The Role of Information and Communication Technologies for Agricultural Development in Developing Countries

Major challenges to agricultural development in developing countries have been the low level of agricultural information exchange among the different stakeholders in the agricultural sector. Fortunately, the recently radical penetration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) tools in developing countries offers a great opportunity for overcoming information problems. Use  information  and  communication  technology  (ICT)  enables to  facilitate  rapid,  efficient  and  cost  effective knowledge  management.  The  experiences  of  most  countries  indicate  that  the use of  ICT based extension, marketing and banking which  facilitates  the  flow  of  data  and  information,  that has  tremendously  enhanced  the  knowledge management, financial inclusion and market efficiency. This paper has intended to review, the subscription and broadband level of ICTs in least developing countries and to review the role of ICTs for rural and agricultural development in least developing countries. To review this paper all recently(conducted before 2010) ICT for agriculture (ICT 4Ag) related journals, reports, conferences, working papers and other documents studied for developing countries had used. Keywords: Agriculture; Developing countries; ICTs; Role DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-15-04 Publication date:August 31st 202

Participation of Smallholder Farmers in Formal Credit Program in Dembecha District, Ethiopia

In Ethiopia and elsewhere in developing countries adoption of agricultural technology, agricultural productivity and commercialization of the smallholder farmers are mainly depend upon accessibility of rural finance.  This study assessed factors affecting use of formal credit by smallholder farmers in Dembecha district, Ethiopia. A systematic random sample of 200 households was drawn from four purposively selected kebeles. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and binary logistic regression model were used to analyze the data. The study concluded that farmers living closer to credit institution, who are more educated and well trained have a greater tendency to use formal credit. Therefore, the credit institution has to be increasing its branches and rural credit satellites so that this will decrease the farmer’s opportunity cost of time. Besides, regularly monitoring and evaluation on how the customer’s use their credit is also essential. Keywords: Formal, Credit, participation, smallholder, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-15-05 Publication date:August 31st 202

ICTs and Agricultural Marketing in Africa: A Review

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have a great role to change the existing traditional agricultural system in developing countries. Through application of ICTs in agriculture it is possible to; make efficient information dissemination, bring precision agriculture and increase market access of farmers. Currently, In developing countries majority of rural farmers’ have access to ICT tools, however, most of the farmers have no enough awareness on the significance role of ICTs for agricultural marketing and its subsequent impact on welfare improvement. Thus this review paper is designed to assess ICTs use in agricultural marketing in Africa. The result of this review paper signified that ICTs and agricultural marketing had positive association, in which through application of ICTs in agricu0ltural marketing it is possible to reduce transaction cost, disseminate updated market information and improve the rural farmers’ linkage to market. Moreover, ICTs have also the power to increase farm productivity, income and hence improve the food security status of farmers. Therefore, improving awareness of the rural communities and establishing agricultural information system at the country level is crucial to magnify the potential role of ICTs in agricultural marketing. Keywords: ICTs; Agricultural Marketing; Welfare DOI: 10.7176/IKM/9-10-02 Publication date: November 30th 201

Explaining migration intention from selected psycho-social variables in South Wollo, Ethiopia

Migration has become one of the challenging global issues of the twenty-first century. Therefore, analyzing the intention to migrate is essential to develop clear strategies to manage actual migration. This research aimed to investigate emigration intention predictors (namely place attachment, attitude, national pride, subjective social norm, and perceived behavioral control) and the interaction effect of social networks between those predictors and migration intention. A sample of 701 high school students participated in the research. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were employed to explore the dimension and loading of items respectively. To test the moderation effect of social networks on migration intention and the predictor variables, structural equation modeling was employed using Amos version 27. The findings indicated that Attitude, National pride, subjective social norm, and perceived behavioral control predict youths' emigration intention. The result also revealed that social network strengthens the negative correlation between place attachment and intention to migrate only if the individuals have a high social network. The social network also moderates the relationship between attitude and emigration intention

Errors in the total testing process in the clinical chemistry laboratory at the University of Gondar Hospital, northwest Ethiopia

