Agricultural knowledge, source and information system in central highland of Ethiopia

Abstract

The study aims to assess the effectiveness of the current agricultural information management system and communication, and the gap between required and available information to extension personnel at central highland of Ethiopia. Consulting with head of districts agricultural office, 5 to 6 farmers training center (FTC) from Welmera and Ejera districts were selected randomly. 92 development agents and eleven subject matter specialist who were working in each FTC and bureau of agricultural were interviewed. And researchers also collected qualitative data. For data analysis, descriptive statistics tools were used. In the study area, 75% of development agents (DAs) and subject mater specialist (SMS) got new and updated information frequently and occasionally. Even though, more than half of the respondents know the current extension packages that are developed by Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), they lack documentation. Moreover, development agents and subject matter specialist are less satisfied on promotional opportunity and rewarding system in their organization. The overall finding of the study underlined less availability of regular trainings on new agricultural technologies, less availability of promotional opportunities and rewarding system to DA and SMS, documentation and fewer office equipment problems at FTC level in the area. Therefore, agricultural research center and Ministry of Agriculture should provide problem solving trainings on new agricultural technologies and media design techniques regularly, reconsider salary, promotional opportunities and rewarding system of DA and SMS, supervision of documentation system at FTC level, and furnishing FTC office would help to improve the current agricultural information system in the area.

Agricultural information sharing for climatic risk adaptation by smallholder livestock farmers in Eastern Amhara Region, Ethiopia

“…As the result, farmers preferred to rely on social learning and local networking for interactions and new knowledge acquisition. This finding aligns with report from central zone of Tigray region (Brhane et al, 2017) and central highland of Ethiopia (Beliyu, 2018), where fellow farmers were major source of agricultural information for smallholder farmers. Surprisingly, sourcing agricultural information from researchers was invisible for livestock farmers in the study area.…”

“…and Sidi., 2013). In central highland of Ethiopia, however, training and demonstration were the major information pathways for the famers (Beliyu, 2018).…”

“…Hence, it is important to better understand the nature and relevance of information that livestock farmers are getting from the sources and types of information pathways they use. It is also important to understand factors that determined farmer's decision in selecting information pathways in order to enhance the efficiency of information diffusion process in managing climatic risk (Gebru et al, 2017;Beliyu, 2018). Previous studies in Ethiopia shown that farmers received different agricultural information from different sources using various information pathways.…”

“…For example, farmers sourced information on improved agricultural technologies from their neighbor in southern Ethiopia (Tewodros and Tesfaye, 2018), extension workers, family members and farmer groups in Tigray region (Gebru et al, 2017) and Agricultural and Rural development office and own experience in Western Amhara region (Habtemariam et al, 2015). Other studies tried to address type of agricultural knowledge and sources that the extension personnel used (Beliyu, 2018). They sourced the information from higher agricultural officers, mass media and newspapers through training, extension meetings, radio, field visit and manual (Borko, 2014).…”

Komunikasi Stakeholder pada Kegiatan Kaji Terap Budidaya Padi Toleran Salinitas di BPTP Jawa Barat

“…Hasil penelitian Fuady et al (2012) menunjukkan bahwa komunikasi yang terjadi antara petani dan stakeholder terkait disebabkan oleh pihak stakeholder bersama-sama melakukan praktek langsung di lahan percontohan yang mudah diamati oleh petani. (Limenih, 2018) menemukan bahwa metode diseminasi inovasi yang dilakukan oleh penyuluh kepada petani lebih didominasi oleh kegiatan pelatihan, demonstrasi plot (demplot), dan diskusi dengan petani. Mardiyanto et al (2020) juga membuktikan bahwa metode pelatihan, demplot, dan temu lapang secara signifikan berpengaruh terhadap efektivitas diseminasi budidaya bawang putih ramah lingkungan.…”