1,720,957 research outputs found
Evaluation of Land-Bank Beneficiaries’ Extension Services and Household Food Security in North-West Province
Get PDFDSc (Agricultural Extension), North-West University, Mahikeng CampusFarmers’ effectiveness and efficiency in agricultural practices hinges on timely and adequate information that are relevant to farmer’s needs. Also, land bank support to its beneficiaries serves as “endowment” and “entitlement” which provides beneficiaries with access to credits and other means of production. Thus, the focus of this study was on “Evaluation of Land-Bank beneficiaries’ extension services and household food security in Northwest Province”. For this study 169 beneficiaries were selected and only 115 were willing to participate. Data collection was done with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Results from the field survey revealed that beneficiaries are aware of extension services and the relevance of information dissemination to farmer’s needs and its potential to facilitate their productivity. However, factors such as information relevance and frequency of extension visits to farms are main determinant factors of beneficiaries’ access to extension services. Also, most beneficiaries are food secure however, their food availability does not automatically results in food nutrition as most respondents attested to not regularly feeding on balance diet and reliance on less preferred and expensive food is a major indicator that though they might be food secure the presence of balanced diet in their meals lacks consistency. Furthermore, results indicates that that gender was coefficient at (0.8246) and significant at (5%), this implies that male headed households are more likely to access extension services either by initiating extension visits or visiting extension offices as compared to female headed households. This is because women are more tasked with home chores such as cooking, cleaning and catering for the children. Also, marital status was coefficient at (0.9723) and significant at (5%) this implies that beneficiaries that are married have more likelihood to access extension services as there is division of role amongst partners i.e. the man or woman can serve as a representative for the entire household during extension trainings while the other partner takes care of other activities that might not be farm related as compared to a single individual that has to attend training while been tasked with other off farm responsibilities. Educational level was coefficient at (0.5620) and significant at (5%) this implies that respondents with high level of education are more likely to comprehend and grasp extension training, adopt latest technologies for farming and also use multiple platforms for accessing extension services. Also, farm size was coefficient at (.0209752) with a significant value of (P≤0.10), this indicates that an increase in farm size has the probability to increase the household food security of respondents, this implies that farm size is likely to impact food security as those with smaller farm sizes are likely to have lower production output
which has the probability to result in reduction in income which limits ability to purchase food in situation where their farm products are not ready for harvest. Labour source was coefficient at (.6037481) with a significant value of (P≤0.5) this implies that sources of labour has the probability to impact food security as farmers with more labour sources such as self, family members and hired labour combined are more likely to yield higher production output as compared to farmers who rely on either self, family members or hired labour only. In addition, income of respondents was coefficient at (.0001141) with a significant value of (P≤0.5) this implies the income generated by respondents has the probability to increase or decrease household food security as those respondents with higher income have the purchasing power to buy food when needed as compared to those with lower income. This means the more income respondents have the more likely they are to be food secure and the lesser the income the more likely they are to be food insecure. Lastly, involvement in off farm activities was coefficient at (1.274086) with a significant value of (P≤0.10) this shows that respondents that are involved in off farm activities other than farming are probably more food secure than those that are not. This is because the off farm activities serve as a means of additional income to respondents which in turn increases their income generation and a better livelihood thereby giving them more purchasing power as an effective alternative to source for food rather than reliance solely on production output or income generated from sales of their agricultural products.Doctora
Analysis of Stakeholders’participation in Agricultural Innovation Systems in the Oyo State of Nigeria
Get PDFPhD (Learning and Teaching), North-West University, Mahikeng CampusTo solve the bottleneck of food insecurity while ensuring food sustainability as the nation's (Nigeria) population increases, agricultural innovation systems that are nonlinear, integrated, holistic, and trans-disciplinary which accentuate diverse stakeholder participation approaches are key factors that proffer a solution to the challenges.
This document evaluates the analysis of stakeholders' participation in agricultural innovation systems (AIS) in Oyo State of Nigeria. It specifically examines the involvement, interactions, interdependencies, and interrelationships amongst the array of diverse stakeholders in their linkage activities of agricultural innovation systems to improve productivity.
The data for this study were elicited by a pre-tested structured questionnaire from primary sources while a multi-stage sampling technique and purposive sampling method were used to select a sample size of 400 respondents which included farmers (222), extension agents (85), researchers (30), input dealers (33) and agro non-governmental organizations (30).
The IBM SPSS was used in analyzing the data obtained from study objectives using frequencies, percentages, cluster bar charts, means, and standard deviation. The stepwise binary logistic regression and the Chi-square were used to analyze the association between demographic characteristics of stakeholders and their participation in the linkage activities in AIS; demographic variables and factors influencing stakeholders’ participation in the agricultural innovation system (AIS); as well as demographic variables and constraints facing stakeholders on their participation in the agricultural innovation system.
