Gratification obtained from agricultural information disseminated through radio among Malaysian farmers

Radio is recognized to be the most suitable medium for rural advancement programs. It has potential to be the most effective media in promoting agriculture and development in rural areas, particularly as a tool for the delivery of quick information. A quantitative study was designed to determine how farmers use radio to obtain and gather information to gratify their needs. A total of 400 respondents were selected randomly from four states in Peninsular Malaysia. A multiple linear regression was used to address the research hypothesis. The outcomes of the study are expected to give a deeper understanding of how media help the farmers in meeting their information needs, how they perceive the media, and their beliefs and evaluations of the media programmes

Factors influencing the perception of youth agro-based entrepreneurs towards the role of ICT in increasing agro-business productivity

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) usage has become more common in this modern age and agriculture is one of the sectors that benefited from it. Based on this, a study was conducted at Institute of Social Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia during the year 2007-08 to know the perception of Malaysian youth agro-based entrepreneurs towards the ICT contribution to their agro-business productivity. Moreover, this study tried to discover the factors that affected this perception. The study covered all states in Peninsular Malaysia. Simple random sampling was used for sampling while face-to-face interviews using trained enumerators were conducted to collect required data. For analysis, SPSS software was used with application such as frequency, mean, percentage, standard deviation, independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression. In all 134 youth agro-based entrepreneurs were interviewed. Majority of respondents perceived a high contribution of ICT towards their agro-business productivity. The result revealed no significant difference in perception on ICT contribution between zones, gender and level of education. Three factors viz. age, electronic media usage and ICT usage were found to have significant relationship with perception towards ICT usage while age was found to be the highest contributor in perception towards ICT contribution

Level of agro-based website surfing among Malaysian agricultural entreprenuers: a case of Malaysia

The main objective of this study was to identify the level of agro-based website surfing among Malaysian agro-based entrepreneurs and factors affecting it. A total of 450 respondents were selected for this study from six fields of agro-based industry namely food processing, non-food processing, farming, plantation, fisheries and animal rearing. The sample list was gained from three agencies including Department of Agriculture Malaysia (DOA), Farmers Organization Authority (FOA) and Agro Bank of Malaysia. Data were collected using face to face interview method. Results revealed that level of agro-based website surfing among Malaysian agricultural entreprenuers was at low level, while the official website of Department of Agriculture Malaysia (DOA) (www.agrolink.moa.my/doa) was the most surfed website followed by the official website of Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) (www.mardi.my) and the official website of Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA) www.agrolink.moa.my/fama). Based on the t-test and ANOVA test done there was significance difference in agro-based website surfing in respondent’s gender, level of education and age

The quality of life of Muar river community and socio-economic factors that impinge it

Quality of life is indeed an important contributor for rural community development in Malaysia and this study would like to investigate the quality of life of the community who are living near to the one of the major rivers in Malaysia; The Muar River. This is a quantitative study, through a simple random sampling, a total of 150 people who live near to Muar River have been selected as the respondents. To gain the data needed, respondents were questioned through face to face interviews based on the developed and tested questionnaire. The results indicated that Muar River community has a high level of quality of life. Further analysis has revealed that aspect of home conditions and social involvement and relationship recorded the highest scores. Inferential analyses performed through ANOVA and Pearson product-moment correlation have revealed that income was the only factor that has a significant difference and significant relationship with quality of life. It is suggested that income generating activities such as boat renting, hotel, home-stay and local product shops be established along Muar River. Furthermore, responsible ministries and agencies can promote and advertise Muar River as one of the main tourism attractions in Malaysia

Active citizenship by active learning

Active citizenship is a way of development greater young citizen responsibility. It is a combination of obligations and responsibilities through involvement in civic issues. Be an active citizen need new ways of educating students which are different from traditional learning methods. Active learning method derived from learned-centred approaches stress more on students as intelligent entities rather than just receivers. Employing methods of active learning in citizenship education has some obstacles but the advantages are greater than passive ways of learning

