April 24, 2015

Academic Papers and Discussion Papers and Briefs

MEAS publishes discussion and working papers on good practices and best fit approaches to modernizing extension and advisory services. These will be shared openly through this website and distributed to the network of agricultural extension professionals.
 Academic Papers

› Tata, J.S. and P.E. McNamara. 2016. “Social Factors That Influence Use of ICT in Agricultural Extension in Southern Africa.” Agriculture 6(2), 15.

› McNamara, P.E. and J.S. Tata. 2015. “Principles of Designing and Implementing Agricultural Extension Programs for Reducing Post-harvest Loss.” Agriculture 5(4): 1035-1046.

› Bicksler, A.J., R.M. Bates, R.R. Burnette. 2016. The Current and Future Roles of the Small Farm Resource Center in Horticulture Extension and Advisory Services: Lessons Learned from Seven Case Studies in SE Asia

› Odongo, Dorine. 2013. “Agricultural Information Access Among Smallholder Farmers: Comparative Assessment of Peri-Urban and Rural Settings in Kenya.” Agricultural Information Worldwide (6): 133-137.

  • Odongo Abstract: Farmers continuously gather new information to keep up with the emerging trends and technologies, and they also store and share this knowledge. The agricultural system in Kenya includes multiple sources available for the farmers as well as a wide range of ICT (information and communications technology)-based innovations for knowledge acquisition. This study investigated farmers’ access to different sources of knowledge as well as ICT through a comparative assessment between peri-urban and rural settings, and found that setting and information needs are major influences on sources used. Despite the huge emphasis placed on the need to use ICTs to facilitate information access among smallholder farmers, the adoption levels of these technologies is still very low. This is largely due to lack of information about the existence of such technologies, and there is a need to create awareness about the ICT-based innovations and the potential they have for addressing the challenge of information access among farmers. 
Discussion Papers

Global Good Practice Notes from Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS)

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