ABSTRACT
On the verge of the expiry of land contracts, it is theoretically and practically important to explore the willingness and motivations of farmers to stabilize the land contract relationship, with regards to protecting their land contract rights, addressing potential contradictions during the land contract extension, and maintaining the stability of contracted land. Using China Land Economic Survey Data in 2020, this paper explores the impact of differences in areas per capita of household contracted land on farmers' willingness to stabilize land contract relationship. The findings show that most farmers support the stability of land contract relationship;the smaller areas per capita of contracted land are occupied by households than the average in the village, the weaker of the farmers' willingness to stabilize the land contract relationship. The difference between the areas per capita of contracted land ownership of a household and the average in the village has a greater impact on the willingness to stabilize land contract relationship for middle-and low-income farmers, while the development of land transfer market does not increased the willingness. Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the land plays a more important role of employment security, which reduces farmers' willingness to stabilize the land contract relationship. Furthermore, the promotion of socialized agricultural service has also mitigated the willingness of farmers o stabilize the land contract relationship.
ABSTRACT
While urban communities experienced high levels of infection at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, rural communities experienced an increase of confirmed cases during the fall months of 2020. Rural Americans were also among the most hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of [State] extension professionals related to the COVID-19 vaccines in rural communities. Qualitative methods were utilized to gather data from extension professionals in rural area of [State], where vaccine uptake was below average. Results revealed frustration with the vaccine process, vaccine norms, and skepticism and mistrust to all be contributing factors to vaccine hesitancy in rural communities. Extension professionals discussed not feeling comfortable discussing topics related to public health with their clientele, citing the topic being outside their expertise. Practical recommendations from this study included utilizing a grassroots approach rather than relying on mass media, providing messages related to the COVID-19 vaccine that focus on education, rather than promotion, and testing new messages before they are disseminated.
ABSTRACT
This special issue presents six papers resulting from a two-conference series about closing the digital divide, especially for rural areas. The issue explores how to apply the best information and processes to guide effective investments of limited resources to expand broadband access in the USA. The papers specifically deal with: the need for better data to inform broadband policy decisions and targeted funding;the contribution of integrating research and extension in improving community participation in broadband projects;policy approaches for rural broadband provision;the influence of COVID-19 on telecommuting;and federal funding challenges for rural broadband.
ABSTRACT
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, commercial relations have undergone many changes. The advancement of digital technologies that allow instantaneous and real-time communication regardless of geographical distance have changed several daily activities, among them, the way of buying and selling. In the case of agriculture, the direct sale of agricultural products to final consumers, through social networks, emerges as a new form of rural business. However, the encounter between interested parties occurs, most of the time, informally, and it is up to producers and consumers to "meet" in order to sell and buy. In this context, the Fair in the Palm of Your Hand project aims to act as an agent between these two ends so that the encounter is facilitated. To this end, a methodology for Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (ATER) was developed with the aim of creating a digital platform (application and website) that would allow these transactions to be carried out more quickly and credibly. The research area includes locations in the state of Espirito Santo (Brazil) that already have producers and consumers capable of meeting this new market dynamic.
ABSTRACT
Does channeling government-to-person (G2P) payments through bank accounts encourage financial inclusion and use? This paper explores the factors that have driven the adoption of digital payments in India by beneficiaries of PMGKY, the large-scale COVID-19 relief program launched in May 2020. India's 2013 move to pay social benefits through direct transfers into bank accounts significantly increased account ownership, but uptake of digital payments has been slower, although it has accelerated more recently through smartphone-based apps. Recipient survey data shows that personal and household attributes influence the likelihood of adopting digital payments. Smartphone ownership and digital literacy improve the odds while being a woman reduces them. The strength of the local digital payments ecosystem also exerts significant influence on household adoption;favorable personal and ecosystem factors are needed for widespread use. The historical progression shows that G2P transfers create an entry point but that widespread access to low-cost mobile telecommunications, interoperability, and the entry of new players offering convenient payments interfaces have been vital to the growth of digital payments.
