack of
inorganic fertilizer, lack of processing facilities/ standard measure for rice, lack of
credit, and delay in supply of improved rice varieties. It was recommended that the
government should expose farmers to skills and knowledge required to overcome the
constraints in rice production through the development of extension
training/ teaching service, development of rural infrastructure, irrigation/storage/
processing facilities and credit supply at affordable interest rates.
Abstract— The objectives of this study were to analyze the structure, level of innovation adoption by dairy goat farmers and to analyze farmer characteristics which affected to adoption rate. The study was conducted in Sleman, Yogyakarta Province. The number of respondents were 162 dairy goat farmers, who were members of of farmer group in 6 groups. The structure adoption was analyze by descriptive while the relaionship between farmer characteristics and adoption rate was analyze by correlation and multiple linear regression. The results showed that farmers received innovation from the government, academic institution and other farmers. Farmers choose speech, group discussion and demonstration as the method of extension service and preferred to choose leaflets, film photograph, magazine and television as media for communication. The member of farmers group expected that innovation could improve their livestock productivity. The level of adoption was affected significantly by farmers experience and the number of goat ownership (P<0.01). the coefficient of determination of 0.176 indicated that 17.6% of variance was influenced by farmers experience and the number of goat ownership while 82% was affected by other factors.
Merauke as a food barn has been carried out since the days of the Dutch
administration, namely by making Merauke an Asia Pacific food warehouse. To
realize this target, the Dutch government conducted a program to move the
population known as colonization, namely by bringing residents from Java to be
moved to Merauke. After the independence period the Indonesian colonization
program was still held by the name of transmigration. These transmigrant farmers
then live side by side with local residents and transmit the ability to cultivate rice to
local residents in Merauke Regency who previously lived from gathering, shifting
fields, sago farming, fishing, hunting and farming with the method of lagging, finally
getting interested in learning to grow crops rice. The purpose of this study is to
analyze (1) the factors that influence rice farming production on transmigrant
Assessment of bud-grafting and side-grafting techniques to support the improv...Open Access Research Paper
The results of the previous year study found that the somatic embryogenesis (SE) cocoa plant originated from planting from year 2009 until 2012, has not been in its optimal growth and production. It is reported is a significant mortality rate in the cocoa plant nursery phase or the SE in the vegetative phase. Based on the data and information, it is known that there is a need for the engineering efforts to increase production and quality of SE cocoa through the application of bud grafting and side grafting. The assessment is also expected to support farmer in order to apply the technology of bud grafting and side grafting for SE cocoa plant. The purpose of this study are : a) to find out the improvement of crop productivity and quality of SE cocoa through bud grafting and side grafting, and b) to analyze the response of farmers to increase crop productivity and quality SE cocoa through bud grafting and side grafting. This study was conducted in Bone, and Luwu regency, South Sulawesi from January 2015 to December 2016. This study used a Randomized Block Design with 8 treatments and 4 replications. Data collected are SE cocoa populations, some problems of SE cocoa developments and social-economic of farmers. Plant observations include growth and productivity of cocoa. The data has been collected, tabulated described and analyzed by ANOVA and Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (level 5%). SE cocoa plants have high jorget, small pod, small beans and flat. Productivity of side grafting cocoa is 4.21-4.36kg/tree/year. Response of farmers can receive bud grafting and side grafting technology for SE cocoa plant.
Factors Influencing Adoption of Improved Agricultural Technologies (IATs) amo...Premier Publishers
The study examined factors influencing adoption of improved agricultural technologies (IATs) among smallholder farmers in rural communities of Kaduna State.The study was conducted in Giwa and Sabon-gari Local Government Areas. Three objectives guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select the farming communities for the study. Two rural communities (Bassawa and Shika) were purposely selected out of 16 villages primarily because of their age-long agricultural technologies. The sample size of the study was 200 smallholder farmers made up of 100 farmers from each of the communities which were purposively selected. Primary data were collected using a structured interview schedule, focus group discussion and in-depth interview while the secondary data which relate to the objectives of the study were collected from the office of the Kaduna State Agricultural Development Project (ADP) and National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), ABU, Zaria. Data were analyzed using frequency and percentages. Results from the findings of the study revealed a positive significant (p<0.05) influence on adoption of agricultural technology and farmers’ educational levels, gender and age also had a positive significant influence on the adoption of technology. Therefore, the following recommendations were made: there is need to increase farmers’ capital and credit facilities and make funds accessible to the farmers. Also, it is therefore imperative for Government to ensure that policies that support the adoption of improved agricultural technologies are put in place.
Influence of Farmer Level of Education on the Practice of Improved Agricultur...paperpublications3
Abstract: The study examined the influence of farmers’ education level on the practice of improved agricultural technologies by farmers in Nyamusi division of Nyamira County. Multi-stage and stratified sampling techniques were applied for sample selection. Data collection was done by use of semi-structured questionnaires. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used for data analysis. Among the descriptive statistic techniques used included Mean, Standard Deviations and frequencies. For Inferential statistics, correlation, Chi-square and cross tabulation were used to establish relationships between dependent and the independent variables. Internal consistency technique was used to ensure reliability of the research instrument through the computation of Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha and was found to be 0.81 which meant that the data collection instrument was consistent and reliable. A total of 332 questionnaires were filled by the sampled farmers but only 304 were completely and adequately filled and analysed giving a Questionnaire Return Rate (QRR) of 91.6%. The analysed data was presented using tables. The study revealed that 44.4% of the farmers had completed primary level education. The study established that farmer level of education did not significantly influence the practice of agricultural technologies. In order to boost farmer literacy levels, the study recommends that the Directorate of Adult and Continuing Education should consider working with farmer groups in promoting functionality of literacy centres.
Effect of Manual Screw Press Utilization on Output, Income, and Standard of L...BRNSS Publication Hub
The study assessed the effect of utilization of manual screw press for gari production on output, income,
and standard of living of gari processors in four local government areas across the agricultural development
program zones in Kwara state, Nigeria. Using multistage sampling technique and a semi-structured
questionnaire as instrument, data for the study were collected from a sample of 384 gari processors who
use the screw press in the state. Descriptive statistics, namely frequency count, percentages, and mean
were used for analysis of generated field data. The study revealed a 35.5% increase in gari production
was achieved with the utilization of the screw press for gari production. Furthermore, average annual
income from gari processing after utilization went from N809662 to N1249375; 35.19% increase.
Furthermore, average household properties owned by processors went from 2.31 before utilization to
3.24 after utilization which is an increase of 28.7%. The study concluded that utilization of manual screw
press by gari producers in Kwara state has led to increased output, a higher income, and a better standard
of living for gari producers. These increases would most probably lead to increase in their probability of
escaping poverty, and in the long run, would lead to sustainable food security for the country.
Analysis of technical Efficiency of traditional wheat farming in Fezzan regio...Premier Publishers
Although the efforts to enhance the productivity of wheat in Libya, it is still low and there is no improvement in wheat yield over the last decade indicating the usage of inputs in process of production is not efficient. Though some farms use modern methods in planting wheat, nevertheless a lot of wheat farmers are still using the traditional method of production. This paper aims to examine the technical efficiency of traditional wheat farming in Fezzan region, Libya as well as factors affecting technical inefficiency. A set of questionnaires was used to obtain data from 149 traditional wheat farmers selected by using a simple random sampling technique. The slack based data envelopment analysis model (SBM) was used to estimate technical efficiency and fractional regression model to determine factors response for inefficiency. Results showed that, the average technical efficiency of the farms was 0.69 indicating that farmers were operating at a low level of technical efficiency. This indicates that there is a need to improve technical efficiency by about 0.31 with the same level of inputs. The results of slack analysis revealed that the total inputs used by the traditional farmers would be reduced by 42 kg/ha for DAP, 58 kg/ha for seed, 14kg/ha for urea, 33 kg/ha for organic fertilizers and 12.9 man-days/ha for labour.