Background: Laboratory services have been described as the major processes contributing to safe patient care in the modern healthcare sector. However, occurrences of errors in the overall testing processes impair the clinical decision-making process. Such errors are supposed to be high in resource-poor countries, like Ethiopia. The objective of this study was to assess errors in the total testing process in the Clinical Chemistry laboratory of the University of Gondar Hospital, Northwest EthiopiaMethods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Gondar Hospital from February to March 2016. All the required data were collected using established quality indicators. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Frequencies and cross-tabulations were used to summarize descriptive statistics.Results: A total of 3259 samples and corresponding laboratory request forms were received for analysis. The analysis of the overall distribution of errors revealed that 89.6% were preanalytical errors, 2.6% were analytical, and 7.7% were postanalytical errors. Of the pre-analytical errors, incomplete request form filling was the most frequent error observed, followed by sample rejection rate (3.8%). Analytical errors related to internal and external quality control exceeding the target range, (14.4%) and (51.4%) respectively, were reported. Excessive turnaround time and unreported critical value cases were the major defects in the post-analytical phase of quality assurance.Conclusion: The present finding showed relatively high frequency of errors, which alarms the importance of quality indicators to assess errors in the total testing process. The University of Gondar Hospital laboratory should improve the quality of healthcare services based on these findings using laboratory standards.Keywords: Analytical errors; clinical laboratory; postanalytical errors; pre-analytical errors; qualit

Prevalence of medication non-adherence and associated factors among diabetic patients in a tertiary hospital at Debre Markos, Northwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Non-adherence to prescribed medications is possibly the most common reason for poor treatment outcomes among people with diabetes although its rate is highly variable. Data on the magnitude of medication non-adherence and associated factors are scarce in the study area. This study aimed to assess the rate of non-adherence and associated factors among diabetic patients at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from June 17 to July 17, 2021. Study participants were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected with a pre-tested structured questionnaire and entered into SPSS version 25. Logistic regression was utilized to determine predictors of medication non-adherence at a significance level of ≤ 0.05.RESULTS: A total of 176 study participants were enrolled in the study. About 59% of the study participants had type-2 diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of non-adherence to anti-diabetic medications was found to be 41.5%. Male sex, rural residence, being divorced, being merchant, self- or family-borne medical cost, and presence of comorbidities were significantly associated with increased rate of non-adherence to anti-diabetic medications.CONCLUSION: The prevalence of non-adherence to medications among diabetic patients is significantly high in the study area. Public health measures should be strengthened to decrease nonadherence among diabetic patients

Performance evaluation of tuberculosis smear microscopists working at rechecking laboratories in Ethiopia

Background: Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis. According to the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health’s 2013–2014 report, the tuberculosis case detection rate was 53.7%, which was below the target of 81% set for that year. Objective: This study assessed the performance of tuberculosis smear microscopists at external quality assessment rechecking laboratories in Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at 81 laboratories from April to July 2015. Panel slides were prepared and validated at the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory. The validated panel slides were used to evaluate the performance of microscopists at these laboratories compared with readers from the reference laboratory. Results: A total of 389 external quality assessment rechecking laboratory microscopists participated in the study, of which 268 (68.9%) worked at hospitals, 241 (62%) had more than five years of work experience, 201 (51.7%) held Bachelors degrees, and 319 (82%) reported tuberculosis smear microscopy training. Overall, 324 (83.3%) participants scored ≥ 80%. Sensitivity for detecting tuberculosis bacilli was 84.5% and specificity was 93.1%. The overall percent agreement between participants and reference readers was 87.1 (kappa=0.72). All 10 slides were correctly read (i.e., scored 100%) by 80 (20.6%) participants, 156 (40.1%) scored 90% – 95%, 88 (22.6%) scored 80% – 85% and 65 (16.7%) scored below 80%. There were 806 (20.7%) total errors, with 143 (3.7%) major and 663 (17%) minor errors. Conclusion: The overall performance of participants in reading the slides showed good agreement with the reference readers. Most errors were minor, and the ability to detect tuberculosis bacilli can be improved through building the capacity of professionals