ABSTRACT
This paper is aimed to share the community service experiences held at Boro Sumbersari hamlet which is located at 98A UB forest plot. Boro Sumbersari hamlet is inhabited by Magersaren community. The Magersaren community are farmers and forest workers who depend on forest for their livelihoods. Magersaren has been practicing agroforestry for a long time. They grow Robusta and Arabica coffee among other forest plants. Currently coffee is a favorite beverage, the number of its consumers continues to increase. Many people are interested in the ground coffee beans made by Magersaren traditionally, but it has not been widely marketed. The purpose of this community service program is to generate an alternative source of Magersaren household income, through the added value improvement of local flavored ground coffee beans they have. The added value of magersaren's ground coffee beans can be increased through product development technologies such as attractive packaging techniques and the creation of new variants ground coffe beans by adding brown sugar and powdered ginger. The execution of community service activities that have been carried out consists of: (1)program socialization;(2)focus group discussion;(3)production, packaging and management training;(4)small-business starting up;(5)program evaluation. These community service activities are held during the social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This condition becomes an obstacle to the effectiveness of program implementation. The start-up small business needs to be continuously supported in order to survive through a critical period of business development, especially under economic pressure during the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
This paper assessed the Joint Delivery Voucher Program for senior high school technical vocational livelihood between 2017and 2021 in selected public high schools in Occidental Mindoro, Philippines. The study employed survey research method. The sources of information were from primary and secondary data. Further, the project employed the cost sharing approach and educational institution approach. Result showed that face-to-face learning with result demonstration was the "always" preferred extension teaching methods before the COVID 19 pandemic. -learning, modules, IEC, instructional materials, mobile application and interactive computer assisted module were used during the COVID 19 pandemic implementation. The program implementation encountered "slightly serious problems." The students had acquired "adequate competency" in the program that enabled them to pass the national assessment and evaluated the JDVP implementation as "excellent.
ABSTRACT
The development of Chinese edible fungus industry in recent years not only had favorable policy environment such as targeted poverty alleviation and a large health industry, but also was suffered the temporary impact of COVID-19. Under this situation, this paper analyzes the fundamentals of Chinese edible mushroom development, and its stability and internality, considering the countermeasures to meet the transfer of the global edible mushroom innovation center and recognizing the importance of independent innovation and original innovation in the science and technology of edible mushroom industry. It hoped to realize the reform of Chinese edible mushroom industry in terms of innovation mechanism, talent training and R&D investment, and joint efforts to achieve a strong edible mushroom country.
ABSTRACT
This special issue contains 12 papers dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the foodservice industries and the response of restaurateurs to the crisis. Specific topics covered include, among others: online food delivery app adoption behaviour during the pandemic;restaurant crowdfunding during the pandemic;the impact of temporary COVID-19 legislative moves on the ability of food enterprises to pivot;restaurant patronage during the pandemic;COVID-19 policies and recommendations for foodservice reopening;managerial decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the sustainability initiatives of foodservice businesses;and consumer risk perception of online food delivery during the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The Babussalam Al-Firdaus Islamic Boarding School is located in the village of Bocek, Karangploso, Malang Regency, East Java. The owner of the boarding has been produced pasteurized milk which is performed by the students. Some of the obstacles faced by the students are the short shelf life of pasteurized milk about 5-7 days at 4 degrees C storage temperature, non-standard packaging, and the limitations of product distribution and marketing. The owner of the Babussalam Al-Firdaus Islamic Boarding School has a plan to develop dairy and bakery products. However, the students have limitation of knowledge and skills in processing those products, and the boarding school has limitation of processing equipment. To overcome these problems, our team, initiate the establishment of SMEs involving students at the Babussalam Al-Firdaus Islamic Boarding School through diversification of dairy-based processed products and bakery products. Firstly, introduction of some lectures including bakery products technology, milk processing technology, packaging and storage technology, food quality assurance and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Secondly, product trials and training activities are carried out offline by implementing health protocols due to the Covid-19 pandemic at the Food Production and Training Center (FPTC), Universitas Brawijaya. Some processing equipment was given to Islamic boarding schools to facilitate the production of bakery and dairy products. The new SMEs in the field of bakery and dairy products can be executed through the empowerment of students so as to provide additional income for the Babussalam Al-Firdaus Islamic Boarding School to be financial independence.
ABSTRACT
During the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and social isolation, the farmers of the 20 de Marco agrarian reform project had to adapt the way they market their products so that it was possible to continue the Agroecological Fair extension project, which was carried at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS)/Tres Lagoas Campus. In March 2020, with the suspension of on-site activities at the university, the strategy found to maintain sales was the online sales system and home deliveries. The objective of this paper is to present the paths of this action, analyzing how the spatialization of the consumption of agroecological products in the urban fabric of Tres Lagoas during the pandemic period took place. Despite the social commotion that marked this tragic moment in the history of the country, the settled farmers and the UFMS/Tres Lagoas Campus extension project team remained active in carrying out activities that contributed to the success of the spatialization of urban consumption and maintenance of farmers' income, investing in agroecological educational actions on conscious consumption and the importance of agrarian reform.