Determinants of Adoption of Improved Agricultural Technology and Its Impact o...Premier Publishers
The importance of agricultural technology in enhancing production and productivity can be realized when yield increasing and technologies are widely been used and diffused. Standing from this logical ground, this paper aimed at identifying the factors affecting agricultural technology adoption decision and examining the impact of adoption on household’s income in chiro district west Hararghe zone, Oromia national regional state, Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary data was used; primary data was collected through structured questionnaire administered on 97 randomly selected smallholder farmers and secondary data was collected from published and unpublished document related to this topic. For data analysis purpose both Probit and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression models were employed. From the total 97 respondents 80 of them were adopted improved agricultural Technology while the left were not adopted improved agricultural technology in the study area. The regression result revealed that agricultural technology adoption has a positive and significant effect on household income by which adopters are better-offs than non-adopters. The probit regression result revealed that gender of the household head; access to irrigation, credit service; extension service and income of the household head significantly affect adoption of improved agricultural technology in the study area. From these finding researchers recommend that government should encourage small scale irrigation, credit service and extension service in the study area.
Measuring the economic performance of smallholder organic maize farms; Implic...Olutosin Ademola Otekunrin
The use of chemical inputs in conventional agriculture is associated with some health and environmental issues. This led to a call for more sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture without health issues. However, there is low participation in organic farming in Nigeria, which could be linked to less knowledge about its profitability. The study investigated smallholder organic maize farming profitability in Northern Nigeria. We employed descriptive statistics, profitability analysis, and a multiple regression model to analyse data collected from 480 maize farmers. The results revealed that organic maize farmers had a gross profit of USD 604.81 per hectare, a 0.46 profit ratio, a 0.54 gross ratio, a 0.32 operating ratio, a benefit-cost ratio of 1.85, and a 0.85 return on capital invested. Thus, organic maize farming is a productive and profitable venture. Organic manure, compost manure, farm size, selling price, cooperative membership, extension contact, access to credit, irrigation, education, and major occupation were factors that enhanced organic maize farming’s net profit. However, seed and transportation costs negatively influenced organic maize farming's net profit. Therefore, government and development agencies must intervene to make organic farming more sustainable and profitable by subsidizing seed costs and providing f inancial assistance to farmers.
Do Investments in Agricultural Extension Deliver Positive Benefits to Health,...Premier Publishers
The study provides an overview of the state of Agricultural Extension with the major aim of identifying gaps and areas of advocacy in the laws and policies that govern extension service delivery in Uganda, document the linkages and analytical trends between agricultural extension and performance of Health, Trade and Industry and Water and Environment sectors, as well as establish the value of each shilling or dollar invested in agricultural extension. Using secondary sources of data and Statistical Based Costing methods, the results revealed that the state of agricultural extension services in Uganda is wanting. Adoption of improved technologies was very low and technology misuse was very rampant. In livestock, the quality of veterinary services and their use were particularly very low. Our results showed that the unit cost of providing agricultural extension services that result in increased productivity, better nutrition as well as higher incomes to farmers is UGX 66,290 per visit. The total cost of not providing agricultural extension is extremely high and the country stands to lose greatly due to the multiplier effect and spillover effect of agricultural extension in other productive sectors. There is certainly need to invest in agricultural extension both in crop and livestock sectors.
Similar to Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County (20)
Evaluation of Agro-morphological Performances of Hybrid Varieties of Chili Pe...Premier Publishers
In Benin, chilli pepper is a widely consumed as vegetable whose production requires the use of performant varieties. This work assessed, at Parakou and Malanville, the performance of six F1 hybrids of chilli including five imported (Laali, Laser, Nandi, Kranti, Nandita) and one local (De cayenne), in completely randomized block design at four replications and 15 plants per elementary plot. Agro-morphological data were collected and submitted to analysis of variance and factor analysis of mixed data. The results showed the effects of variety, location and their interactions were highly significant for most of the growth, earliness and yield traits. Imported hybrid varieties showed the best performances compared to the local one. Multivariate analysis revealed that 'De cayenne' was earlier, short in size, thin-stemmed, red fruits and less yielding (≈ 1 t.ha-1). The imported hybrids LaaliF1 and KrantiF1 were of strong vegetative vigor, more yielding (> 6 t.ha-1) by developing larger, long and hard fruits. Other hybrids showed intermediate performances. This study highlighted the importance of imported hybrids in improving yield and preservation of chili fruits. However, stability and adaptation analyses to local conditions are necessary for their adoption.
An Empirical Approach for the Variation in Capital Market Price Changes Premier Publishers
The chances of an investor in the stock market depends mainly on some certain decisions in respect to equilibrium prices, which is the condition of a system competing favorably and effectively. This paper considered a stochastic model which was latter transformed to non-linear ordinary differential equation where stock volatility was used as a key parameter. The analytical solution was obtained which determined the equilibrium prices. A theorem was developed and proved to show that the proposed mathematical model follows a normal distribution since it has a symmetric property. Finally, graphical results were presented and the effects of the relevant parameters were discussed.
Influence of Nitrogen and Spacing on Growth and Yield of Chia (Salvia hispani...Premier Publishers
Chia is an emerging cash crop in Kenya and its production is inhibited by lack of agronomic management information. A field experiment was conducted in February-June and May-August 2021, to determine the influence of nitrogen and spacing on growth and yield of Chia. A randomized complete block design with a split plot arrangement was used with four nitrogen rates as the main plots (0, 40, 80, 120 kg N ha-1) and three spacing (30 cm x 15 cm (s1), 30 cm x 30 cm (s2), 50 cm x 50 cm (s3)). Application of 120 kg N ha-1 significantly increased (p≤0.05) vegetative growth and seed yield of Chia. Stem height, branches, stem diameter and leaves increased by 23-28%, 11-13%, 43-55% and 59-88% respectively. Spacing s3 significantly increased (p≤0.05) vegetative growth. An increase of 27-74%, 36-45% and 73-107% was recorded in number of leaves, stem diameter and dry weight, respectively. Chia yield per plant was significantly higher (p≤0.05) in s3. However, when expressed per unit area, s1 significantly produced higher yields. The study recommends 120 kg N ha-1 or higher nitrogen rates and a closer spacing of 15 cm x 30 cm as the best option for Chia production in Kenya.
Enhancing Social Capital During the Pandemic: A Case of the Rural Women in Bu...Premier Publishers
Social capital plays an essential role in empowering people for social and economic change even during the pandemic. A livelihood project of the government was implemented among the members of a women’s association of a disadvantaged upland community in Bukidnon province, Southern Philippines for inclusive development. This study was conducted to determine the influence of some socio-economic attributes and the change in the knowledge level on the social capital of the rural women amidst the pandemic. The activities of the project were implemented considering the health protocols imposed by the government during the health crisis. The findings revealed that the trainings conducted resulted to a positive change in the knowledge level among the rural women. This facilitated the production of vegetables for their households and generated additional income very necessary during the pandemic especially that other economic activities were hindered. Similarly, there was a significant increase in the social capital of the rural women during the last two years. The main occupation, sources of income and their ethnicity significantly influenced the social capital of the rural women. The rural development workers and policymakers must consider the social capital of the group in the implementation of poverty alleviation programs.
Impact of Provision of Litigation Supports through Forensic Investigations on...Premier Publishers
This paper presents an argument through the fraud triangle theory that the provision of litigation supports through forensic audits and investigations in relation to corporate fraud cases is adequate for effective prosecution of perpetrators as well as corporate fraud prevention. To support this argument, this study operationalized provision of litigation supports through forensic audit and investigations, data mining for trends and patterns, and fraud data collection and preparation. A sample of 500 respondents was drawn from the population of professional accountants and legal practitioners in Nigeria. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection and this was mailed to the respective respondents. Resulting responses were analyzed using the OLS multiple regression techniques via the SPSS statistical software. The results reveal that the provision of litigation supports through forensic audits and investigations, fraud data mining for trends and patterns and fraud data collection and preparation for court proceedings have a positive and significant impact on corporate fraud prevention in Nigeria. This study therefore recommends that regulators should promote the provision of litigation supports through forensic audits and investigations in relation to corporate fraud cases in publicly listed firms in Nigeria, as this will help provide reports that are acceptable in court proceedings.
