ABSTRACT The contribution of common bean to nutrition and income has not been fully felt by smallholder farmers in western Kenya due to low yields. Good quality seed, if used with complementary practices can increase bean productivity. This study was conducted in Bondo sub-County to determine the methods used by farmers in seed quality control; factors affecting the choice preferences for informal bean seed sources; the structure and contribution of social networks in seed quality control. Pr...
ABSTRACT Contract farming is emerging as a promising way to upgrade domestic rice quality in Togo. The Non-Government Organisation ‘Entreprise Territoir et Développement’ (ETD) has started promoting a kind of contract farming scheme called ’Entreprise de Service et Organisation de Producteurs’ (ESOP) in the country. The rewards from contract farming could be substantial for smallholder farmers; yet there is a serious concern about the farmers’ ability to stay in the partnership for...
ABSTRACT Although education in Kenya has been offered for several years, several million of Kenyans are still poor and faced with acute food shortage and starvation. Failure to address the mismatch between education and agricultural production may worsen the situation. The purpose of the study was to determine whether Kenya’s education system was able to transform its students to be economically productive especially in dairy production and hence fostering rural development in Koibatek dis...
ABSTRACT Agricultural sector in Tanzania and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by smallholder farmers. This has made the smallholder-led growth strategy to be widely accepted as the pathway for achieving economic transformation and mass poverty reduction in Africa. Recently, however, concerns have been raised on the validity of favouring small farmers because small-scale farming in Africa has historically provided very low returns to labour. Also unlike earlier findings of the inv...
The study analysed effect of micro credit on agricultural risk management strategies among small-holder farmers in Abakalilki Local Government Area of Ebonyi state. A multistage sampling was used to select 120 respondents used for the study. Data collected were from the primary source using structured questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data obtained. Based on the objectives of the study. The result obtained showed that males (65%) were more tha...
ABSTRACT Cotton is a vital cash crop in Tanzania and is mostly produced in the Western Cotton Growing Area (WCGA). About 99 percent of the total cotton is produced from this area which comprises Mwanza, Shinyanga, Simiyu, Mara, Geita, Kagera, Tabora, Singida and Kigoma regions. The remaining percentage is produced in the Eastern Cotton Growing Area (ECGA) which comprises the regions of Morogoro, Coast, Tanga and Kilimanjaro. Due to low cotton yield, agricultural intensification was important ...
ABSTRACT Efficiency analysis remains an important issue in economic studies, especially for projects which spent tax payers‟ money, grants and loans. Efficiency has implications on agricultural policy in terms of improving paddy production through improved input use efficiency at Madibira smallholder irrigation scheme. This study sought to determine factors influencing paddy production and technical input use efficiency among farmers at Madibira scheme. The total sample for study was 120 re...
ABSTRACT Livestock production is very crucial to improving the livelihoods of smallholder livestock farmers in Ghana. However, these farmers are faced with risks associated with livestock production which affect their income and stability in the livestock business. Most of these risks they face are due to natural factors. It is, therefore, necessary to provide insurance for the farmers. This paper examines livestock farmers’ willingness to pay for cattle insurance in the Northern region of ...
Abstract: Climate change has adversely affected the livelihoods of people in developing countries where a large proportion of the population is heavily dependent on agriculture. Severe and repeated rise in temperature and rainfall failures caused loss of crops and livestock which resulted in food insecurity in Ethiopia. This study aims to investigate farmers’ perception and adaptation strategies to climate change in Woreillu District. Both qualitative and quantitative data obtained using p...
ABSTRACT This study analyses the effect of mobile phone based market information services (MIS) on smallholder farmers’ maize market participation in Lilongwe rural, Malawi using survey data sourced directly from 196 smallholder farmers. The study reveals insufficient evidence to suggest that existing mobile phone-based MIS in Malawi which entails users subscribing to short (text) message service (SMS) price alerts, influence smallholder farmers’ market participation decisions. Knowledge ...
ABSTRACT One of the greatest threats to agriculture and global food security today is climate variability. Various studies have shown how both human and environmental systems are adapting to the adverse impacts of climate variability. However, most of these studies failed to recognize indigenous knowledge of smallholder farmers and how this could influence conventional scientific adaptation strategies. Recent adaptation studies have either concentrated on indigenous strategies or conventiona...
ABSTRACT The project examines factors influencing women's participation m agricultural production: evidence from small-scale farmers in Ekiti state, Nigeria. This project provides evidence that women play a significant role in agriculture through their influential participation. Multistage sampling technique was used for the selection of the 100 respondents used for this project through the help of Agricultural Development Programme Offices in Ado, Ikere and Ikole in Ekiti State. Both the p...
ABSTRACT The extent and speed to which farmers adopt available innovations/technologies can significantly improve crop production and promote food security locally, nationally and globally. However, there is evidence that farmers do not easily adopt farming innovations. In an attempt to understand and predict farmers’ innovation adoption behaviour, recent studies have focused on farmers’ background and economic factors with little attention to psychological factors, particularly within t...
ABSTRACT Over the last decade, improved soybean production technologies have been tested and promoted among farmers using different technology transfer mechanisms. Whether the various agricultural technology transfer mechanisms are effective, and whether they have any effect on adoption of soybean production technologies and soybean yields remain unanswered. This study therefore focused on the effectiveness of agricultural technology transfer mechanisms (ATTMs) on adoption and soybean yield...
ABSTRACT Malawi’s agricultural sector contributes 30% to the GDP and provides employment to more than 85% of the total rural population. The sector is dominated by smallholder farmers who are challenged with lack of access to reliable markets and poor infrastructure. To address this, the Malawian government has encouraged formation of Farmer-Based Organisations in its national development framework. Although Farmer-Based Organisations have been in existence in the country since 1978, acces...