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This study sought to identify what messages are important to share regarding innovations of new turfgrass cultivars, and to determine the current, preferred, and emerging channels of communication as perceived by Extension/Outreach and Communications professionals in ANR for sending information. This study utilized a focus group consisting of turfgrass extension professionals, an interview with communication professionals, and individual semi-structured interviews. From the twelve questions presented through these methods, seven predominant themes emerged. Effectively communicating about turfgrass involves: (1) conveying long-term benefits of the innovations, (2) considering the sender and receiver of turfgrass information, (3) considering the traditional communication channels used for turfgrass, (4) emerging or sought channels for communicating with clientele about turfgrass, (5) barriers to adopting communication channels for disseminating turfgrass information, (6) factors that influence use of communication channels for turfgrass, and (7) who should be disseminating the identified messages. Respondents indicated that though Twitter was the preferred channel of social media communication for those in the turfgrass industry, interpersonal communication and factsheets were still being requested predominately by their clientele. Respondents recommended working with organizations such as city and county municipalities, as well as residential home builder groups, that are likely to adopt innovations, influence behavior change, and create and institute policies, will be essential for dissemination of information. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions associated with it, researchers are depending on emerging communications channels for dissemination of information more so than traditional methods utilized in the past such as field days.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to study structural changes, the impact of crisis phenomena on the mechanism of technology transfer in modern agriculture in Russia, as well as to improve the mechanism of technology transfer aimed at overcoming the negative impact of crisis phenomena and adaptation of agriculture in conditions of uncertainty. In the article, the authors analyzed the works of leading scientists devoted to modern problems of technology transfer. The main stages of the technology transfer process are analyzed. Traditional and new models of technology transfer are considered. Structural changes in the technology transfer mechanism in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions processes have been identified. The features of technology transfer in modern agriculture in Russia are established. The conducted research revealed that, in the current mechanism of technology transfer, there is a gap between fundamental and applied science, as well as end users of technologies. It is established that the effective mechanism of technology transfer is provided by the presence of three components: the level of development of fundamental and applied science;the possibilities of using the developed technologies;reducing the time of technology transfer from the moment of development to mass use. Special emphasis in the study is placed on the active use of information and communication technologies in improving the existing mechanism of technology transfer in modern agriculture in Russia to minimize the negative phenomena caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the intensification of sanctions policy. It is concluded that in the conditions of crisis phenomena, it is necessary to create specialized scientific and technological platforms that ensure effective interaction of the state-science-education-business. The recommendations proposed in the article can be effectively used at the regional and federal level, in the processes of digital transformation of agriculture.
ABSTRACT
Because of its direct and indirect impacts on food production and value chains, COVID-19 pandemic severely affected smallholder farmers, who are responsible for feeding most of the population in vulnerable communities. The lockdown and movement restrictions constrain the farmers from accessing distant and often profitable markets in many countries. In some countries, COVID-19-related interruptions affected labour availability, on-farm commodity inspection and primary production operations (land preparation, planting, harvesting etc.), delivery of farm inputs, mechanisation, essential agricultural extension services. However, farmers in developed countries took advantage of digital technologies at their disposal to adapt to the impacts of COVID-19 on agricultural production, labour availability, input supply and marketing. For instance, digital agriculture solutions that link farmers to buyers and logistics services helped to lessen the effects of restricted market access and aggregators. Most of the smallholder farmers in Africa have not benefited from this opportunity, as they lack basic digitalisation infrastructure and capacities. Therefore, increasing investment in technologies to help smallholder farmers could yield far-reaching benefits and prevent major disruptions on the food value chain during pandemics. Hence, public policy should put more emphasis on boosting digitalisation complementary infrastructure and human capacity, address gender access to technology disparities, and minimise risks associated with digitalisation.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected people's lives around the world, including agricultural extension workers. To date, few studies have been conducted to understand the adaptation of extension services in Latin American countries during the pandemic. This mixed-methods study explored Latin-American extension professionals' preparation to implement knowledge-sharing activities and sought to understand extension professionals' responsiveness to COVID-19. The results revealed significant differences in extension responsiveness, between field extension workers and in-office extension workers. Delving into this difference revealed that field extension professionals perceived lower responsiveness because they were not able to continue their pre-pandemic, face-to-face activities in the field with farmers;on the other hand, office extension workers were able to complete and respond to their annual program objectives by increasing institutional partnerships by virtual means. Resilience was found in the two phases of this study. Extension professionals were viewed by farmers as a reliable resource for addressing COVID-19 challenges. Extension professionals began using new communications technologies to train farmers, even though they were not trained in these technologies themselves. It will be important to begin formally incorporating the use of new technology, and alternative communication strategies with communities during crises, as part of preparation for field technicians.