Improving the Efficiency of Ratio Estimators by Calibration WeightingsPremier Publishers
It is observed that the performances of most improved ratio estimators depend on some optimality conditions that need to be satisfied to guarantee better estimator. This paper develops a new approach to ratio estimation that produces a more efficient class of ratio estimators that do not depend on any optimality conditions for optimum performance using calibration weightings. The relative performances of the proposed calibration ratio estimators are compared with a corresponding global [Generalized Regression (GREG)] estimator. Results of analysis showed that the proposed calibration ratio estimators are substantially superior to the traditional GREG-estimator with relatively small bias, mean square error, average length of confidence interval and coverage probability. In general, the proposed calibration ratio estimators are more efficient than all existing estimators considered in the study.
Urban Liveability in the Context of Sustainable Development: A Perspective fr...Premier Publishers
Urbanization and quality of urban life are mutually related and however it varies geographically and regionally. With unprecedented growth of urban centres, challenge against urban development is more in terms of how to enhance quality of urban life and liveability. Making sense of and measuring urban liveability of urban places has become a crucial step in the context of sustainable development paradigm. Geographical regions depict variations in nature of urban development and consequently level of urban liveability. The coastal regain of West Bengal faces unusual challenges caused by increasing urbanization, uncontrolled growth, and expansion of economic activities like tourism and changing environmental quality. The present study offers a perspective on urban liveability of urban places located in coastal region comprising of Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas districts. The study uses the liveability standards covering four major pillars- institutional, social, economic and physical and their indicators. This leads to develop a City Liveability Index to rank urban places of the region, higher the index values better the urban liveability. The data for the purpose is collected from various secondary sources. Study finds that the eastern coastal region of the country covering state of West Bengal depicts variations in index of liveability determined by physical, economic, social and institutional indicators.
Transcript Level of Genes Involved in “Rebaudioside A” Biosynthesis Pathway u...Premier Publishers
Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a plant which has recently been used widely as a sweetener. This medicinal plant has some components such as diterpenoid glycosides called steviol glycosides [SGs]. Rebaudioside A is a diterpenoid steviol glycoside which is 300 times sweeter than table sugar. This study was done to investigate the effect of GA3 (50 mg/L) on the expression of 14 genes involved in Rebaudioside A biosynthesis pathway in Stevia rebaudiana under in vitro conditions. The expression of DXS remarkably decreased by day 3. Also, probably because of the negative feedback of GA3 on MEP-drived isoprenes, GGDS transcript level reached its lowest amount after GA3 treatment. The abundance of DXR, CMS, CMK, MCS, and CDPS transcripts showed a significant increase at various days after this treatment. A significant drop in the expression levels of KS and UGT85C2 is detected during the first day. However, expression changes of HDR and KD were not remarkable. Results revealed that the level of transcript of UGT74G1 and UGT76G1 up regulated significantly 4 and 2 times higher than control, respectively. However, more research needs to shed more light on the mechanism of GA3 on gene expression of MEP pathway.
Multivariate Analysis of Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) Clones on Mor...Premier Publishers
Information on genetic variability for biochemical characters is a prerequisite for improvement of tea quality. Thirteen introduced tea clones characterized with objective; assessing tea clones based on morphological characters at Melko and Gera research stations. The study was conducted during 2017/18 cropping season on experimental plots in RCBD with three replications. Data recorded on morphological traits like days from pruning to harvest, height to first branch, stem diameter, leaf serration density, leaf length, leaf width, leaf size, petiole length, leaf ratio, internode length, shoot length, number of shoot, canopy diameter, hundred shoot weight, fresh leaf yield per tree. Cluster analysis of morphological trait grouped into four clusters indicated, the existence of divergence among the tested clones. The maximum inter-cluster distance was between clusters I and IV (35.27) while the minimum inter cluster distance was observed between clusters I and II (7.8).Principal components analysis showed that the first five principal components with eigenvalues greater than one accounted 86.45% for 15 morphological traits. Generally, the study indicated presence of variability for several morphological traits. However, high morphological variation between clones is not a guarantee for a high genetic variation; therefore, molecular studies need to be considered as complementary to biochemical studies.
Causes, Consequences and Remedies of Juvenile Delinquency in the Context of S...Premier Publishers
This research work was designed to examine nature of juvenile offences committed by juveniles, causes of juvenile delinquency, consequences of juvenile delinquency and remedies for juvenile delinquency in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa with specific reference to Eritrea. Left unchecked, juvenile delinquents on the streets engage in petty theft, take alcohol or drugs, rape women, rob people at night involve themselves in criminal gangs and threaten the public at night. To shed light on the problem of juvenile delinquency in the Sub-Saharan region data was collected through primary and secondary sources. A sample size of 70 juvenile delinquents was selected from among 112 juvenile delinquents in remand at the Asmara Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in the Eritrean capital. The study was carried out through coded self-administered questionnaires administered to a sample of 70 juvenile delinquents. The survey evidence indicates that the majority of the juvenile respondents come either from families constructed by unmarried couples or separated or divorced parents where largely the father is missing in the home or dead. The findings also indicate that children born out of wedlock, families led by single mothers, lack of fatherly role models, poor parental-child relationships and negative peer group influence as dominant causes of juvenile infractions. The implication is that broken and stressed families are highly likely to be the breeding grounds for juvenile delinquency. The survey evidence indicates that stealing, truancy or absenteeism from school, rowdy or unruly behavior at school, free-riding in public transportation, damaging the book of fellow students and beating other young persons are the most common forms of juvenile offenses. It is therefore, recommended that parents and guardians should exercise proper parental supervision and give adequate care to transmit positive societal values to children. In addition, the government, the police, prosecution and courts, non-government organizations, parents, teachers, religious leaders, education administrators and other stakeholders should develop a child justice system that strives to prevent children from entering deeper into the criminal justice process.
The Knowledge of and Attitude to and Beliefs about Causes and Treatments of M...Premier Publishers
Stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness are a common occurrence in the Sub-Saharan region including Eritrea. Numerous studies from Sub-Saharan Africa suggest that stigma and discrimination are major problems in the community, with negative attitudes and behavior towards people with mental illness being widespread. In order to assess the whether such negative attitudes persist in the context of Eritrea this study explored the knowledge and perceptions of 90 Eritrean university students at the College of Business and Economics, the University of Asmara regarding the causes and remedies of mental illness A qualitative method involving coded self-administered questionnaires administered to a sample of 90 university students to collecting data at the end of 2019. The survey evidence points that almost 50% of the respondents had contact with a mentally ill person suggesting that the significant number of the respondents experienced a first-hand encounter and knowledge of mental illness in their family and community. The findings show an overall greater science-based understanding of the causes of mental illness to be followed by recommended psychiatric treatments. The survey evidence indicates that the top three leading causes of mental illness in the context of Eritrea according to the respondents are brain disease (76%), bad events in the life of the mentally ill person (66%) and substance abuse or alcohol taking, smoking, taking drugs like hashish. (54%). The majority of the respondents have a very sympathetic and positive outlook towards mentally ill persons suggesting that mentally illness does not simply affect a chosen individual rather it can happen to anybody regardless of economic class, social status, ethnicity race and religion. Medical interventions cited by the majority of the respondents as being effective treatments for mental illness centered on the idea that hospitals and clinics for treatment and even cures for psychiatric disease. Changing perceptions of mental illnesses in Eritrea that paralleled the very caring and sympathetic attitudes of the sample university students would require raising public awareness regarding mental illness through education, using the mass media to raise public awareness, integrating mental health into the primary health care system, decentralizing mental health care services to increase access to treatment and providing affordable service to maintain positive treatment outcomes.
Effect of Phosphorus and Zinc on the Growth, Nodulation and Yield of Soybean ...Premier Publishers
An investigation was carried out at Kogi State University Student Research and Demonstration farm Anyigba during the 2019 wet season to observe the effect of phosphorus and zinc on the growth, nodulation and yield of soybean. The treatments comprised three levels: phosphorus and zinc (0, 30 and 60 kg P2O5/ha; 0, 5 and 10kg Zn/ha) and two varieties TGX 536 – 02D and Samsoy 2. The investigation revealed that application of phosphorus affected growth, nodulation, yield and some yield components of soybean while zinc application, apart from the plant height, which is reduced significantly, had no significant effect on other growth characters, nodulation, yield and yield components. However, it was generally found to decrease most of the characters. Application of 60 kg P2O5/ha gave the highest growth and yield, while 30 kg P2O5/ha gave the highest nodulation. Application of 60 kg P2O5/ha significantly increased yield to 1.9t/ha, which was significantly higher over the control plots, which gave 1.7t/ha. Crude protein and oil contents of the seeds were not significantly affected by phosphorus application but were significantly affected by zinc application, which significantly decreased protein content as its amount an increase from 0 to 10 kg/ha, and significantly increased oil content from 0 to 5kg/ha and decreased it below 5kg/ha. It was also revealed that the two varieties responded similarly to phosphorus and zinc in terms of growth, grain yield and crude protein content of the seeds.
