The Role of Extension Training in Enhancing Participation of Women Smallholder Goat and Chicken Farmers in The Livestock Vaccine Value Chain, Sembabule District, Uganda (Published)
This paper explores the role of extension training in enhancing women smallholder livestock farmers’ participation in and benefiting from the livestock vaccine value chain (LVVC). The emphasis was on the Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) vaccine for goats and New Castle Disease vaccine (ND) for chicken. Using the Focus Group discussions, Participatory Impact Assessment, Outcome mapping, Key Informant Interviews, Questionnaire Survey and Kirkpatrick model of change, the study assessed the impact of extension training which equipped extensionists and women farmers with knowledge, skills, attitude and practice in livestock vaccination and empowerment. The study found that extension training made a tremendous impact on the availability of knowledge and information to women farmers as well as in empowering women’s self-autonomy, improved economic status, decision making role in both farm related and family related matters, reduced Gender Based Violence cases and improved productivity in the community.
Keywords: Extension training, Livestock, Men Role Models, Smallholder Farmers, Women agency, vaccination
Contribution of Income Diversification Strategies to Smallholder Farmers’ Livelihoods in the Upper East Region of Ghana (Published)
Many past studies on remote areas of Sub-Saharan Africa regarded income diversification strategies as insurance against food insecurity and a better quality of life. However, it is not yet clear how regional income diversification factors contribute to smallholder farmers’ decision-making. For this reason, this paper examines the implication of localized income diversification strategies in the Upper East Region of Ghana. We conducted a questionnaire survey among 360 farm households in five rural districts of the Region. We found that smallholder farmers’ income diversification had contributed on average 38% of the total household income. In particular, small-scale mining, livestock rearing, remittance, and petty trade contributed most to their livelihoods. We also used the Simpson’s Diversity Index to quantify the diversity level of the respondents’ income sources. The result showed that the average income diversification strategy of the study region was 0.5 out of 1 with strong district variations in diversification levels. Our correlation analysis revealed that age, educational background, farm experience, and farm size significantly influenced respondents’ decision to choose specific income sources. More experienced farmers tended to rely more on on-farm income source diversification whereas young and inexperienced farmers tended to choose labor-intensive mining, firewood collection, and petty trading activities. Most of their household members had moved to urban areas either permanently or temporarily mainly in search of better social services.
Keywords: Climate change Adaptation, Ghana, Income Diversification, Smallholder Farmers, Upper East Region
A Review of Smallholder Farming In Nigeria: Need for Transformation (Published)
By international standards, a farm that is less than 10 hectares is classified as small scale. More than 80% of farmers in Nigeria are small holder farmers. Agriculture is a major contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and smallholder farmers play a dominant role in this contribution. A small scale farmer depends on his efficiency in the utilization of basic production resources available to him. He makes a significant and important contribution to the national product, about 99%of total crops output. The smallholder farmer is the main producer of 98% of the food consumed in Nigeria with the exception of wheat. Over the years, deliberate efforts have been made to improve agricultural production by Nigerian governments and some foreign bodies but these efforts have not yielded expected results. Much of the failure can be attributed to different constraints that militate against smallholder farming in Nigeria which include economic, political and financial constraints. The failure can also be attributed to the adapted transformation approach to agriculture which is characterized by the introduction of a wide variety of large scale farming and processing technologies. The emphasis is now from the big scale transformation approach to the small scale improvement strategy approach which is attuned to Nigerian age-long farm practice. This study reveals certain constraints militating against efficiency in smallholder farming in Nigeria and suggests many ways to transform the activities of farmers for enhanced productivity. The paper recommends that Nigerian governments should encourage the participation of private sector in supplying farm inputs to ensure steady and timely supply of such inputs, Nigerian Agricultural Extension System should be revamped by funding arrangement to provide mobility, training, incentives and institutional support so that it will increase its services to farmers for enhanced production, among others.
Keywords: Agricultural Production, Inefficiency, Nigeria, Smallholder Farmers, Transformation