How the timing and location of video shows influence learning among rice farmers in Uganda

Videos have the potential of enhancing learning among smallholder farmers. The study intended to establish whether timing and location of video shows influence learning among rice farmers in Kamwenge district, Uganda. A cross-sectional study was conducted by interviewing 48 focus group participants; 100 individual video participants and 16 key informants. Geographical Positioning System (GPS) mapping was used to establish the video catchment areas and distribution of video participants. Farmers approved the video for providing timely, useful and reliable information and bringing extension service providers closer to the farming communities. Majority (94%) of the farmers said that video provided useful information that fostered change in rice production practices and technologies. A one sample T-test indicated that the timing and location of video events are significant in influencing learning among farmers particularly by women, elderly and distant farmers. The implication is that locating video shows far away and running them late at night seriously compromised involvement by females, elderly and distant people. Thus, modalities suggested by farmers need to focus on adjusting the timing of video shows and ensuring rotational operational of videos in the respective villages or parishes purposely to reach out to the elderly, distant and women farmers.Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 6 (2): 77-81, December, 201

Learning through the eyes of others: Access Agriculture’s experiences with farmer-training videos in agricultural extension and education

This publication comes six years after Access Agriculture was created to enable south-south exchange and access to quality audio-visual training materials for smallholder farmers, herders and fishers, and other users of natural resources. It brings together some of the varied experiences of Access Agriculture’s many partners in producing, translating, distributing and using training videos. These experiences have been gathered from reports, academic research, blogs, stories and interviews with people from Africa, Asia and Europe – who all have in common a passion for improving agriculture. It also draws on a series of stories published in a sister publication from CTA, “A Passion for Video”, that were written in 2015 during Access Agriculture’s conference to celebrate its first three years

Designing Gender-Specific Toilet and Urinal Needs Calculation Templates for Rural and Urban Schools: Lessons from the Republic of Benin

Gender equity, quality education, and sanitation in rural and urban areas are widely considered development imperatives. Therefore, many developed countries have scientifically and technically developed norms for the calculation and the design of toilet and urinal needs of their students, which is not yet the case in most developing countries, including the Republic of Benin, that lack socio-culturally adapted gender-specific toilets and urinal needs calculation and design norms. This paper fills this scientific and gender-specific norms gap, by discussing the process and the results of the design of school toilet and urinal needs calculation templates and norms in the Republic of Benin. The study that led to this design took place between June 2013 and October 2015 and consisted mainly of observing and recording defecation and urination needs satisfaction in toilets and open spaces by 8,160 female and 13,263 male students of 13 schools purposively selected in four agroecological and sociocultural areas of Benin. The main data recorded related, among other data, to the start and end times of the use of the toilets and open spaces; the needs satisfied; the peak times and durations of breaks and of toilet needs satisfaction; the numbers of female and male students and non-students who use and who can potentially use the toilets and urinals. These raw data were processed to infer and calculate eight parameters used in each template. This process led to the design of eight area-, gender-, and disability-specific templates and norms in use since 2016, in the target areas. Further studies will assess and report on the performance of these templates and norms

Evidence for the Emergence of New Rice Types of Interspecific Hybrid Origin in West African Farmers' Fields

In West Africa two rice species (Oryza glaberrima Steud. and Oryza sativa L.) co-exist. Although originally it was thought that interspecific hybridization is impossible without biotechnological methods, progenies of hybridization appear to occur in farmer fields

How the timing and location of video shows influence learning among rice farmers in Uganda

Videos have the potential of enhancing learning among smallholder farmers. The study intended to establish whether timing and location of video shows influence learning among rice farmers in Kamwenge district, Uganda. A cross-sectional study was conducted by interviewing 48 focus group participants; 100 individual video participants and 16 key informants. Geographical Positioning System (GPS) mapping was used to establish the video catchment areas and distribution of video participants. Farmers approved the video for providing timely, useful and reliable information and bringing extension service providers closer to the farming communities. Majority (94%) of the farmers said that video provided useful information that fostered change in rice production practices and technologies. A one sample T-test indicated that the timing and location of video events are significant in influencing learning among farmers particularly by women, elderly and distant farmers. The implication is that locating video shows far away and running them late at night seriously compromised involvement by females, elderly and distant people. Thus, modalities suggested by farmers need to focus on adjusting the timing of video shows and ensuring rotational operational of videos in the respective villages or parishes purposely to reach out to the elderly, distant and women farmers.Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 6 (2): 77-81, December, 201