ABSTRACT
A Small Farm Resource Center (SFRC) is an informal in-situ extension model used for testing promising agricultural and rural livelihoods options on a physical central site, with some measure of extension methodology. There is a need to evaluate SFRCs as research-extension models operating outside of formal government extension and advisory services. Seven SFRCs located in Southeast Asia were studied to classify extension methodologies adopted by those centers, evaluate extension efficacy, and to provide recommendations for amplifying their services. On average in 2013, SFRCs were 21.1 years old, covered 24.2 ha, cost 242,000 USD to establish and had a yearly operating cost of 28,500 USD. The work of the seven SFRCs could be classified into five predominant extension methodologies: on-site and off-site demonstrations, on-site and off-site trainings, and off-site extension outreach. Most of the SFRCs utilized combinations of these and tailored their methods to the particular context. Besides agricultural production, SFRCs also offered socio-cultural and socio-economic assistance, owing to a cycle of extension knowledge refinement. SFRCS were re-engaged in 2021 and all 7 were still operational, and the majority provided the same number or more services (57%) as in 2013, utilized the same amount of space (71%), and were perceived to have the same or more efficacy (71%) even in the face of decreasing or stagnating funding (71%) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, SFRCs continue to be used successfully throughout Southeast Asia and provide cost-effective and needs-based extension and advisory services to underserved populations outside of formal extension services.
ABSTRACT
Sectors strategic to the post Covid-19 economic recovery Parana are identified here by using an input-output matrix and economic indicators calculated from 2018 Parana-Rest of Brazil interregional system data. Intersectoral linkages indices portray food industry, civil construction, commerce and land transport as driving sectors of the state economy. Results concerning production, employment and income are higher for the textile and clothing, commerce, accommodation and food, education, health, and software development sectors, the latter being an important sector for the emergence of micro and small business. Incentive actions directed to strategic sectors in the economic recovery involve professional qualification, microcredit, business incubators, and extension activities focusing the dissemination of new communication and sales technologies.
ABSTRACT
Five dimensions allow to understand sustainable development from a multidisciplinary perspective: the geographic, the economic, the ecological, the social and the cultural ones. Different attitudes can be adopted by the gastronomic sector which contribute to a sustainability-focused management. In view of this, the aim of the present article is to discuss the perception of sustainability from the gastronomy industry perspective. For this, in addition to a literature review a quali-quantitative approach was taken through the compilation of a questionnaire which was electronically sent to establishments that form the Campos Gerais gastronomic network in Parana. The current pandemic scenario was taken into account in order to identify attitudes that allowed the establishments to remain operational in the face of the restrictions imposed by Covid-19. Twenty-two of twenty-five associated establishments responded to the survey, most of them showing to have adopted sustainable management actions and, especially regarding the pandemic scenario, adaptations that allowed them to remain in business.
ABSTRACT
This is a brief account of a community project that the medical staff of an urban primary care institution carried out. The goal was to spread knowledge and raise awareness about COVID-19 prevention among the Ghanaian communities that are a part of the Manna Mission Hospital's catchment area in the Ledzokuku Municipality. It has been discovered that community-based health education has a larger effect on the prevention of newly emerging infectious diseases, resulting in a decrease in the occurrence of such diseases. The pandemic caused by COVID-19 is not an exception. Results of a community outreach effort carried out by employees of a Ghanaian urban primary care hospital were emphasised in this paper. Increased health education is required to raise community residents' understanding of COVID-19's impact on public health. This community outreach initiative has raised awareness of COVID-19 prevention and control, handwashing, and facemask use. Many patients who attended the hospital wore face masks, frequently washed their hands with soap and water while it was running, and frequently used alcohol-based hand sanitisers, all signs of increased awareness. To stop the spread of COVID-19 in their communities, the primary healthcare workforce has a crucial role to play.
ABSTRACT
Agricultural innovations will have little or no impact until they are shareed with stakeholders in ways that are meaningful to them. This paper highlights the use of demonstration farm by National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike to disseminate, promote and popularize her innovations for improved productivity of her mandate crops amongst student visitors from 2018-2020. The demonstration farm was set up at Umudike in the rainy season of each year following good agronomic practices recommended by the Institute. Three thousand six hundred and twelve (3612) students from ninety-four (94) schools visited the farm during the period. The students were first given a pep talk on mandate of the Institute and the objectives of the demonstration farm before a guided tour of the farm after which there was a rap up and question time during which they were individually asked of their impression of the demonstration farm. Other data collected from the visiting schools include;their state, geopolitical zone, number of students and sex of the students. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics such frequencies and percentages. Vast majority (88.90%) of the visiting schools were from the South East geopolitical zone and majorly from Abia State (53.98%) probably due to proximity of the schools in the zone and state to the Institute. They were students mostly from secondary schools (50.00%), with more females (56.45%) than males (43.55%), reflecting the prevailing pattern of school enrolment skewed in favour of females in the zone. Most students (89.56%) were impressed by the innovations demonstrated in the farm. Many were excited to see crops like turmeric and ginger for the first time and learn how they are cultivated. In 2020, there were no student visitors to the demonstration farm as a result of drastic measures taken by government to curtail the transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic which includes closure of schools and movement restrictions.