Influence of Harvest Stage on Yield and Yield Components of Orange Fleshed Sw...Premier Publishers
A field experiment was conducted at Adami Tullu Agricultural Research Center in 2018 under rainfed condition with supplementary irrigation to determine the influence of harvest stage on vine yield and tuberous root yield of orange fleshed sweet potato varieties. The experiment consisted of four harvest stages (105, 120, 135 and 150 days after planting) and Kulfo, Tulla and Guntute varieties. A 4 X 3 factorial experiment arranged in randomized complete block design with three replications was used. Interaction of harvest stage and variety significantly influenced above ground fresh biomass, vine length, marketable tuberous root weight per hectare, commercial harvest index and harvest index. The highest mean values of above ground fresh biomass (66.12 t/ha) and marketable tuberous root weight (56.39 t/ha) were produced by Guntute variety harvested at 135 days after planting. Based on the results, it can be recommended that, farmers of the study area can grow Guntute variety by harvesting at 135 days after planting to obtain optimum vine and tuberous root yields.
Performance evaluation of upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) and variability study...Premier Publishers
This study aimed at assessing genetic variability and to evaluate the performance of 13 improved upland rice varieties for yield and its components based on morphological traits. The field experiment was conducted using a randomized block design at Guraferda and Gimbo districts in the 2019 main cropping season. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) over the two locations revealed significant differences (p≤ 0.05) among varieties for days to 50% heading, days to 85% maturity, panicle length, thousand-grain weight, and grain yield. Similarly, the ANOVA for variety by location interactions depicted significant differences among the tested varieties for days to 50% heading, days to 85% maturity, and thousand-grain weight. High heritability was obtained from days to heading (88.5%), panicle length (85.0%), and grain yield (85.2%), which indicates these traits can be easily improved through selection. High to medium broad sense heritability and genetic advance as percentage of the mean for days to heading, thousand-grain weight, and grain yield indicates a good opportunity for improvement through selection using their phenotypic performance. This is mainly due to the high role of additive gene action in the expression of such traits. This study confirmed the presence of variability among varieties for most of the studied traits, which will create an opportunity for breeders to improve rice yield and other attributes.
Response of Hot Pepper (Capsicum Annuum L.) to Deficit Irrigation in Bennatse...Premier Publishers
This study was conducted at Enchete kebele in Benna-Tsemay Woreda, South Omo Zone to evaluate the response of hot pepper to deficit irrigation on yield and water productivity under furrow irrigation system. The experiment comprised four treatments (100 % of ETc, 85% of ETc, 70 % of ETc and 50% of ETc), respectively. The experiment was laid out in RCBD and replicated four times. The two years combined yield results indicated that, the maximum total yield (20.38 t/ha) was obtained from 100% ETc while minimum yield (12.92 t/ha) was obtained from 50% of ETc deficit irrigation level. The highest WUE 5.22 kg/ha mm-1 was obtained from 50% of ETc. Treatment of 100% ETc irrigation application had highest benefit cost ratio (4.5) than all others treatments. Applying 50% of ETc reduce the yield by 37% when compared to 100 % ETc. Accordingly, to achieve maximum hot pepper yield in areas where water is not scarce, applying 100% ETc irrigation water application level throughout whole growing season under furrow irrigation system is recommended. But, in the study area water scarcity is the major limiting factor for crop production. So, it is possible to get better yield and water productivity of hot pepper when we apply 85% ETc irrigation water throughout growing season under furrow irrigation system.
Harnessing the Power of Agricultural Waste: A Study of Sabo Market, Ikorodu, ...Premier Publishers
Nigeria is still burdened with huge responsibilities of waste disposal because the potential for benefits of proper waste management is yet to be harnessed. The paper evaluates the capacity of the Sabo Cattle market in producing the required quantities of waste from animal dung alongside decomposed fruits with a view to generating renewable energy possibilities for lighting, security and other business activities of the market. It is estimated that about 998 million tons of agricultural waste is produced yearly in the country with organic wastes amounting to 80 percent of the total solid wastes. This can be categorized into biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. The paper evaluates the capacity of the Sabo Cattle market in producing the required quantities of waste from animal dung alongside decomposed fruits with a view to generating renewable energy possibilities for lighting, security and other business activities of the market. The Sabo market was treated as a study case with the adoption of in-depth examinations of the facility, animals and products for sale and waste generated. A combination of experimental, interviews (qualitative) and design simulation (for final phase) was adopted to extract, verify and analyse the data generated from the study. Animal waste samples were subjected to compositional and fibre analysis with results showing that the sample has high potency for biogas production. Biodegradable Wastes are human and animal excreta, agricultural and all degradable wastes. Availability of high quantity of waste generated being organic in Sabo market allows the use of anaerobic digestion to be proposed as a waste to energy technology due to its feasibility for conversion of moist biodegradable wastes into biogas. The study found that at peak supply period during the Islamic festivities, a conservative 300tonnes of animal waste is generated during the week which translates to over 800kilowatts of electricity.
Influence of Conferences and Job Rotation on Job Productivity of Library Staf...Premier Publishers
The general purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of conferences and job rotation on job productivity of library staff in tertiary institutions in Imo State, Nigeria. The survey research design was used for this study using questionnaire as an instrument for data collection. This study covered the entire population of 661. Out of these, 501 copies of the questionnaire representing 75.8% were duly completed and returned for analysis. Student’s t-test was used to analyze the research questions. The finding showed that conferences had no significant influence on the job productivity of library staff in tertiary institutions in Imo State, Nigeria (F cal= 7.86; t-vale =6.177; p >0.005). Finding also showed that job rotation significantly influences job productivity of library staff in tertiary institutions in Imo State, Nigeria (F-cal value= 18.65; t-value = 16.225; P<0.05). This study recommended that, government should ensure that library staff participate in conferences with themes and topics that are relevant to the job they perform and also ensure that there should be proper evaluation and feedback mechanism which aimed to ensuring control and minimize abuse of their development opportunities. Again, there should be written statement of objectives in order to sustain job rotation programmes. Also, that training and development needs of library staff must be identified and analyzed before embarking on job rotation processes as this would help to build skills, competences, specialization and high job productivity.
Scanning Electron Microscopic Structure and Composition of Urinary Calculi of...Premier Publishers
Microscopic examination of urine samples collected from geriatric dogs revealed increased numbers of erythrocytes, leucocytes, epithelial cells and pus cells along with casts, bacteria, spermatozoa and crystals of various shapes. Among the different crystals, triple phosphate or struvite were predominant, followed by calcium oxalate dihydrate, calcium oxalate monohydrate and ammonium urate or biurate. The struvite crystals were, coffin-lid shape and while calcium oxalate dihydrate were octahedron or envelope and monohydrate crystals demonstrated “picket fence” and “dumbbell” and “hemp seed” appearance. Brown or yellow-brown spherical bodies with irregular borders with thorn-apple appearance were shown by ammonium urate or biurate crystals. SEM aspects of magnesium ammonium phosphate crystals revealed perpendicular columnar strata, few with scattered hexa or octa-hedral coffin-lid shaped crystals and calcium phosphate crystals were like cracked eggshells. Presence of wavy phases with sundry areas (uric acid), picket fence (calcium oxalate monohydrate) and typical envelope (calcium oxalate dehydrate) were electron microscopic appearance of various crystals.
Gentrification and its Effects on Minority Communities – A Comparative Case S...Premier Publishers
This paper does a comparative analysis of four global cities and their minority districts which have been experiencing the same structural pressure of gentrification. The main contribution of this paper is providing a detailed comparison of four micro geographies worldwide and the impacts of gentrification on them: Barrio Logan in San Diego, Bo-Kaap in Cape Town, the Mission District in San Francisco, and the Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus District in Vienna. All four cities have been experiencing the displacement of minority communities due to increases in property values. These cities were chosen because their governments enacted different policies to temper the gentrification process. It was found that cities which implemented social housing and cultural inclusionary policies were more successful in maintaining the cultural and demographic make-up of the districts.
