Sustainability of agriculture extension services in the face of COVID-19: a study on gender-specific market systems

In the fourth industrial revolution, achieving sustainable agricultural development while feeding a growing world population and maintaining a balanced interrelationship between the economy, society, and the environment has been a significant challenge. However, COVID-19 disrupted agricultural extension and advisory systems, affecting all market participants. The complexity of the pandemic has impacted the private sector, public sector, extension staff, donor funding, education, and research systems, subsequently affecting human nutrition. This paper aims to expertly review COVID-19’s effects on the sustainability of gender-specific agricultural extension service systems. Demand and supply market stakeholders in the extension system are thematically discussed. The findings reveal various consequences of COVID-19 for market actors on both the demand and supply sides of the extension system. Private-sector players often support expansion directly or indirectly, with multi-sectorial support and funding strategies existing for sustainability. In many developing nations, the comprehensive extension system was disrupted by COVID-19, impacting household incomes and nutrition. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies in many developing nations, transitioning from a centralized to a decentralized and pluralistic extension model. Multi-sector coordination and execution, especially from health and other sectors, are crucial in managing complex crises that disrupt the market system

Climatic and Environmental Factors Influencing COVID-19 Transmission—An African Perspective

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 was decreed by the World Health Organization as a public health emergency of worldwide concern, the epidemic has drawn attention from all around the world. The disease has since spread globally in developed and developing countries. The African continent has not been spared from the pandemic; however, the low number of cases in Africa compared to developed countries has brought about more questions than answers. Africa is known to have a poor healthcare system that cannot sustain the emerging infectious disease pandemic. This study explored climatic and environmental elements influencing COVID-19 transmission in Africa. This study involved manuscripts and data that evaluated and investigated the climatic and environmental elements of COVID-19 in African countries. Only articles written in English were considered in the systematic review. Seventeen articles and one database were selected for manuscript write-ups after the review process. The findings indicated that there is evidence that suggests the influence of climatic and environmental elements on the spread of COVID-19 in the continent of Africa; however, the evidence needs more investigation in all six regions of Africa and at the country level to understand the role of weather patterns and environmental aspects in the transmission of COVID-19

Structural Equation Model (SEM) of Social Capital with Landowner Intention

The continuous loss of farmland in Indonesia is a major problem in the food production industry. The Gempol-Pandaan road, which is a section of the Trans Java toll road and connects the major cities of Surabaya and Malang, gives the Pandaan District of Indonesia its strategic location. Sustainable Food Agriculture Land (SFAL) in the Pandaan District is one strategy for expanding wetland farming. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the connection between social capital and landowners’ intention to alter SFAL in Pandaan District, Pasuruan Regency, hoping to resolve existing land-use conflicts. The purpose of this study was to use partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to the question of how landowners’ social capital is related to their intention to change land use. The PLS-SEM analysis shows that there are less opportunities for SFAL landowners to shift land use when social capital is high. Conversely, greater intentions among SFAL landowners to convert agricultural land to nonagricultural uses are associated with weaker or lower relationships among social capital characteristics

Application of anaesthetics in fish hatcheries to promote broodstock and fish seed welfare in Zambia

AbstractThis study investigated the application of anaesthetics in 23 private and government-owned hatcheries in 10 provinces of Zambia. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research designs and used a structured questionnaire to collect data from the respondents. The results showed that most hatcheries (65%) were not using anaesthetics in handling fish and all (100%) that were using anaesthetics (35%) used clove powder as the only type. Most respondents (61%) were not sure or did not have information about the availability of the anaesthetic substances in their localities while only 26% reported wider availability but 13% had a divergent claim. The mortality rate for fingerlings in hatcheries that applied anaesthetics ranged between 15–30% with consistently high demand while those that did not use anaesthetics reported mortality rates of more than 50% and had low demand. The majority of the respondents (53%) had received training up to certificate level, followed by those who had attained up to a diploma qualification (27%) while those that attained up to a degree (13%) and general skills (7%) levels were in the minority. Furthermore, most respondents (35%) did not know the importance of fish anaesthetics. We conclude that the use of fish anaesthetics in Zambian hatcheries is very low and could partly be the cause of high fingerling mortalities, and there is an urgent need to address the situation

Sustainability of agriculture extension services in the face of COVID-19: A study on gender-specific market systems

In the fourth industrial revolution, achieving sustainable agricultural development while feeding a growing world population and maintaining a balanced interrelationship between the economy, society, and the environment has been a significant challenge. However, COVID-19 disrupted agricultural extension and advisory systems, affecting all market participants. The complexity of the pandemic has impacted the private sector, public sector, extension staff, donor funding, education, and research systems, subsequently affecting human nutrition. This paper aims to expertly review COVID-19’s effects on the sustainability of gender-specific agricultural extension service systems. Demand and supply market stakeholders in the extension system are thematically discussed. The findings reveal various consequences of COVID-19 for market actors on both the demand and supply sides of the extension system. Private-sector players often support expansion directly or indirectly, with multi-sectorial support and funding strategies existing for sustainability. In many developing nations, the comprehensive extension system was disrupted by COVID-19, impacting household incomes and nutrition. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies in many developing nations, transitioning from a centralized to a decentralized and pluralistic extension model. Multi-sector coordination and execution, especially from health and other sectors, are crucial in managing complex crises that disrupt the market system.</p