HOW THE TIMING AND LOCATION OF VIDEO SHOWS INFLUENCE LEARNING AMONG RICE FARMERS IN UGANDA

Videos have the potential of enhancing learning among smallholder farmers. The study intended to establish whether timing and location of video shows influence learning among rice farmers in Kamwenge district, Uganda. A cross-sectional study was conducted by interviewing 48 focus group participants; 100 individual video participants and 16 key informants. Geographical Positioning System (GPS) mapping was used to establish the video catchment areas and distribution of video participants. Farmers approved the video for providing timely, useful and reliable information and bringing extension service providers closer to the farming communities. Majority (94%) of the farmers said that video provided useful information that fostered change in rice production practices and technologies. A one sample T-test indicated that the timing and location of video events are significant in influencing learning among farmers particularly by women, elderly and distant farmers. The implication is that locating video shows far away and running them late at night seriously compromised involvement by females, elderly and distant people. Thus, modalities suggested by farmers need to focus on adjusting the timing of video shows and ensuring rotational operational of videos in the respective villages or parishes purposely to reach out to the elderly, distant and women farmers

Efficacité comparée de trois méthodes de diffusion d'informations rizicoles par des vidéos au Sud du Bénin

Cet article se veut une contribution à la compréhension des mécanismes d'apprentissage par les vidéos en vulgarisation agricole. Trois indicateurs, le nombre de messages retenus, le nombre de messages compris et le nombre de messages appliqués, ont été utilisés pour comparer l'efficacité de trois méthodes de diffusion des informations techniques rizicoles. Il s'agit 1) de la simple mise à disposition de DVD, 2) de la projection sans facilitation et 3) de la projection avec facilitation. Un guide d'entretien a permis d'échanger avec les responsables de groupements rizicoles et les services d'encadrement tandis qu'un questionnaire a permis de collecter des données auprès de cent producteurs de riz dans trois communes du Sud du Bénin : Comé, Lokossa et Athiémé. Les résultats montrent que la simple mise à disposition de DVD permet une meilleure mémorisation et compréhension des messages contenus dans les vidéos que les deux autres méthodes. Cela montre que la présence d'un vulgarisateur/facilitateur n'est pas toujours indispensable à l'apprentissage paysan lorsque le support est adéquat et que le contenu présente un intérêt pour les producteurs. Des voies d'apprentissage non conventionnelles et peu onéreuses existent donc pour les paysans. Elles puisent leur essence dans les motivations individuelles paysannes. Ces résultats pourront aider les structures de vulgarisation agricole à choisir des méthodes de diffusion des informations par des vidéos

Towards sustainable vegetable growing with farmer learning videos in Benin

Vegetable production plays an important role in nutrition, food security and poverty reduction in Benin. However, vegetable production is hampered by pests and farmers rely on pesticides to control them. Improving farmers’ knowledge is important for the use of sustainable, intensive agricultural practices. This paper assesses the role of learning video in changing vegetable farmers’ behaviour towards sustainable agriculture. Drawing mainly on mass distribution of learning videos, DVDs entitled ‘Improving vegetable production’ were sold through non-conventional dissemination networks from August to December 2015, to strengthen farmers’ learning. In June 2016, we interviewed a sample of 120 buyers/viewers in four different areas where the DVDs were sold. The interviews were followed by a field visit to collect evidence of the change of practices reported during the interviews. Farmers who watched the videos enhanced their creativity and adapted the learning to their environment by using more sustainable agriculture practices. About 86% of respondents indicated that they now spend less money for pesticides to manage pests and diseases. Video-mediated learning promotes local innovation, improves farmers’ knowledge and triggers agro-ecological practices with little or no input from the conventional extension system

The distribution of farmer learning videos: Lessons from non-conventional dissemination networks in Benin

Commercial channels can be non-conventional networks for disseminating agricultural information, especially if farmers are willing to pay for a DVD with learning videos. Using purposive sampling, we selected retailer and involved them in selling videos compiled in a DVD. Inside the jacket of DVD, we pasted a sticker listing a phone number that buyers or video viewers could call for further questions. We interviewed 341 of the buyers who called that number. After the phone interviews, snowball sampling was used to select 180 farmers for face-to-face interviews in order to validate the information collected during the telephone interviews and to understand the behavioural changes triggered by watching the videos. Within four months of first distributing DVDs to retailers, 80% of the 700 DVDs were sold. Distributing videos through commercial channels gives a fair chance to everyone to learn, since the DVDs were sold on the open market at an affordable price. About 84% of the DVDs were sold at 1 USD, suggesting that all of the respondents were willing to pay for learning DVDs; 86% of respondents said they now spent less money on pesticides after watching the videos. Private sector actors can become “new extensionists” and distribute agricultural information to rural populations