Oil and Fatty Acid Composition Analysis of Ethiopian Mustard (Brasicacarinata...Premier Publishers
The experiments was conducted at Holetta Agricultural Research Center, to analyze forty nine Ethiopian Mustard land races for oil and fatty acid composition traits The experiment was carried out in a simple lattice design. The analysis of variance showed that there were highly significant differences among genotypes for all oil and fatty acid traits compared. The significant difference indicates the existence of genetic variability among the land races which is important for improvement
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The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
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Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty,
International FDP on Fundamentals of Research in Social Sciences
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By Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
2. Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Thuo et al. 251
have declined in the past decade with average tonnes
cane per hectare (tch) dropping from 74 tch in 2004 to 61
tch in 2014 (Mwanga, Ong’ala and Orwa, 2017). This is
against the expected yields of approximately 100 tch
(KSB, 2014). These low yields have been attributed to
widespread use of older, low quality sugar cane varieties
(Abura, Gikunda and Nato, 2013). This is demonstrated by
their dominance. According to KSB (2014), the CO 421,
CO 945 and CO 617 varieties occupying 39 percent, 23
percent and 17 percent of the total area under sugarcane
production in Kenya, respectively. The CO 421, CO 617
and CO 945 varieties has been under production since
1960, 1969 and 1990 respectively (KALRO, 2019). In
addition to the above-mentioned limitations, these
varieties are prone to diseases particularly smut and
ratoon stunting disease; late maturing taking between 20-
24 months to mature; and have low sucrose content.
Consequently, farmers get low returns from sugarcane
production and are not able to sustain their livelihood
effectively. In addition, there is insufficient sugar
production, which has forced Kenya to import
approximately 240,000 metric tonnes of sugar annually to
bridge the gap in order to meet domestic consumption of
840,000 metric tonnes (AFFA, 2016). Continued deficit in
cane yields is likely to have further negative effect on the
operations of sugar mills, and may even lead to closure of
a number of them due to insufficiency in supply of the raw
material.
According to Barua (2016), one of the key reasons for
lower agricultural productivity is lack of usage of yield-
enhancing technologies such as improved varieties. This
calls for the Kenyan sugar sector to embrace better
production technologies available, to overcome these
challenges it is experiencing. A total of 21 improved
sugarcane varieties have been developed and released for
commercial production by the Sugar Research Institute
(SRI) through its variety improvement programme since
2002 (KESREF, 2014). These varieties have superior
qualities which includes high yielding both in sucrose and
tonnage; early maturing and disease resistant e.g smut.
Sugarcane farmers are expected to produce these
varieties because they have potential to enhance
sugarcane productivity, resulting to increased farmers
income and Kenyan sugar sector becoming globally
competitive (KSB, 2014; Agrochart, 2014). However, their
acceptance by farmers is low, accounting for
approximately 8 percent of the total distribution of
sugarcane varieties under production in Kenya (KSB,
2014). Ndemo (March 28, 2018) has identified low
adoption of high yielding sugar cane varieties as one of
key factors that have contributed to the low sugarcane
productivity in Kenya. There was need therefore, to
investigate the underlying factors that hinder acceptance
of these improved varieties by farmers in Kenya.
According to Smith and Ulu (2012), low acceptance of new
technologies has been a great challenge worldwide. Many
improved agricultural technologies have been availed to
farmers but majority of them have failed to accept them. A
report by Conroy and Sutherland (2014), indicates that one
of the main reasons why resource-poor farmers are slow
or unable to take up improved technologies is because of
their inappropriateness. Abukhzam and Lee (2010), also
adds that farmers may reject technologies because they
are not compatible with their values, beliefs, perceived
needs and their past experiences. This creates the
concern whether low acceptance of the improved
sugarcane varieties in Kenya, is due to their
inappropriateness or lack of compatibility with the farmers’
needs. Production of improved technologies that are
appropriate and compatible with the farmers’ needs is
therefore very critical for enhanced technology
acceptance. This makes it necessary to evaluate the
processes used to produce and disseminate these
improved technologies.
Various approaches are used in agricultural technology
development and dissemination. Conventional approach is
one of the commonly used approaches. It involves
researchers and technical specialist to identify constraints,
possible solutions, and transfer the findings to farmers
through extension staffs. Standardized package of
practices developed by scientists are the end product of
this approach (Pedzisa et al., 2010). Participatory
technology development (PTD) is another approach that
involves farmers in all stages of technology production and
dissemination. The goal is to develop appropriate
technologies to meet farmers’ needs through continuous
interaction between scientists and farmers. The starting
point is on what farmers are successfully doing on their
farms, which is then improved using scientifically proven
technologies. Improved technologies are developed in the
path of the old ones, which is key to the success of an
innovation due to its compatibility (Deligiannaki et al.,
2011). This enables farmers to participate in the
development of technologies that meet their perceived
needs, values, beliefs, and past experiences thus
enhancing its acceptance (Abukhzam et al., 2010). It also
provides farmers with adequate knowledge of technology
use and detailed technical information, which enhances
technology acceptance (Cavane, 2009; Rogers, 2003;
Morris et al., 1999).
As literature indicates, user acceptance of improved
technologies is a global challenge. This is likely to be
contributed by production and dissemination processes
used on these technologies. Technology acceptance by
the users has been viewed as the pivotal factor in
determining the success or failure of a technology (Dillon
and Morris, 1996). This study highlighted the problem of
low acceptance of improved sugarcane varieties by
farmers, which is a significant impediment to their success
in Kenya. The question why these varieties are not widely
accepted by farmers in Kenya, and in particular Kakamega
County needs to be answered. It was necessary therefore,
to examine the development and dissemination processes
of these improved sugarcane varieties in order to establish
3. Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Int. J. Agric. Educ. Ext. 252
their appropriateness to farmers. Without knowledge on
this, it will continue to be difficult to improve sugarcane
production in the country. The study findings may help
researchers and extension service providers in the
development and dissemination of improved technologies
using efficient and effective processes that make them
more acceptable by farmers. The findings may also benefit
farmers by helping them realize roles they need to play in
technology development and dissemination. Addition of
value to the existing literature on PTD & D in relation to the
acceptance of improved technologies by farmers will also
be achieved.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional survey research design was used. The
study was conducted in Kakamega County, Kenya. The
County occupies an area of 3,033.8 Km2 and is located 30
Km North of the equator, within an altitude of 250-2000m
above sea level. It borders Bungoma County to the North
and North West, Uasin Gishu to the North East and East,
Nandi to the South East, Vihiga to the South, Siaya to the
South West and Busia to the West.
The study population comprised of 137,355 small scale
sugarcane farmers from three sugar zones of Mumias,
West Kenya and Butali in Kakamega County. A list of
registered farmers from the three zones was used as a
sampling frame. A sample size of 384 sugarcane farmers
was selected using the table for determining sample size
from the Research Advisors (2006). The table consist of
population sizes with corresponding sample sizes, with
confidence intervals of 95 percent and 99 percent ; margin
of error of 5 percent to 1 percent . It is recommended that
if the exact population size of the study is not listed, the
next highest value of population size may be used from the
table. Therefore, since the exact population size of
137,355 was not represented in the table, a population size
of 250,000 was used as the next highest value. With a
specific margin of error of 5 percent and 95 percent
confidence interval, a sample size of 384 farmers was
used. Proportional sampling was used to determine the
number of farmers to be selected from each sugar zone.
Then for each zone, random sampling was done using a
table of random numbers to select number of farmers to
the sample.
Valid and reliable farmers’ questionnaire was used to
collect data from small-scale sugarcane farmers’ and had
four sections. Section (i) was designed to collect data on
the farmer characteristics. Data collected included age,
gender, level of education, income sources and size of
land. Information about the sugarcane varieties under
production by farmers was collected in section (ii). Among
the data collected in this section included types of
sugarcane varieties under production in Kakamega
County, size of land under the varieties and number of
years’ farmer had produced these varieties. Section (iii)
collected information on farmers’ participation in the
development of the improved sugarcane varieties. Data on
the research activities farmers were involved in and the
roles played during the development of improved
sugarcane varieties was collected. Section (iv) collected
information on technology dissemination. Data on
availability of extension services among farmers; various
extension approaches farmers have participated in and
their roles during the promotion of improved sugarcane
varieties was collected.
