Smallholder farmers’ access to credit in the Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Provision of credit has being identified as an important instrument for improving the welfare of smallholder farmers directly and for enhancing productive capacity through financing investment by the farmers in their human and physical capital. This study investigated the individual and household characteristics that influence credit market access in Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, using a cross sectional data from smallholder farmers’ household survey. The aim is to provide a better understanding of the households’ level socio-economic characteristics, not only because they influence household’s demand for credit but also due to the fact that potential lenders are most likely to base their assessment of borrowers’ creditworthiness on such characteristics. The results of the logistic regression suggest that credit market access was significantly influenced by variables such as gender, education, households’ income, value of assets, savings, dependency ratio, repayment capacity and social capital. Implications for rural credit delivery are discussed.

Determinants of climate change adaptation strategies used by rice farmers in Southwestern, Nigeria

Poor adaptation to climate change is a major threat to sustainable rice production in Nigeria. Determinants of appropriate climate-change adaptation strategies used by rice farmers in Southwestern Nigeria have not been fully investigated. In this study, the determinants of climate change adaptation strategies used by rice farmers in Southwestern Nigeria were investigated. Data were obtained through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and field survey conducted in the study areas. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools such as percentage and regression analysis. The major climate change adaptation strategies used by the respondents included; planting improved rice variety such as Federal Agricultural Research Oryza (FARO) (80.5 %), seeking early warning information (80.9 %), shifting planting date until the weather condition was favourable (99.1 %), and using chemical fertilizer on their farms in order to maintain soil fertility (20.5 %). The determinants of climate change adaptation strategies used by the farmers, included access to early warning information (β=43.04), access to fertilizer (β=5.78), farm plot size (β=–12.04) and access to regular water supply (β=–24.79). Climate change adaptation required provision of incentives to farmers, training on drought and flood control, and the use of improved technology to obtain higher yield.

Interrelatedness of grazing livestock with vegetation parameters and farmers’ livelihoods in the Mahafaly region, southwestern Madagascar

The study aims to get deeper insight into the highly extensive system of animal husbandry in the Mahafaly region of southwestern Madagascar. It tries to understand the major drivers for pastoral dynamics, land and resource use along a gradient in altitude and vegetation to consider the area’s high spatial and temporal heterogeneity. The study also analyzes the reproductive performance of local livestock as well as the owners’ culling strategies to determine herd dynamics, opportunities for economic growth, and future potential for rural development. Across seasons, plateau herds from both livestock species covered longer distances (cattle 13.6±3.02 km, goats 12.3±3.48 km) and were found further away from the settlements (cattle 3.1±0.96 km, goats 2.8±0.98 km) than those from the coastal plain (walking_dist: cattle 9.5±3.25 km, goats 9.2±2.57 km; max_dist: cattle 2.6±1.28 km, goats 1.8±0.61 km). Transhumant cattle were detected more vulnerable through limited access to pasture land and water resources compared to local herds. Seasonal water shortage has been confirmed as a key constraint on the plateau while livestock keeping along the coast is more limited by dry season forage availability. However, recent security issues and land use conflicts with local crop farmers are gaining importance and force livestock owners to adapt their traditional grazing management, resulting in spatio-temporal variation of livestock numbers and in the impending risk of local overgrazing and degradation of rangelands. Among the 133 plant species consumed by livestock, 13 were determined of major importance for the animals’ nutrition. The nutritive value and digestibility of the natural forage, as well as its abundance in the coastal zone, substantially decreased over the course of the dry season and emphasized the importance of supplementary forage plants, in particular Euphorbia stenoclada. At the same time, an unsustainable utilization and overexploitation of its wild stocks may raise the pressure on the vegetation and pasture resources within the nearby Tsimanampetsotsa National Park. Age at first parturition was 40.5±0.59 months for cattle and 21.3±0.63 months for goats. Both species showed long parturition intervals (cattle 24.2±0.48 months, goats 12.4±0.30 months), mostly due to the maintenance of poorly performing breeding females within the herds. Reported offspring mortality, however, was low with 2.5% of cattle and 18.8% of goats dying before reaching maturity. The analysis of economic information revealed higher than expected market dynamics, especially for zebus, resulting in annual contribution margins of 33 € per cattle unit and 11 € per goat unit. The application of the PRY Herd Life model to simulate herd development for present management and two alternate scenarios confirmed the economic profitability of the current livestock system and showed potential for further productive and economic development. However, this might be clearly limited by the region’s restricted carrying capacity. Summarizing, this study illustrates the highly extensive and resources-driven character of the livestock system in the Mahafaly region, with herd mobility being a central element to cope with seasonal shortages in forage and water. But additional key drivers and external factors are gaining importance and increasingly affect migration decisions and grazing management. This leads to an increased risk of local overgrazing and overexploitation of natural pasture resources and intensifies the tension between pastoral and conservation interests. At the same time, it hampers the region’s agronomic development, which has not yet been fully exploited. The situation therefore demonstrates the need for practical improvement suggestions and implication measures, such as the systematic forestation of supplemental forage plant species in the coastal zone or a stronger integration of animal husbandry and crop production, to sustain the traditional livestock system without compromising peoples’ livelihoods while at the same time minimizing the pastoral impact on the area’s unique nature and environment.

