Search results

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how farmers are reducing vulnerability of rain‐fed agriculture to drought through indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in the Atankwidi basin, north‐eastern Ghana.

This paper draws on combined qualitative and quantitative research methods and data. First, the paper draws on qualitative data generated from in‐depth interviews and focus group discussions from purposively sampled farmers in the Atankwidi basin. It also draws on a survey conducted on 131 systematically and randomly sampled households in three communities of the basin, namely Yua, Pungu and Mirigu.

The results show that farmers are planting multiple indigenous drought resilient crop varieties and employing different rounds of seeding and or staggering planting between multiple farms. They are also applying indigenous forms of organic manure, checking soil erosion through grass strips and stone terracing and adopting paddy farming for improving soil and water conservation towards enhancing plant adaptation to drought. The paper therefore, asserts that through conscientious effort, farmers are reducing vulnerability of rain‐fed agriculture to drought through indigenous knowledge systems of drought risk management.

The paper recommends that capacity for managing vulnerability to drought at the local level, including the Atankwidi basin, can be enhanced by incorporating IKS into District Development Planning (DDP) and giving priority to the strategic role of IKS in climate change adaptation planning.

This paper fulfills a need for researching the relevance of IKS for reducing vulnerability of rain‐fed agriculture to drought in particular, and enhancing adaptation to climate change in general in the quest for promoting Endogenous Development (ED) in Africa.

Innovation is a complex process, based on interactive network learning and processes of trial and error on the shop floor. Small companies, such as in agriculture, are depending on external knowledge infrastructures for effective innovation. Within small companies, the entrepreneur has a pivotal role in the innovative process: the entrepreneur is the professional learner. Learning and innovation as major parts of entrepreneurship are central to this contribution. How do farmers learn and innovate within a market‐led, high‐tech agricultural sector and what should governmental policy look like to support and facilitate innovation, avoiding the pitfall of protectionism? Two case studies are presented: one on linear innovation policy and one on learning processes of farmers. Innovative learning is balancing between the chaos of uncertainty and the old grooves of experience. Knowing how to escape this paradox forms the core competence of innovative entrepreneurship.

Improving food security at the household level is very crucial in India as here many people are suffering from persistent hunger and malnutrition. In India, mounting pressure of population, adverse threats of climate change, fragmented land holding, high input cost etc. are very important which prevent to ensure food security. In India, there is malnutrition in all age groups, especially among children. Problem of low birth weight due to undernutrition of mother during pregnancy and underweight of children is very common in the country. The purchasing power of certain section of the society is so low that they cannot access food at the market price. They need the safety net of food subsidy. In India, food problem in the normative sense still continues to exist as millions of poor suffer from persistent hunger and malnutrition. This is the task to which food security system must address itself in future. There are some important factors which can increase yield growth and domestic supply of food substantially. Among these factors education and knowledge regarding improving farm efficiency, provision of an improved agricultural technology to the farmers, delivery of modern farm inputs, technical know-how, institutional credit to the farmers, and crop diversification are very essential to build a huge stock of food grains in India. Educated and trained people can acquire new skills and technologies required for growing agricultural output to meet the domestic demand.

The purpose of this paper is to examine knowledge sharing on traditional vegetables for supporting food security among farmers and other communities in Kilosa district, Tanzania.

A case study design was employed. Semi-structured questionnaires with both open- and closed-ended questions were used to collect quantitative data in three wards of Kilosa District in Tanzania. Interviews were used to collect qualitative data from three heads of farmer groups, and direct observation was used to validate findings obtained from questionnaires.

The results showed that farmers used a socialisation approach to share indigenous knowledge about traditional vegetables on production, consumption and preservation.

The study necessitates a need to conduct regular studies on sharing knowledge of traditional vegetables among different communities for supporting food security.

The paper provides a framework for agricultural development planners on how to improve the management of indigenous knowledge on traditional vegetables with scientific knowledge in local communities for improving food security in Tanzania.