The researcher obtained a research permit from the
National Commission for Science, Technology and
Innovation (NACOSTI) to authorize the study. This was
followed by recruitment of two enumerators, to assist the
researcher in data collection. The farmers’ questionnaire
was researcher administered questionnaire, written in
English but was administered to farmers’ orally in Kiswahili
(local national language) as the researcher recorded the
responses in English. Therefore, the two enumerators
were trained by the researcher to understand the items in
the questionnaire properly as a guide for proper oral
translation into Kiswahili language during data collection.
This was done in order to control the quality of data
collected. A preliminary survey was carried out to identify
the sugar stakeholders whom to work out logistics for a
comprehensive data collection in the targeted area. Field
supervisors from Mumias, West Kenya and Butali Sugar
Companies assisted in locating the sugarcane farmers to
be included in the study sample. Then the researcher
embarked on data collection with assistance from the two
trained enumerators.
Collected data was analyzed using statistical package for
social sciences (SPSS). Both descriptive and inferential
statistics were used. Descriptive statistics were used to
summarize data generated from the research variables
using mean, mode, range, percentages and frequencies.
The research variables included farmers’ characteristics,
technology development and dissemination processes;
and acceptability of improved sugarcane varieties.
Variables from farmers’ characteristics included age,
gender, education level, income sources, land sizes
owned by farmers and experience in sugarcane
production. These variables were summarized using
means, mode, frequencies and percentages. To
summarize data on technology development and
dissemination processes, mean, range, standard
deviation, frequencies and percentages were used.
Acceptability of the improved sugarcane varieties was
determined by the size of land under improved varieties
and the number of years farmers had produced them. The
higher the number of years the varieties were under
production, the higher the acceptability level. The larger
the size of land under the improved sugarcane varieties,
the higher the acceptability level. Rating scales were used
to determine the acceptability levels by farmers. For the
acceptability levels based on land sizes, rating scales of
0.1-1.0 acres (very low acceptance); 1.1-2.0 acres (low
4. Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Thuo et al. 253
acceptance); 2.1-3.0 acres (acceptance); 3.1-4.0 acres
(high acceptance); and Over 4.1 acres (very high
acceptance) were used. For the acceptability levels based
on the number of years the varieties were under
production, rating scales of 0.1-2.0 years (very low
acceptance); 2.1-4.0 years (low acceptance); 4.1-6.0
years (acceptance); 6.1-8.0 years (high acceptance); and
Over 8.1 years (very high acceptance) were used. Cross
tabulations were done to establish the relationship
between the variables. For the hypotheses seeking
relationships, Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient
(r) was calculated to show the strength and direction of the
linear relationship between the independent and the
dependant variables. Hypothesis testing was done using
chi-square at 5% level of significance.
Outlined below are descriptions of terms used in the study.
Acceptability: refers to the extent to which sugarcane
farmers had engaged in production of improved sugarcane
varieties in their farms. It was expressed in terms of size of
land under improved sugarcane varieties and number of
years a farmer has produced improved sugarcane
varieties.
Improved technologies: refers to technological
advancement that improves, even if very slightly, whatever
process it applies to. For this study, it referred to the
improved sugarcane varieties.
Improved sugarcane varieties: refers to the sugarcane
types developed and released for production by the Sugar
Research Institute (SRI) since 2002 to 2014 (KESREF,
2014). They include six sugarcane varieties released in
2002 (KEN 82-808, KEN 82-216, KEN 82-219, KEN 83-
737, KEN 82- 401, KEN 82-247); four varieties released in
2007 (KEN 82-472, KEN 82-62, D84-84, EAK 73-335);
three varieties released in 2011 (KEN 82-601, KEN82-121,
KEN82-493 and eight varieties released in 2014 (KEN 98-
530, KEN 98-533, KEN 98-551, KEN 00-13, KEN00-3811,
KEN00-3548, KEN 98-367 and KEN00-5873).
Participatory technology development process: refers
to efficient farmer driven technology production
methodology with high level of decentralization and
continuous interaction between scientists and farmers
(Pedzisa et al., 2010). In this study, it referred to the
research approaches used in the production of improved
sugarcane varieties, whereby sugarcane farmers were
involved in the development processes.
Participatory technology dissemination processes:
refer to the approaches which involve active participation
of farmers in the technology dissemination processes
(Pedzisa et al., 2010) which included use of farmer
research groups; field demonstrations; and farmer field
days.
Small-scale farmers: refer to farmers with small parcel of
agricultural land. For this study, it referred to sugarcane
farmers with less than 10 acres of land.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Characteristics of Sugarcane Farmers in Kakamega
County
Research findings indicate that, Kakamega County
consists of 88 percent male and 12 percent female small-
scale sugarcane farmers. Male farmers greatly
outnumbered female farmers because according to the
Luhya community growing of sugarcane is associated with
men. Figure 1 shows ages of these farmers.
Figure 1. Age of sugarcane farmers in Kakamega County
Source: Research data, 2018
The findings indicate that majority of farmers belonged to
the age group of 41-50 years, followed by 51-60 years. The
youngest age group was 21-30 years while the oldest was
71-80 years. According to Aldosari et al. (2017), age plays
an important role in the dissemination, adoption and
diffusion of innovations and are believed to be positively
correlated with age. Figure 2 shows the education levels
of sugarcane farmers in Kakamega County.
Figure 2. Education levels of sugarcane farmers in
Kakamega County
Source: Research data, 2018
According to the study results, majority of farmers had
received secondary education and above. Only 5 percent
of farmers had not received any formal education.
Educated people are expected to have more favorable
attitudes towards agricultural skills, knowledge and
information as compared to uneducated (Aldosari et al.,
2017). The findings further depicted that; 81 percent of
sugarcane farmers were fully engaged in farming as their
5. Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Int. J. Agric. Educ. Ext. 254
main source of income. Only 15 percent had formal
employment while 3.9 percent had businesses. Results
revealed that majority of sugarcane farmers are small land
holders with 35 percent having 0.1 - 2.0 acres; 25 percent
had 2.1- 4.0 acres; 17 percent had 4.1-6.0 and 8 percent
had 6.1-8.0 acres. Only 15 percent of farmers owned
between 8.1 to 10.0 acres. According to Aldosari et al.,
(2017), size of land holding plays an important role in the
adoption of modern agricultural practices among the
farming community. More land holdings mean more
potential to increase productivity and efficiency to adopt
modern technologies.
Figure 3 shows how many years the sugarcane farmers
have engaged in their production. Results show that 16
percent of farmers had produced cane for 1 to 5 years; 35
percent 6 to 10 years; 15 percent for 11 to 15 years; 4
percent for 16 to 20 years; 5 percent for 21 to 25 years; 4
percent for 26 to 30 years while 21 percent for over 31
years. According to these results, most farmers have
cultivated cane for many years, giving them considerable
experience in sugarcane production.
Figure 3. Number of years of sugarcane production
among farmers in Kakamega County
Source: Research data, 2018
Participation of Farmers in Technology Development
Processes
Participation of farmers in on-farm experimentation and
seedcane production were considered in the study as
research processes in production of improved sugarcane
varieties. Low involvement of farmers in the development
of the improved varieties was observed. Findings depict
that only 19 percent of the respondents had participated in
these research activities. Among these farmers, 10
percent had been involved in seed cane production while
9 percent were involved in on-farm experimentation.
According to Pedzisa et al. (2010), low interaction between
scientists and farmers in the development of improved
technologies, denies farmers an opportunity to identify and
seek solutions to the problems they face. As a result,
technologies that are not appropriate and not compatible
with the farmers needs are produced. Young (2015),
Conroy et al. (2014) and Dillon and Morris (1996) add that
total involvement of the farmer as the intended user in
technology development enables greater acceptance of
technologies generated.
Table 1 presents the roles played by farmers in the
research activities involving production of the improved
varieties.
