Rural extension services

The authors analyze the considerations that lead policymakers to undertake extension investments as a key public responsibility, as well as the complex set of factors and intra-agency incentives that explain why different extension systems'performance vary. The authors provide a conceptual framework outlining farmers'demand for information, the welfare economic characterizations of extension services, and the organizational and political attributes that govern the performance of extension systems. They use the conceptual framework to examine several extension modalities and to analyze their likely and actual effectiveness. Specifically, the modalities reviewed include"training and visit"extension, decentralized systems,"fee-for-service"and privatized extension, and farmer-field-schools. The authors also discuss methodological issues pertaining to the assessment of extension outcomes and review the empirical literature on extension impact. They emphasize the efficiency gains that can come from locally decentralized delivery systems with incentive structures based largely on private provision that in most poorer countries is still publicly-funded. In wealthier countries, and for particular higher income farmer groups, extension systems will likely evolve into fee-for-service organizations.Decentralization,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Economics&Finance,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,ICT Policy and Strategies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Knowledge Economy

The rise and fall of training and visit extension : an Asian mini-drama with an African epilogue

The paper reviews the origins and evolution of the Training and Visit (T&V) extension system, which was promoted by the World Bank in 1975-98 in over 50 developing countries. The discussion seeks to clarify the context within which the approach was implemented, and to analyze the causes for its lack of sustainability and its ultimate abandonment. The paper identifies some of the challenges faced by the T&V approach as being typical of a large public extension system, where issues of scale, interaction with the agricultural research systems, inability to attribute benefits, weak accountability, and lack of political support tend to lead to incentive problems among staff and managers of extension, and limited budgetary resources. The different incentives and outlook of domestic stakeholders and external donor agencies are also reviewed. The main cause of the T&V system's disappearance is attributed to the incompatibility of its high recurrent costs with the limited budgets available domestically, leading to fiscal unsustainability. The paper concludes with some lessons that apply to donor-driven public extension initiatives, and more generally to rural development fads. The role of timely, independent, and rigorous evaluative studiesis specifically highlighted.Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Rural Poverty Reduction,ICT Policy and Strategies,Banks&Banking Reform

Zeno and anti-Zeno polarization control of spin-ensembles by induced dephasing

We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate the purity (polarization) control of qubits entangled with multiple spins, using induced dephasing in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) setups to simulate repeated quantum measurements. We show that one may steer the qubit ensemble towards a quasi-equilibrium state of certain purity, by choosing suitable time intervals between dephasing operations. These results demonstrate that repeated dephasing at intervals associated with the anti-Zeno regime lead to ensemble purification, whereas those associated with the Zeno regime lead to ensemble mixing.Comment: Main Text: 5 pages, 2 figures. Sup. Inf.: 5pages, 1 figur

Promises and realities of community-based agricultural extension

In view of the market failures and the state failures inherent in providing agricultural extension, community-based approaches, which involve farmers‘ groups, have gained increasing importance in recent years as a third way to provide this service. The paper discusses the conceptual underpinnings of community-based extension approaches, highlights theoretical and practical challenges inherent in their design, and assesses the evidence available so far on their performance. The paper reviews both quantitative and qualitative studies, focusing on three examples that contain important elements of community-based extension: the National Agricultural Advisory Services program of Uganda, the agricultural technology management agency model of India, and the farmer field school approach. The review finds that in the rather few cases where performance has been relatively carefully studied, elite capture was identified as a major constraint. Other challenges that empirical studies found include a limited availability of competent service providers, deep-seated cultural attitudes that prevent an effective empowerment of farmers, and difficulties in implementing farmers‘ control of service providers‘ contracts. The paper concludes that, just as for the state and the market, communities can also fail in extension delivery. Hence, the challenge for innovative approaches in agricultural extension is to identify systems that use the potential of the state, the market, and communities to create checks and balances to overcome the failures inherent in all of them.agricultural extension, Agricultural technology, community-based development, empowerment of farmers, innovative approaches, market failures, National Agricultural Advisory Services program,

Scalable solid-state quantum processor using subradiant two-atom states

We propose a realization of a scalable, high-performance quantum processor whose qubits are represented by the ground and subradiant states of effective dimers formed by pairs of two-level systems coupled by resonant dipole-dipole interaction. The dimers are implanted in low-temperature solid host material at controllable nanoscale separations. The two-qubit entanglement either relies on the coherent excitation exchange between the dimers or is mediated by external laser fields.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

A Biblioguidance Approach to Fostering Students’ Self-Efficacy to Advocate for Health