Predictors of entrepreneurial intention among youths in Malaysia

This study aims to examine the factors affecting entrepreneurial intention among youths in Malaysia. This study is quantitative in nature, and made use of a questionnaire as the main data-collection tool. Via multi-stage cluster sampling, a total of 400 youths from four districts in Peninsular Malaysia were selected as respondents. The analysis confirmed that all of the factors studied were found to have positive and significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention. Further analysis concluded three factors, namely attitude towards entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship knowledge and perceived feasibility, are the most significant factors contributing towards entrepreneurial intention among youth. These three factors (attitude towards entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship knowledge and perceived feasibility) need to be given particular emphasis in order to promote entrepreneurship intention among the target group. In other words, if these three factors among the target group were to be strengthened, there would be a greater likelihood that the group's entrepreneurship intention would be increased

Deepening critical thinking skills through civic engagement in Malaysia higher education

Developing critical thinking skills among undergraduates has been set as an aim in the higher education for years. In recent times, it has become more crucial in implementing this aim to improve students’ commitment to civic engagement. Thus, this study examined the association between civic engagement and critical thinking skills of Malaysian undergraduates. Based on related literature, this study is quantitative in nature where a total of 400 regular university students were chosen as participants. The results have proved that civic engagement has an impact on the students' critical thinking skills and its sub-domains can explain about almost half of the variance in critical thinking ability in the Malaysian context. Although civic skills have superior impacts on critical thinking skills, civic disposition seems to have less importance on it. The results also reveal the negative association between civic knowledge and critical thinking skills. It is hoped that this study can also provide the necessary resources for university faculty and administrators who are also interested in implementing civic engagement within the higher education context to build bridges between the university and its communities

Factors affecting the quality of life among the rural community living along Pahang River and Muar River in Malaysia

The role of rivers in Malaysia in uplifting the socio-economic status of the rural community cannot be denied. With the ability to uplift the socio-economic status of the rural community, it is also expected that their quality of life can also be enhanced. This study intends to reveal the level of quality of life of the rural community living along two major rivers in Malaysia, Pahang River and Muar River and to investigate the factors affecting their quality of life. This is a quantitative study, where data were gained from 900 respondents from three main cities along Pahang River and Muar River namely Pekan, Bahau and Muar. Results gained have proved that the respondents studied have a moderate level of quality of life. However, further analysis have specifically proven that respondents studied have a high level of quality of life in the aspect of social involvement and relationship, home condition, safety at the areas and education. Analyses done have confirmed that there is a significant difference between quality of life and all of the independent variables studied. Using Pearson product-moment, this study managed to identify significant relationships that occur between quality of life and four independent variables studied

Contribution of information and communication technology in increasing agro-based entrepreneurs productivity in Malaysia

ICT usage has become more relevant in the modern days and agriculture is one of the sectors that benefited from it. ICT without doubt is one of the main instruments in doubling agriculture productivity and agriculture community must be encouraged to utilize it wisely. This paper tends to know the perception of Malaysia agro-based entreprenuers towards the contribution of ICT to their agro-business productivity. Moreover this paper try to discover the factors that affecting this perception. The respondents perceive moderate to high level of contribution of ICT towards their agro-based productivity. Result of the study also highlighted two variables (age & electronic media usage) that significantly influence perceived ICT contribution towards agro-based productivity

Using network-based theory to develop a curriculum for citizenship education in higher institutions

The civic development of higher education students is currently recognized as a critical issue in education research. Numerous studies have investigated the development of civic skills; however, to date, no study has provided a comprehensive overview of the benefits and functions of horizontal networks among students as the main tool in their civic development in the form of citizenship education programs. This paper presents an approach based on network theory to create a horizontal network model of citizenship education that dynamically supports civic development in higher education. The theory emphasizes four main purposes of horizontal networks towards civic development—facilitating change, transferring civic knowledge, reinforcing civic norms, and enhancing civic learning—that may allow students of higher education to serve as vital building blocks for the development of a lively civil society. This study provides an account of the cumulative knowledge regarding how these horizontal networks assist students to perform within the main components of an education system. It is suggested that higher education authorities need to focus on these networks, and redesign programs to facilitate their creation among students