Influence of farmers educational level on comprehending, acting-upon and sharing of agro advisories

Although short messaging service (SMS) through mobile phones has quickly gained popularity among most other sectors in India, its potential is not fully realised in the agriculture sector as a cost effective service to reach farmers and elicit desirable action. Despite the cost effectiveness, mobile messaging has remained a challenge in the farming sector in terms of its end use and action as far as extension systems are concerned. While there could be many influencing factors affecting the utility of mobile messages, this study assumed that educational level of farmers could be a major factor. A telephone survey was conducted to ascertain the influence of farmers’ education on the level of utilisation of mobile-based advisories. Farmers with higher education level showed better comprehension of advisories, actedupon the advisories more promptly and shared the information with fellow farmers more often than those with lower education level. There was a significant association between comprehending, sharing and acting upon advisories. This has implications to achieve enhanced extension reach with higher efficiency in terms of cost and time.

Transaction costs of farmers’ participation in forest management: Policy implications of payments for environmental services schemes in Vietnam

Recent research on payments for environmental services (PES) has observed that high transaction costs (TCs) are incurred through the implementation of PES schemes and farmer participation. TCs incurred by households are considered to be an obstacle to the participation in and efficiency of PES policies. This study aims to understand transactions related to previous forest plantation programmes and to estimate the actual TCs incurred by farmers who participated in these programmes in a mountainous area of northwestern Vietnam. In addition, this study examines determinants of households’ TCs to test the hypothesis of whether the amount of TCs varies according to household characteristics. Results show that average TCs are not likely to be a constraint for participation since they are about 200,000 VND (USD 10) per household per contract, which is equivalent to one person’s average earnings for about two days of labour. However, TCs amount to more than one-third of the programmes’ benefits, which is relatively high compared to PES programmes in developed countries. This implies that rather than aiming to reduce TCs, an appropriate agenda for policy improvement is to balance the level of TCs with PES programme benefits to enhance the overall attractiveness of afforestation programmes for smallholder farmers. Regression analysis reveals that education, gender and perception towards PES programmes have significant effects on the magnitude of TCs. The analyses also points out the importance of local conditions on the level of TCs, with some unexpected results.