Table 1: Farmers’ Role in Research Activities
Involving Production of Improved Sugarcane Varieties
Farmers role in research Number Percent (%)
None 311 81.0
Group leader 3 0.8
Farmer Research Group member 18 4.7
Research plot owner 13 3.4
Production of seedcane 39 10.1
Total 384 100.0
Source: Research data, 2018
These roles included farmers being research plot owners;
group leaders; farmer research group members; and
production of seedcane. Research plot owners were
farmers who donated land for use in research work for
experimentation, establishment of on-farm demonstrations
or for seed cane production. The leaders were in charge
of farmer groups. Farmer Research Groups were used for
research work and for production of certified seedcane,
which was sold to other farmers (KESREF, 2012).
Participation of Farmers in Technology Dissemination
Processes
Findings indicate that 72 percent of small-scale sugarcane
farmers received advisory services on sugarcane farming
in Kakamega County. However, the frequency at which
these services were offered to farmers was very low, with
16 percent receiving the services at least once per month;
9 percent three times per year; 3 percent twice per year;
and 44 percent once per year This portrays
underutilization of the available advisory services. Table 2
shows various extension approaches used to reach out to
farmers. Results show that sugar companies, research
institute and farmer cooperative societies were the key
providers of advisory services. Farmers’ meetings were
the key extension approach used. Other methods used
include farm visits, field days, field demonstrations,
seminars and workshops. Extensive use of farmers’
meetings implies that majority of sugarcane farmers
across Kakamega county received their advisory services
through this approach, which is a conventional approach
whereby farmers receive information from extension
personnel. Farmers are informed on what they are
expected to do. Farmers’ meetings were mostly used by
sugar companies, together with field visits,
seminars/workshops and field demonstrations, though at a
lesser extent. Findings further show that the Research
Institute mainly uses field days, farmer research groups,
field visits and field demonstrations to educate farmers.
6. Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Thuo et al. 255
Table 2: Extension Methods used to Advice Farmers and Source of Advisory Services
Source of advisory services
Total0 1 2 3
Extension approaches used to offer
advisory services to farmers
Not applicable 105(30.1) 0(64.7) 0(10.0) 0(3.1) 105(105.0)
Farm visits 0(11.2) 26(24.0) 10(3.7) 4(1.1) 40(40.0)
Farmer Research Groups 0(4.2) 8(9.0) 7(1.4) 0(0.4) 15(15.0)
Field demonstrations 0(5.9) 17(12.6) 4(2.0) 0(0.6) 21(21.0)
Farmers meetings 0(41.3) 134(88.7) 7(13.8) 7(4.2) 148(148.0)
Farmers field days 0(7.3) 19(15.6) 7(2.4) 0(0.7) 26(26.0)
Seminars and workshops 0(5.6) 20(12.0) 0(1.9) 0(0.6) 20(20.0)
Exchange visits 0(0.3) 0(0.6) 1(0.1) 0(0.0) 1(1.0)
Office visit by farmer 0(2.2) 8(4.8) 0(0.7) 0(0.2) 8(8.0)
Total 108(108.0) 232(232.0) 36(36.0) 11(11.0) 384(384.0)
Key 0- None; 1- Sugar Company; 2- Sugar Research Institute; 3-Farmers’ Cooperative Societies
Source: Research data, 2018
Field days, and field demonstrations are farmer
participatory approaches and their use was an indicator of
farmers’ participation in technology dissemination
processes across Kakamega County. These approaches
fasten the process of information exchange and adoption
(Kaihura, 2001). Through observation, farmers are able to
see the performance of an improved technology in the field
thus overcoming the problem of uncertainity in technology
performance, which enhances acceptance by farmers.
Couros et al. (2003), Rogers (2003) and Morris et al.
(1999) indicate that uncertainty about an innovation
performance due to its unfamiliarity and newness is a
major obstacle in acceptance of improved technology.
Uncertainty often results in postponement of the farmers’
decision to adopt a technology until further evidence is
gathered.
Roles Played by Farmers in the Promotion of
Improved Sugarcane varieties in Kakamega County
The study revealed that 20 percent of the respondents
participated in dissemination processes within Kakamega
County, which indicated low involvement of farmers in this
process. These farmers played various roles as shown in
Table 3.
Table 3: Roles Played by Farmers in the Dissemination
of Improved Sugarcane Varieties
Farmers roles
Number
Percent
(%)
None 308 80.4
Training of other farmers 9 2.3
Hosting of field day 33 8.6
Formation of other farmer research
groups (FRGs)
2 0.4
Establishment of demonstration plots 15 3.9
Selling of improved seedcane 17 4.4
Total 384 100.0
Source: Research data, 2018
Training of other farmers in sugarcane production was
done by expert farmers, who had gained expertise in
sugarcane production after being trained by other
extension agents. In addition, expert farmers had gained a
lot of knowledge and experience in the production of
improved sugarcane varieties through their participation in
the establishment of variety demonstration plots. Hosting
of field days was done by sugarcane farmers or farmer
research group members, who had established either
improved sugarcane variety demonstration plots or
seedcane bulking plots for these varieties. Formation of
other FRGs was done by expert farmers through guidance
of extension personnel to expand existing FRG
membership to other farmers. Each FRG was expected to
establish improved variety demonstration plots for use in
training other farmers and to be used as field day sites.
These FRGs were also expected to multiply seedcane
from their demonstration farms for sale. In addition,
researchers in collaboration with sugar companies and
other sugarcane farmers established seedcane
multiplication sites to supplement availability of certified
seedcane closer to farmers.
Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in
Technology Development Processes and
Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties
A Spearman’s correlation coefficient of 0.323 was
obtained between farmers’ participation in technology
development processes and the acceptability of improved
sugarcane varieties. This indicated that a positive and
moderate linear relationship existed between the two
variables. Table 4 shows a crosstabulation between these
variables.
7. Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Int. J. Agric. Educ. Ext. 256
Table 4: Farmers’ Role in the Development of Improved Sugarcane Varieties and Variety Acceptability based on
Years of Production Cross Tabulation
Farmers role in the development of improved sugarcane varieties
TotalNone 1 2 3 4
Variety
acceptability
based on years
of production
Very low acceptance 28 (16.5) 0 (1.2) 0 (2.1) 0 (1.1) 1 (8.1) 29(29.0)
Low acceptance 39(34.1) 2(2.6) 4(4.3) 1(2.3) 15(16.8) 60(60.0)
Acceptance 36(36.4) 4(2.7) 2(4.5) 1(2.4) 21(17.9) 64(64.0)
High acceptance 15(30.1) 3(2.3) 10(3.8) 5(2.0) 20(14.8) 53(53.0)
Very high acceptance 2(2.8) 0(0.2) 0(0.4) 1(0.2) 2(1.4) 5(5.0)
Total 120(120.0) 9(9.0) 15(15.0) 8(8.0) 59(59.0) 211(211.0)
Chi-square = 39.075; Critical value =26.296; Df = 16;α = 0.05; r=0.323
Key: Figures in the brackets are the expected cell counts
1-Group leader; 2-Farmer research group member; 3-Research plot owners; 4-Seed cane production
Source: Research data, 2018
At 0.05 level of significance and 16 degrees of freedom,
the critical value determined from the chi-square table was
26.296 and the calculated chi was 39.075. Since the
calculated Chi of 39.075 was more than the critical chi of
26.296, it was concluded that there was a significant
relationship between farmers’ role in the development of
the improved sugarcane varieties and variety acceptability
based on years of production. The null hypothesis was
therefore rejected. This meant that farmers’ participation in
the development of improved sugarcane varieties is
associated with the acceptance of these varieties based
on number of years farmers have produced them.
Farmers’, who participated in seed cane production
portrayed very high acceptance levels, followed by
members of farmer research groups and research plot
owners. Gained experience and understanding about
these varieties, may have given these farmers confidence
to produce them. Majority of farmers who did not play any
role in the development of these varieties displayed very
low and low acceptance levels.
When farmers’ participation in the development of the
improved sugarcane varieties and variety acceptability
based on land sizes were correlated, a Spearman’s
correlation coefficient of 0.08 was obtained. This indicated
a very weak linear relationship existed between the two
variables. Table 5 shows a crosstabulation between the
two variables.