The results of the study revealed that the respondents were predominantly male, married and with a mean age of fewer 50 years while they had over 10 years of work experience and got their information mostly from workshops/ seminars through stakeholders’ collaboration and personal experience.
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The linkage activities in AIS amongst the stakeholders were strong while, the majority of them strongly agreed that stakeholders’ collaborative relationship enhances their participation, knowledge generation, and effective communication strategy. Besides, they revealed the constraints they mostly faced in their participation in the agricultural innovation systems were limited resources, poor communication among stakeholders and inadequate finance among other existing constraints.
Likewise, from the Chi-square analysis, the variable “age” had dependency (at 5% level) on the participation in the linkage activities of AIS between the extension agents and input leaders, and between extension agents and farmers.
The logistic regression showed that the variable “currently studying for a higher degree” had a significant effect (at 5% level) on the participation in the linkage activities of AIS between farmers and researchers.
According to the results of the logistic regression, only farmers that posses a master's degree from the variable “highest educational qualification” had a significant effect (at 5% level) on the participation in the linkage activities of AIS between them and extension agents.
From the regression analysis, the independent variables that include the “highest educational qualification” and “source of information”(at a 5% level ) had a significant impact on the factors that influence stakeholders' participation in AIS (the dependent variables).
To enhance large-scale production and commercialization, stakeholders should implement interactive, constructive, and comprehensive participatory approaches, with input from all participants in the value chain. An investment budget needs to be set aside for role player training necessary to improve capacity building and information sharing on agricultural innovation systems.
Enabling frameworks should be put in place to support relevant policies for stakeholder participatory techniques. In addition, strategic initiatives that encourage cooperation and collaboration should be implemented to strengthen relationships between stakeholders.Doctora
Perceptions, coping strategies and welfare impact of drought among small stock farmers in Amathole, Eastern Cape
Get PDFMSc (Agricultural Extension), North-West University, Mahikeng CampusThe study perused the concept of drought from farmers’ perspectives and how it affects their welfare. The study area included Raymond Mhlaba and Amahlathi Local Municipalities under the Amathole District Municipality in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. A formal survey of 293 farmers was selected using a basic random sampling technique. The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire administered during interviews and a semistructured interview guide used during focus group discussions. The study used percentages, frequency, standard deviation and mean to elicit demographic and farming information from the respondents. A Likert scale rating was used to assess the perceptions of small stock farmers on the impact of drought, and Chi-square statistics described the relation between the farmer and the coping strategies known, employed and forced to employ. The study used a multinomial probit model and two least square regressions for inferential statistics.
The main findings from the descriptive statistics were that 74% of the respondents were male with a secondary level of education and an average age of 49 years and with five (5) members per household. Moreover, the results showed that 84% of the farmers owned land, although they used community land for their stock grazing and browsing, and the dam was the major (60%) water source. The majority of farmers (67.58%) indicated that they received drought relief support from the government, and this included the provision of fodder (51.88%) and drinking troughs and water tanks (13.65%). For support services, farmers (91.13%) also indicated that they had access to extension services and 59% indicated that they were not satisfied with the monthly visits, and 98.29% posited that they did not receive any droughtrelated training.
Findings from the multinomial regression model indicated that factors such as level of education (p = 10%), farming skills (p = 1%) and access to extension services (p = 1%) were significant at varied statistical levels and had a direct positive influence on the farmers’ choice of drought coping strategy. Moreover, support service attributes such as the frequency of response (p = 10%) and the quality of extension services received (p = 10%) positively affected the mechanisms chosen by farmers to withstand drought adversaries.
Results from the two least square regression showed that attributes such as household size (p = 10%), farming experience (p = 10%) and farm location (p = 1%) were significant at various statistical levels and had a direct positive influence on farmers’ welfare (captured as agricultural income).
The study concludes that drought seriously affects small stock farmers. This is not only because of a lack of resources, but drought-related training, farming skills, and access to extension services influence how drought affects smallholder farmers. Moreover, farmers still use indigenous methodologies such as wild trees to cope with drought. These need to be integrated with the latest technologies, research findings, training and support regarding funding and inputs. Improvement of these factors could contribute to better farm yield returns and sustained farm profit, which will help address socioeconomic issues such as poverty, unemployment and food security at the household level. The study recommends that the training of farmers on drought-related programmes should be compulsory for extension officials, that is, it should be included as a key performance indicator. Moreover, there should be an integration of indigenous and climate-smart agricultural technologies so that farmers can detect early signs of drought and act instantly. Lastly, drought relief support should be made readily available for farmers in case of unexpected risk disasters such as drought.Master
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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