Identifying the factors governing attitude towards the e-Agriservice among dairy farmers in Maharashtra, India

Information and communication technology (ICT) projects have a great potential to revolutionise the information delivery system by bridging the gap between farmers and extension personnel. aAQUA (Almost All Questions Answered) portal was launched by the Developmental Informatics Laboratory (DIL) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India in 2003 as an information providing system to deliver technology options and tailored information for the problems and queries raised by Indian dairy farmers. To measure the effectiveness of this service the attitudinal dimensions of the users of aAQUA e-Agriservice were investigated using a 22 item scale. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 120 dairy farmers from which data were collected and subjected to factor analysis to identify the underlying constructs in this research. From the attitude items, four components were extracted and named as the pessimistic, utility, technical and efficacy perspective, which influenced the development of varied level of attitudinal inclination towards the e-Agriservice. These components explained 64.40 per cent of variation in the attitude of the users towards the aAQUA e-Agriservice. This study provides a framework for technically efficient service provision that might help to reduce the pessimistic attitude of target population to adopt e-Agriservice in their farming system. The results should also be helpful for researchers, academics, ICT based service providers and policy makers to consider these perspectives while planning and implementing ICT projects.

A survey of brassica vegetable smallholder farmers in the Gauteng and Limpopo provinces of South Africa

A study was taken to investigate the types of brassica vegetables mostly grown by smallholder farmers in two provinces of South Africa. Thirty-one smallholder vegetable farmers in the Gauteng province and Waterberg district in the Limpopo province were surveyed. In addition, the study also sought to establish the common diseases, the management strategies used and problems encountered by the farmers. Farmers were interviewed using a questionnaire with closed and open–ended questions. The results indicated that the smallholder farmers mostly grew cabbage (93.6%) as their main brassica crop followed by rape (41.2%). Thirty percent of farmers could not identify or name the predominant disease/s encountered in their fields. Major diseases encountered by farmers surveyed were an unknown disease/s (33.3%), black rot (26.7%), Alternaria leaf spot (6.7%) and white rust (6.7%). Smallholder farmers have inadequate technical information available especially relating to crop diseases, their identification and control. Farmers encountered challenges with black rot disease especially on cabbage, rape and kale and the disease was a problem during winter and summer. Generally, the smallholder farmers used crop rotation (74.2%) as a major practice to manage the diseases experienced. They rotated their brassica vegetables with other crops/vegetables like tomatoes, onions, beetroots and maize. Most of the farmers interviewed (61.3%) did not use chemicals to control diseases, whereas 38.7% of them used chemicals. This was mostly because they lacked information and knowledge, high costs associated with use of chemical fungicides and some were shifting towards organic farming. From the study it was noted that there was a need for technical support to improve farmers’ knowledge on disease identification and control within the surveyed areas.

Farmers’ knowledge and perceptions of potato pests and their management in Uganda

As we initiate entomological research on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in Uganda, there is need to understand farmers’ knowledge of existing insect pest problems and their management practices. Such information is important for designing a suitable intervention and successful integrated pest management (IPM) strategy. A farm household survey using a structured questionnaire was conducted among 204 potato farmers in six districts of Uganda (i.e., Kabale, Kisoro, Mbale, Kapchorwa, Mubende, and Kyegegwa) during August and September 2013. Diseases, insect pests, price fluctuations, and low market prices were the four highest ranked constraints in potato production, in order of decreasing importance. Cutworms (Agrotis spp.), aphids (Myzus persicae (Sulzer)), and potato tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller)) were the three most severe insect pests. Ants (Dorylis orantalis Westwood), whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)), and leafminer flies (Liriomyza huidobrensis (Blanchard)) were pests of moderate importance. Major yield losses are predominantly due to late blight (Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary) and reached 100% without chemical control in the districts of Kabale, Kisoro, Mbale, and Kapchorwa. On average, farmers had little to moderate knowledge about pest characteristics. The predominant control methods were use of fungicides (72% of respondents) and insecticides (62% of respondents). On average, only 5% of the 204 farmers knew about insect pests and their natural enemies. This lack of knowledge calls for training of both farmers and extension workers in insect pest identification, their biology, and control. Empowering farmers with knowledge about insect pests is essential for the reduction of pesticide misuse and uptake of more environmentally friendly approaches like IPM. Field surveys would need follow-up in order to assess the actual field infestation rates and intensities of each insect pest and compare the results with the responses received from farmers.

