The association between agricultural information services and technical efficiency among maize producers in western Kenya

This paper (at the 2010 AAAE Third Conference/AEASA 48th Conference, September 19-23, 2010, Cape Town, South Africa) aims to provide empirical evidence on the links between efficiency in maize production and access to soil-related agricultural information services.

The results shows that farmers with access to soil-related agricultural information services were more technically efficient (average technical efficiency of 90%) in maize production compared to those without access to information (technical efficiency at 70%).

Given the significant role that access to soilrelated agricultural information services play on technical efficiency in maize production in the study area, the paper recommends improvements in farmers access to this important resources through: (i) the strengthening of the formal and informal agricultural extension services, (ii) a stronger linkage among agricultural research, agricultural extension, and farm level activities; and (iii) policy support for increased distribution of soil management inputs.

Do ICTs enhance rural livelihoods?: Research findings from a study in Asia

IDRC with IFAD–ENRAP have been researching and generating evidence for the influence or change-making potential of ICTs on rural livelihoods in Asia - in a rigorous way.

Seven research proposals – a combination of action-research pilots and ex-post evaluations - were supported (one is still on-going) over 2009-2010 after an initial scoping study and subsequent consultation with a set of researchers and practitioners. While six research pieces look at farmers and farmer livelihoods, one also looks at improving access to jobs for rural casual wage labor by better matching of skills and job requirements.

Six of the seven research studies have recently reached an important milestone. Researchers have put together their findings. And even though in case of action research pilots, the research is ongoing, they have some interesting results to share. Briefs on each of the research studies and full papers are available at: http://www.enrap.org/research/icts-for-livelihoods-research/icts-for-livelihoods-research-papers/.

The papers include:

Connecting to Work: Non-agricultural livelihood opportunities for Rural Labour: Sri Lanka (wage labour)

Livelihood Solutions through Mobile Technology: An Assessment of LifeLines in India by IRRAD

Crop Nutrient Management Decision Support System: India

Impact Assessment of the e-AGRIKultura Project: Philippines

Evaluation of Rural Information Project for the Promotion of Agricultural Livelihood in Rural Community in Ningxia of China by AII

Price Transparency in Agricultural Produce Markets: Sri Lanka

Beyond Technology: Making Information Work for Livelihoods

Beyond Projects: Making Sense of the Evidence

Esoko receives funding to help sustain support for farmers

Ghanaian technology firm, ESOKO, has received a $1.25 million equity investment from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the Soros Economic Development Fund.

The investment in Esoko will give smallholder farmers and businesses in Ghana and other African countries timely crop information that can be shared via text messaging, enabling farmers to increase their incomes.

Here is where the story goes. Try to enter a link Read more ...

Communication and extension services at the 2010 Tropentag

The 2010 Tropentag meeting in September mobilized a number of interesting presentations and posters on communication and extension in agriculture - the abstracts are online, and include:

• Learning through Moving Pictures: Farmer-to-farmer Video to Stimulate Farmers' Innovations about Botanical and Alternative Pest Management Practices in Bangladesh



• "Aid-infoservice Germany": A Success Model for the Development Cooperation



• Potential of Posters as Visual Pictorial Aids in the Process of Health and Nutrition Counselling in Cameroon



• Capacity Development as a Bridge to Transform Scientific Knowledge into Action for the World Food System



• Role of Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs) in Syrian Drylands



• Influence of Public and Private Agents in the Use of new Knowledge and Technology among Small-scale Producers: The Case of the Honduran Coffee Chain



• Impact of Dissemination Pathways on the Probability and Intensity of "Push Pull" Technology Uptake in Western Kenya



• Research Spillover: Quantification Methods and Recent Experiences in ICRISAT Groundnut Research

M-Pesa helps Kenyan farmers get insurance claims

An innovative insurance program is coaxing Kenya’s farmers to invest in quality seeds and fertilizer. Relying on the popular mobile money transfer service, Mpesa, it promises to process any claims due to crop loss quickly and safely.

Read the article

More information on the insurance scheme

Researchers and farmers in Burkina Faso benefit from AGORA

A recent video illustrates how INERA (Institut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles), Burkina Faso's leading institute for agricultural and environmental research, is using the Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) programme to access online scientific research journals with information on fertilizers and dosages, including a focus on maximizing production.

View the video / download the press release (PDF)

Information and knowledge management for African agriculture

Information and knowledge management was one of the topics discussed at the recent Fifth All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture in Addis Ababa.

Six papers were presented:

1. A content evaluation of the Proceedings of the 4th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture: An unsupervised Leximancer™ Analysis - presentation
2. Innovation platforms: A new approach to market development and technology uptake in Southern Africa - presentation / video interview / blog post
   
3. Support to capacity building to promote formal marketing and trade of livestock and livestock products from the Horn of Africa - presentation / video interview
   
4. Farmers as artificial inseminators: Experiences from Arsi Zone, Ethiopia - presentation
   
5. Ethiopian livestock market information system: Experience from a pilot phase - presentation
   
6. Planning for and monitoring outcomes in action-research projects: The Napier Grass diseases project - presentation / video interview
   

Key conclusions shared in plenary were:

• Text mining tools can give useful insights from dense content
• Innovation platforms “make people talk [and listen] to one another”; they increase returns on investment, promote information flows, help with farmer-market alignment, link real technologies with the needs of markets, and put money in the hands of producers
• Market information systems, specialized exchange networks, development of entrepreneurial skills, and training on standards and quality control are ways to help livestock producers and exporters better understand and exploit markets
• Farmers can be trained to deliver and manage [artificial insemination] and other advisory services for other farmers
• Outcome mapping helps us target information-communication activities to persuade and support behavior change of ‘boundary’ partners – farmers, researchers, media, extension, policy …

More on the congress

AIAEE Namibia Conference Newsletter

For those of you who are interested in attending the Namibia conference, please check out the October issue of “The Informer”, the AIAEE newsletter. It is devoted to the conference and many of the special events that are being planned in conjunction to it.

Abstracts submitted for the contributed papers sessions are currently undergoing review and authors will be notified of the results by December 1st.

Please also note that registration for the 2011 AIAEE/World Conference is now open. Go to

04 November 2010

How effective is farm radio in Africa?

The African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI) is an action research project supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and being implemented by Farm Radio International, in partnership with the World University Services of Canada (WUSC). Using a case study approach, its aim is to assess the effectiveness of farm radio on meeting the food security objectives of rural farming households in Africa.

Read reports and conclusions from the project

03 November 2010

Open agricultural education resources for Africa

The Commonwealth of Learning has joined with the South African Institute for Distance Education to create a database of open educational resources (OERs) related to agriculture in Africa.

More info ...

01 November 2010

Free digital access to 30 years of UNEP-WCMC publications and reports

Since its creation in 1979 WCMC has produced well over 1500 books and major reports. UNEP-WCMC has selected 380 of the most important books and reports from this collection, and has worked with the Biodiversity Heritage Library to make these freely available online.

These documents include a significant body of information of value to audiences around the world ranging from researchers to the general public, and from educators to decision-makers. Items are available in 9 different formats, for maximum accessibility, and are published according to open access standards in a forum which welcomes and encourages both use and contribution, while respecting attribution rights.

The internet archive website has instant download statistics, and items rank highly in Google searches. In only a few months the UNEP-WCMC materials had already been downloaded 9,307 times (by 14th Oct 2010) - with no specific promotion other than through informal networks.

The UNEP-WCMC archive can be found at http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=wcmc and will soon be incorporated into the Biodiversity Heritage Library.