Teaching the components of health advocacy is straightforward, but fostering young people’s self-efficacy to be health advocates for themselves, others, and their community is more complex. This complexity sometimes renders advocating for health, the basis of National Health Education Standard (NHES) #8, challenging to teach. We utilized a pedagogical approach called biblioguidance to teach this skill to 10th-grade students. The premise of biblioguidance, also called bibliotherapy, is that information, guidance, and even solace can be found through reading and vicariously living story events. To implement this approach, we consulted the literature and created a six-step framework to guide the design, development, and evaluation of a health advocacy curriculum, including young adult novels, guided reading prompts, electronic journals, and small group discussions. Our pre/post-assessment, rooted in NHES #8, evaluated the impact on students’ (N = 168) self-efficacy to health advocate for themselves, others, and the community. Results revealed a significant change (p \u3c .001), particularly in advocating for community health. Further, the teachers found that the curriculum facilitated the discussion of health-related topics in subsequent units. We will continue using the curriculum but expand it to include opportunities for authentic application and qualitative data evaluation techniques

A Novel Approach to Social Justice Education

Singular efforts in PK-12 settings to instill a social justice mindset will not achieve the same outcomes as social justice education infused throughout content area instruction. In collaboration with 10th -grade teachers, we developed and implemented a biblioguidance curriculum to develop students’ social justice and content area competency. Evaluation findings from the pilot implementation indicate there was a significant impact on some social justice competencies and all targeted content area competencies. Also, students appeared to recognize the benefits of a biblioguidance approach. In light of the outcomes, we celebrate the curriculum\u27s successes and offer suggestions for ongoing improvement

Teaching Television Production in the Age of YouTube

In this paper, we offer an examination of why traditional television producation pedagogy remains congent into the second decade of the 21st century. The shift to smaller distribution platforms and the democratization of television distribution through YouTube will cuase production teachers to shift emphases in their overall approach. Our thesis is that regardless of the delivery device, composition, the grammar of television and story structure still matter. Teachers of the art and craft of television production routinely deal with a paradox; specifically, prepping their students for the future while adhering to their own educational and professional training that is often deeply rooted in the past. For decades, educators updated knowledge and upgraded skill levels by attending conferences and symposia, doing their own production work, and/or periodically re-immersing themselves in professional environments. New production technologies, practices and workflows have continually evolved but with some effort, teachers have always been able to keep their knowledge and skill bases current. Keeping pace with hardware has een a different tale. While industry trade shows have always tantalized attendees with the newest and coolest of technologies, collegiate budget lines have historically been guided by many things other than the need to be on the cutting edge.This has not helped college keep pace with ever-escalating changes in technology and equipment. As a result, teaching at the collegiate level has historically meant working in under-resourced facilities, with equipment and technologies just slightly behind those used in the professional world. Despite constant technological changes, however, it could be argued that the basic television production pedagogy learned in the last decades of the 20th century has remained relatively unchanged, viable and applicable well into the first decade of the 21st. As we enter the digital age, television production proccesses and workflows have undergone a shift of tectonic proportions, and that raises questions about the methodology and information necessary to now teach it. Optimistically, television production can still be taught the same it has always been, with updated information regarding digital production and distribution technologies, as well as mobile and social-media distribution outlets. But in order to succeed in the digital world enveloping them, educators will likely have to make some changes in how they approach teaching. And that will include understanding how the cultural terrain has changed for television production students, as well

MODERN AGRICULTURE AND EMPLOYMENT GROWTH IN NIGERIA

Nigeria is blessed with abundant land resources, its agricultural land, has been increasing which means it has a higher advantage in boosting agricultural productivity and employment growth in the economy, but this potential is not being realized. This study is aimed at examining the impact modern agriculture on employment growth in Nigeria. The methodology adopted for the study is the Recursive Ordinary Least Square estimation method. The variables used in the model are: Foreign Direct Investment, Export, Export Price Index, Agricultural Value Added per Worker, Agricultural Output, Agricultural Machineries & Tractor, Agricultural Credit, Inflation Rate, Exchange Rate, Government Expenditure on Education and Employment Rate. Using time series data spanning from 1980 to 2014, the result shows; a significant and positive relationship between agricultural productivity growth and modern agriculture, a significant and negative relationship between export price index and agricultural productivity growth, a significant and positive relationship between export and investment, a significant and positive relationship between investment and employment growth. Based on the findings, the author suggests that government should pursue a balanced growth of both agricultural sector and industrial sector in order to ensure both forward and backward linkages between the two sectors for the overall development of Nigerian economy