Perception of quality in certified organic pineapples by farmers in Kayunga district, Central Uganda: Implications for food security

In East Africa, Uganda is one of the major producers of organic pineapples for export. These pineapples are mainly produced in central Uganda and have to meet stringent quality standards before they can be allowed on international markets. These quality standards may put considerable strain on farmers and may not be wholly representative of their quality interpretation. The aim of this paper is therefore, to determine the Ugandan organic pineapple farmers’ quality perception, the activities they carry out in order to attain that quality and challenges (production, postharvest & marketing) faced on the same. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out among 28 organic pineapple farmers in Kayunga district, central Uganda. Findings suggest that quality of organic pineapples is mainly perceived in terms of product attributes particularly appearance followed by food security provision. Certification plays a minor role in what farmers describe as organic quality. High production input costs (labour and coffee husks) coupled with a stagnant premium are some of the major challenges faced by farmers in attaining organic quality. The paper argues that currently there are concealed negative food security effects embroiled in these pineapple schemes. It is recommended that the National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda (NOGAMU) works with all relevant stakeholders to have the farmer premium price raised and an official organic policy enacted.

Introduction to the Library for 1st Year ECS Students

There is an accompanying quiz in Blackboard on the INFO1010 page, and a link to a survey. (Look under Course Documents)

1st Year Nursing and Midwifery UG Powerpoint

Overview of what they should be using and where to find it

Percepción del riesgo biológico en el personal asistencial en un hospital de alta complejidad de la ciudad de Bogotá.

OBJETIVOS: Identificar la percepción del riesgo biológico de los trabajadores asistenciales del Hospital Central de la Policía Nacional en la ciudad de Bogotá. METODOS: se realizó un estudio analítico de corte transversal para describir la percepción acerca del riesgo biológico en 159 trabajadores asistenciales de un hospital de alta complejidad en la ciudad de Bogotá (Colombia), la información se recolectó por medio de la utilización de la encuesta validada nota técnica 578 (Portell M, Solé M, 2001). Se realizó la caracterización de la población por variables de sexo, edad, tiempo de experiencia y servicio al cual pertenece y se promediaron las respuestas obtenidas para cada ítem encuestado, obteniendo una clasificación para cada dimensión de percepción de riesgo baja (1 a 3), media (4 a 5) o alta (6 a 7). Resultados: De los 159 trabajadores asistenciales encuestados el 80.4% eran de género femenino, el 22.2% pertenecían al servicio de urgencias, el 16,5% al servicio de medicina interna y el 9.5% al servicio de pediatría, de los encuestados el 62.9% fueron auxiliares de enfermería, el 21,4% enfermeras jefes y el 6.9% médicos. Se obtuvo una percepción de riesgo alta (media aritmética mayor de 5) para todas las variables incluidas en la encuesta, demostrando conocimiento de todo el personal acerca de la alta exposición a accidentes de tipo biológico. No se encontró asociación entre la labor desempeñada y la percepción del riesgo biológico, sin embargo, se encontró una asociación entre el tiempo de experiencia del trabajador y una disminución en la magnitud del riesgo percibido (Chi cuadrado de asociación, p=0.042). Conclusiones: Los trabajadores asistenciales identifican la magnitud del riesgo biológico al que se encuentran expuestos en sus labores del día a día, sin embargo, es necesaria una mayor participación por parte del personal directivo y de los responsables de la prevención en temas de reacción ante accidentes y en la valoración del riesgo, especialmente en personas que llevan mucho tiempo desempeñando la labor.

The undergraduate level (1st study cycle) as a fundamental platform/ standard for the development of Urban and Regional Planning in higher education programs

The ongoing reforms, which were introduced under the Bologna Process and have already been extended outside of Europe , are a unique opportunity for reinforcing and structuring a common platform of understanding among members, based on the full time undergraduate courses in ( Urbanismo) Urban and Regional Planning. The training programs at this 1st cycle level, will obviously continue with the 2nd and 3rd cycles (Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree and PhD Degree or 3+2+3 years). The training programs at this full time 1st cycle level, can also becomes the framework of understanding for the development of research in the urban fields at national and international levels.