The paper has an implication for improving knowledge-sharing strategies on traditional vegetables in supporting food security in Tanzania, and other parts of Africa and developed countries. There is a need for knowledge intermediaries to develop knowledge database on production, consumption and preservation of traditional vegetable to increase the dissemination of this knowledge and, hence, improve nutrition and food security.

The paper provides appropriate knowledge-sharing strategies which are needed to improve sharing of indigenous knowledge about traditional vegetables in Tanzania and other developed and developing countries.

This paper aims to provide empirical evidence on the El Nino and its effects on maize production in three municipalities: Ejura, Techiman and Wenchi in the transitional zone of Ghana. Using a mixed approach, the study details the effects of the El Nino on rainy season characteristics, particularly, rainfall amounts and distribution, onset and cessation of rains, duration of the rainy season and total seasonal rainfall and how it impacted smallholder maize production.

The study used a mixed method approach in collecting and analyzing data. For stronger evidence building, (Creswell, 2013) the authors combined interviews and focus group discussions (FGD) to collect the qualitative data. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to extension officers, management information system officers and other relevant personnel of the Ministry of Agriculture in the three municipalities. Six FGD’s were held for maize farmers in six communities in all three municipalities.

The study shows that the 2015 El Nino had dire consequences on farm yields, subsequently affecting farmer’s incomes and livelihoods. The study further finds that complex socio-cultural factors, some unrelated to the El Nino, aggravated the effects on maize farmers. These include the lack of adequate climatic information, predominance of rain-fed farming, a lack of capacity to adapt and existing levels of poverty.

The study recommends inter alia, appropriate use of seasonal rainfall forecasting to enhance better farming decision-making and the development of elaborate climate variability interventions by national and local agencies.

Increasing trends of climatic risk pose challenges to the food security and livelihoods of smallholders in vulnerable regions, where farmers often face loss of the entire crop, pushing farmers (mostly men) out of agriculture in destitution, creating a situation of agricultural making agriculture highly feminization and compelling male farmers to out-migrate. Climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAPs) are promoted to cope with climatic risks. This study aims to assess how knowledge related to CSAPs, male out-migration, education and income contribute to the determinants of male out-migration and CSAPs adoption and how they respond to household food security.

Sex-disaggregated primary data were collected from adopter and non-adopter farm families. STATA 13.1 was used to perform principle component analysis to construct knowledge, yield and income indices.

Yield and income index of adopters was higher for men than women. The probability of out-migration reduced by 21% with adoption of CSAPs. An increase in female literacy by 1 unit reduces log of odds to migrate by 0.37. With every unit increase in knowledge index, increase in log-odds of CSAPs adoption was 1.57. Male:female knowledge gap was less among adopters. Non-adopters tended to reduce food consumption when faced with climatic risks significantly, and the probability of migration increased by 50% with a one-unit fall in the nutrition level, thus compelling women to work more in agriculture. Gender-equitable enhancement of CSAP knowledge is, therefore, key to safeguarding sustainable farming systems and improving livelihoods.

The enhancement of gender equitable knowledge on CSAPs is key to safeguard sustainable farming systems and improved livelihoods.

This study is based on the robust data sets of 100 each of male and female from 100 households (n = 200) using well-designed and validated survey instrument. From 10 randomly selected climate-smart villages in Samastipur and Vaishali districts of Bihar, India, together with focus group discussions, the primary data were collected by interviewing both men and women from the same household.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of climate smart agriculture knowledge transfers. As well as to examine the application of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) knowledge such as conservation agriculture, irrigation systems, integrated soil fertility management, bioenergy and agroforestry by smallholder farmers in Kenya.

The study applied comparative research methodology to compare climate smart agriculture knowledge application between smallholder participants in farmer field schools (FFS) and no FFS participation. This study used household data from 759 randomly selected rural agricultural households in three counties in Kenya. The study applied multivariate probit model to estimate CSA knowledge application by farmers who participated in field trainings and non-FFS participation farmers.