Table 5: A Crosstabulation between Farmers’ Role in the Development of Improved Sugarcane Varieties and
Variety Acceptability based on Land under Production
Farmers role in the development of the improved sugarcane varieties
TotalNone 1 2 3 4
Variety
acceptability
based on land
sizes
Very low acceptance 83(81.9) 7(6.1) 12(10.2) 5(5.5) 37(40.3) 144(144.0)
Low acceptance 12(19.3) 2(1.5) 3(2.4) 1(1.3) 16(9.5) 34(34.0)
Acceptance 16(11.9) 0(0.9) 0(1.5) 1(0.8) 4(5.9) 21(21.0)
High acceptance 2(2.3) 0(0.2) 0(0.3) 0(0.2) 2(1.1) 4(4.0)
Very high acceptance 7(4.6) 0(0.3) 0(0.6) 1(0.3) 0(2.2) 8(8.0)
Total 121(121.0) 9(9.0) 15(15.0) 8(8.0) 59(59.0) 211(211.0)
Chi-square = 20.561; Critical value =26.296; Df = 16; α = 0.05; r=0.08
Key: Figures in the brackets are the expected cell counts
1-Group leader; 2-Farmer research group member; 3-Research plot owners; 4-Production of seed cane.
Source: Research data, 2018
At 0.05 level of significance and 16 degrees of freedom,
the critical value determined from the chi-square table was
26.296 and the calculated chi was 20.561. Since the
calculated chi of 20.561 was less than the critical chi of
26.296, it was concluded that there was no significant
relationship between farmers’ role in the development of
improved sugarcane varieties and variety acceptability
based on land sizes under their production. The null
hypothesis was therefore accepted. Lack of association
between the two variables meant that the size of land
under which these varieties were produced could not be
used as an indicator of variety acceptability by farmers.
According to a report by Sugar Industry Task Force (2014),
sugarcane is grown by small-scale sugarcane farmers in
Kakamega County, who have an average land holding of
1.5 acres per family. This implies that farmers generally
produce sugarcane under the small portions of land. The
study results show that majority of farmers produced
improved varieties on small portions of land between 0.1
to1.0 acres of land.
8. Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Thuo et al. 257
Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in
Technology Dissemination Processes and
Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties
A Spearman correlation coefficient between farmers’
participation in the dissemination of the improved
sugarcane varieties and variety acceptability based on
years of production shows a Spearman’s correlation of
0.370. This indicates that a positive and moderate linear
relationship exist between the two variables. Table 6
shows a crosstabulation between these variables.
Table 6: A Crosstabulation between Farmers’ Roles in the Dissemination of Improved Sugarcane Varieties and
their Acceptability based on Years of Production
Farmers roles in the dissemination of improved sugarcane varieties
TotalNone 1 2 3 4 5
Variety
acceptability
based on years
of production
Very low acceptance 24(17.6) 3(0.8) 2(4.9) 0(0.3) 0(1.8) 0(3.6) 29(29.0)
Low acceptance 39(36.4) 0 (1.7) 16(10.2) 0(6) 2(3.7) 3(7.4) 60(60.0)
Acceptance 47(38.8) 2(1.8) 5(10.9) 0(0.6) 3(3.9) 7(7.9) 64(64.0)
High Acceptance 16(32.2) 1(1.5) 12(9.0) 2(0.5) 8(3.3) 14(6.5) 53(53.0)
Very high acceptance 2(3.0) 0(0.1) 1(0.9) 0(0.0) 0(0.3) 2(0.6) 5(5.0)
Total 128(128.0) 6(6.0) 36(36.0) 2(2.0) 13(13) 26(26.0) 211(211.0)
Chi-square = 61.251; Critical value =31.410; Df = 20; α = 0.05; r=0.370
Key: Figures in the brackets are expected cell counts
1-Training of other farmers; 2-Hosting of field day; 3- Formation of farmer research groups; 4-Establishment of
demonstration plots; 5-Selling of seedcane.
Source: Research data, 2018
At 0.05 level of significance and 20 degrees of freedom,
the critical value determined from the chi-square table was
31.410 and the calculated chi was 61.251. Since the
calculated chi of 61.251 was more than the critical chi of
31.410, it was concluded that there was a significant
relationship between farmers’ roles in the dissemination of
improved sugarcane varieties and the acceptability of the
improved sugarcane varieties based on years of
production. The null hypothesis was therefore rejected.
Majority of farmers who participated in the dissemination
of improved varieties portrayed high acceptance of these
varieties as noted among farmers, who participated in
selling of seedcane, hosting of field days and
establishment of demonstration plots.
When farmers’ roles in the dissemination of the improved
sugarcane varieties and variety acceptability based on
land sizes were correlated, a Spearman’s correlation
coefficient of 0.037 was obtained. This indicated that a
positive and very weak relationship existed between the
two variables. Table 7 shows a crosstabulation between
the two variables.
Table 7: A Crosstabulation between Farmers’ Roles in the Dissemination of Improved Sugarcane Varieties and
Variety Acceptability based on Land Sizes under their Production
Farmers roles in the dissemination of improved sugarcane varieties
None 1 2 3 4 5 Total
Variety
acceptability
based on land
sizes
Very low acceptance 92.0(87.4) 2 (4.1) 23(24.6) 1(1.4) 9(8.9) 17(17.7) 144(144.0)
Low acceptance 10(20.6) 3(1.0) 10(5.8) 1(0.3) 4(2.1) 6(4.2) 34(34.0)
Acceptance 17(12.7) 1(0.6) 2(3.6) 0(0.2) 0(1.3) 1(2.6) 21(21.0)
High acceptance 2(2.4) 0(0.1) 1(0.7) 0(0.0) 0(0.2) 1(0.5) 4(4.0)
Very high acceptance 7(4.9) 0(0.2) 0(1.4) 0(0.1) 0(0.5) 1(1.0) 8(8.0)
Total 128(128.0) 6(6.0) 36(36.0) 2(2.0) 13(13.0) 26(26.0) 211(211.0)
Chi-square = 27.396; Critical value =31.410; Df = 20; α = 0.05
Key: Figures in the brackets are the expected cell counts
1-Training of other farmers; 2-Hosting of field day;3- Formation of farmer research groups; 4-Participation in the
establishment of demonstration plots; 5-Selling of seedcane.
Source: Research data, 2018
At 0.05 level of significance and 20 degrees of freedom,
the critical value determined from the chi-square table was
31.410 and the calculated chi was 28.455. Since the
calculated Chi of 28.455 was less than the critical chi of
31.410, it was concluded that there was no significant
relationship between farmers’ role in the dissemination of
the improved sugarcane varieties and variety acceptability
based on land sizes under their production. The null
hypothesis was therefore accepted. Lack of association
between the two variables again meant that land size
under which improved varieties were produced was not an
indicator of variety acceptability by farmers.
9. Relationship between Farmers’ Participation in Technology Development and Dissemination Processes; and Acceptability of Improved Sugarcane Varieties in Kakamega County
Int. J. Agric. Educ. Ext. 258
CONCLUSION
Small-scale sugarcane farmers in Kakamega County
participated in the development and dissemination of the
improved sugarcane varieties, although at a limited level.
In the development process, only 19 percent of farmers
were involved in seed cane production and on-farm
experimentation. In the dissemination processes, 20
percent of farmers were involved in training of other
farmers, hosting of field days, formation of other FRGs,
establishment of demonstration farms and selling of
improved seedcane. The study established that majority of
sugarcane farmers lacked necessary technical information
and experience related to the production of improved
sugarcane varieties, which has been a hindrance to their
acceptability by most farmers. The study established
significant relationships between farmers’ participation in
the development and dissemination of improved
sugarcane varieties, with the acceptability of improved
sugarcane varieties based on the number of years’
farmers have produced them. The number of year’s
farmers have produced these varieties was a strong
indicator of variety acceptability by farmers in Kakamega
County.
Implication to Agricultural Extension
i. Provision of adequate technical information on the
production of improved sugarcane varieties to farmers
by the extension service providers is required.
ii. Utilization of participatory technology development and
dissemination approaches need to be enhanced in the
development of improved sugarcane technologies for
enhanced acceptance by farmers.
.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are grateful to National Commission for
Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) for
granting permission to undertake this research study. Our
gratitude is extended to Kenya Agricultural and Livestock
Research Organisation (KALRO) and Egerton University
for their support. Special thanks go to all who assisted
during data collection and the respondents who gave
valuable data without which the study would not have
happened.
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