This study established that climate smart agriculture knowledge transfer through FFS increases farmers’ application of critical aspects of climate smart agriculture knowledge practices such as irrigation system, conservation agriculture and soil and water conservation. Such aspects have been noted as effective interventions against adverse climate change effects such as persistent droughts and flooding and soil infertility. Further findings illustrated that farmers who received CSA knowledge transfers applied agricultural insurance to mitigate rising climatic risks on their farms. Knowledge transfer interventions targeting affordability through subsidizing agricultural insurance are probable and more cost-effective measures that can be used to reduce smallholder farmers’ exposure to climate change-related risks.

This study provides information that was previously unknown about climate smart agriculture knowledge transfers and application among farmers who participated in field trainings and non-FFS participation farmers by using empirical data.

Ethiopia operates a large agricultural extension service system. However, access to extension-related knowledge, technologies and agricultural inputs is unequally distributed among smallholder farmers. Social learning is widely practiced by most farmers to cope with this unequal distribution though its practices have hardly been documented in passing on knowledge of agriculture and rural development or embedding it into the local system of knowledge production, transfer and use. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to identify the different methods of social learning, as well as their contribution to the adoption and diffusion of technologies within Ethiopia’s smallholder agricultural setting.

A mixed methods approach was used, comprising farmer and expert interviews, focus group discussions, informal individual discussions and key informant interviews. The data were documented, coded and later analyzed using SPSS and ATLAS.ti.

The findings showed that 55 per cent of the farmers in the studied areas fully relied on social, community-level learning to adopt agricultural technologies, while 35 per cent of them relied on social learning only partly. Farmers acquired knowledge through social networks by means of communication, observation, collective labor groups, public meetings, socio-cultural events and group socialization. Informal institutions such as iddir, debo and dado, helped farmers learn, adopt and diffuse technologies.

This study used the concept of epistemic oppression by Dotson (2014) as a conceptual framework to examine farmers’ access to extension services and to analyze how informal institutions serve as workplace learning for the smallholder farmers. The authors suggest community-level social learning serves as a coping mechanism against the prevailing limitations of the formal extension system, and at the same time, it guards against the deepening of social, political and epistemic inequalities that are inherent to the knowledge system.

This chapter describes public agriculture services’ business goals, purpose, and strategy. It reinforces agriculture organizations’ fundamental bureaucratic administrative culture (Tier 1). The authors describe the influence that political appointees as leaders may play in shaping public sector cultures. The bureaucratic culture of agriculture is deconstructed, and each of the five layers is described in detail. Additionally, the authors explain why behavior is the dominant layer and the most critical starting point for understanding agriculture cultures. The public service culture (Tier 2) brings an essential element of leveling, access, and equity to the larger context. It brings the focus back to service to the people and community rather than performance. It also gives greater emphasis to the role of safety and well-being. The chapter lays out the landscape of external influencing cultures (Tier 3) in agriculture. Finally, the potential value and challenges of developing internal knowledge, learning, and collaboration (KLC) cultures (Tier 4) are explored.

Linear and narrow focus of climate change and disaster impact assessments on agriculture turns out as a limiting factor to understand how impact conditions trigger changes in the whole system resulting to make problems complicated. The paper aims to identify the micro-level challenges of the agriculture sector and then shows how macro-level planning could be developed and may help the rural peasants of Bangladesh to better cope with the adverse conditions generated as a result of disaster impacts and/or climate change-induced threats.

The paper, based on a secondary literature review and primary data generated by the author, shows that agriculture happens as a system where many microelements and processes contribute and benefits from it do not only confine into the final product generation. Using both the primary and secondary data, the paper shows how simplistic approaches to assess disaster impacts on agriculture in Bangladesh are taking place and thus leaving scopes to read properly the more complex and cyclic forms of hazard impacts in the sector by using the systems thinking approach and complex systems methodology.

The paper finally suggests how a better and comprehensive understanding of disaster and climate change impacts on agriculture would provide arguments for mainstreaming climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction actions into regular development planning of the government.

The authors declare that this submission is their own work, and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it contains no materials previously published or written by another person or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of anywhere else.