Journal of Agricultural & Food Information最新文献

{"title":"Mobile Phone Usage for Accessing Agricultural Information in Southern Ethiopia","authors":"D. Kaske, Z. Mvena, A. S. Sife","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2017.1371023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2017.1371023","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study was conducted in Ethiopia to determine the use of mobile phones in agriculture. The study included 320 household heads who owned mobile phones. Data were collected using an interview schedule. The results revealed that the majority (90.6%) of household heads made phone calls for agricultural purposes. Over three quarters (85.9%) of the household heads received phone calls related to agriculture. Short message service (SMS) was poorly used. It is concluded that mobile phones are playing an important role as an informational medium. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia needs to develop a mobile-based agricultural information dissemination system to enhance information delivery to rural farming households.","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"284 - 298"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2017.1371023","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47054440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Farm Households' Simultaneous Use of Sources to Access Information on Cotton Crop Production","authors":"M. Yaseen, M. Ahmad, P. Soni","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2017.1325743","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2017.1325743","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study has investigated farm households' simultaneous use of social networks, field extension, traditional media, and modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) to access information on cotton crop production. The study was based on a field survey, conducted in Punjab, Pakistan. Data were collected from 399 cotton farm households using the multistage sampling technique. Important combinations of information sources were found in terms of their simultaneous use to access information. The study also examined the factors influencing the use of various available information sources. A multivariate probit model was used considering the correlation among the use of social networks, field extension, traditional media, and modern ICTs. The findings indicated the importance of different socioeconomic and institutional factors affecting farm households' use of available information sources on cotton production. Important policy conclusions are drawn based on findings.","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"149 - 161"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2017.1325743","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42388475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Use of Food Label Information by Trinidad Consumers and Implications for National Health","authors":"W. Ganpat, G. Kathiravan, Joel Dalrymple","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2017.1374188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2017.1374188","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Nutritional information on food labels helps consumers make informed decisions about what they chose to consume. This study, conducted among 320 consumers in Trinidad, West Indies, examined consumers' use of various informational components of the label and the influence of health-related factors on use of such information. The study found that, although there was a fairly high reading of food label information, fats and sodium information were not given the required attention. Six variables—(a) diabetes; (b) allergies; (c) gender; (d) level of schooling; (e) fast food consumption; and (f) fiber consumption—significantly impacted the use of food label information.","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"121 - 128"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2017.1374188","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44614232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial","authors":"A. Ezzo","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2018.1443637","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2018.1443637","url":null,"abstract":"Welcome to issue 19(2) of the Journal of Agricultural & Food Information! The issue opens with a Society of the Quarter column by Tom Volkening who revisits an organization first profiled in 2006: Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit dedicated to preserving America’s agricultural heritage through the growing, saving and sharing of heirloom seeds and plants—over 20,000 varieties! In the lead refereed contribution, Robert McGeachin reports the results of his case study to assess processing times associated with various steps in a digitization project—e.g., scanning, file conversion, quality control, metadata creation ingestion into a repository—and they are significant! Those contemplating a digitization project will find his results instructive when factoring in their own human resource costs. Next, Wayne Ganpat, Kathiravan Gopalan, and Joel Dalrymple share insights from their study examining the extent to which Trinidadian consumers made use of nutritional information on product labels to inform food choices. Their findings have implications for national health: although the reading of labels was generally high, insufficient attention was paid to fat and sodium content. Two contributions explore the potential of mobile phone in extension services, from the perspective of both agents and farmers. Mohammad Sadegh Allahyari, Maryam Ranjbar Atashi, and Emily Shea Dunn investigate the feasibility of agents usingmobile technology as an educational tool to replacemore traditional extension methods in Iran; Victor Otene, Jacqueline Ezihe, and Felix Torgenga assess mobile phone usage among farmers in Nigeria. In both cases, economic/income factors, education/skill, and infrastructure/network coverage were major barriers to use. The final three articles examine farmers’ use of information sources to inform agricultural production for various crops. Muhammad Yaseen, Mokbul Ahmad, and Peeyush Soni studied cotton growers in Pakistan and found that they primarily relied on social networks and traditional media and less on extension and modern ICTs. Yeong Sheng Tey et al. surveyed Malaysian vegetable farmers’ sources of information on sustainable practices: extension and family/friends ranked highest. In contrast, the urban mushroom farmers studied by Kwabena Bugyei, Raphael Kavi, Grace Obeng-Koranteng, and Benjamin Folitse in Ghana had ample access to information from multiple sources; unfortunately, over 50% were unaware of them or lacked the technical know-how to apply the information—a useful reminder that information is only one variable in the technology adoption equation.","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"105 - 105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2018.1443637","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48128388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessment of Mobile Phone Usage Among Farmers in Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria","authors":"V. A. Otene, J. Ezihe, Felix S. Torgenga","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2017.1361829","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2017.1361829","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study assessed the usage of mobile phones among farmers in the Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. One hundred and fifty-eight respondents were selected using purposive and random sampling techniques. Primary data were used, and collected using a structured questionnaire. Research revealed that a majority of the respondents (60.1%) had a medium level of use of mobile phones. The mobile phone network preferred by respondents was MTN (32.3%). The major factor affecting the use of mobile phones is poor network coverage (22.1%). Possession of formal education, income, and sex of the respondents significantly affected their level of use of mobile phones. It is therefore recommended that network providers be supervised by the Government to ensure quality service delivery, and other network providers encouraged to improve on their services.","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"141 - 148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2017.1361829","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45102078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing Sources of Information for Urban Mushroom Growers in Accra, Ghana","authors":"R. K. Kavi, K. A. Bugyei, G. Obeng-Koranteng, B. Folitse","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2017.1361328","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2017.1361328","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study assessed information sources for urban mushroom farmers in Accra, Ghana. One hundred farmers were sampled, and a structured questionnaire was administered to solicit information from the respondents. Results showed that the majority of farmers were male (71%) and most (60%) with university education. The majority (44%) had 1–5 years of experience in mushroom cultivation. Co-farmers (89.8%), the Mushroom Growers Association (79.6%), training workshops (73.5%), and the Farmers' Forum (29.6%) readily served as information sources for farmers. The research revealed that, for 52% of farmers, ignorance of information sources was a major hindrance in their quest for information.","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"176 - 191"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2017.1361328","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44040496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Seeds with Stories: Seed Savers Exchange Revisited","authors":"Tom Volkening","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2018.1441578","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2018.1441578","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"106 - 115"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2018.1441578","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43588407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Factors Affecting the Selection of Information Sources of Sustainable Agricultural Practices by Malaysian Vegetable Farmers","authors":"Yeong Sheng Tey, M. Brindal, E. Li, Gurjeet Gill, J. Bruwer, A. Abdullah, Alias Radam, M. Ismail, S. Darham","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2017.1328310","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2017.1328310","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Information is key in reducing the uncertainties of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs). The objective of this study was to improve the understanding of the relationship between utilized informational sources and other key identified factors affecting Malaysian vegetable producers' choices. The findings of a multivariate probit model suggest that information sources are complementary. The choices for these sources are influenced by heterogeneity in access to credit, social network (member of farmers association), and farm settings (distance from farm to market, resource depletion issues, and geographical regions). Future promotion of SAPs should be delivered through the provision of quality content disseminated through the preferred information sources, which target potential users.","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"162 - 175"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2017.1328310","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47321503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Feasibility of Using Mobile Phones as an Educational Medium in Agricultural Extension Services in Guilan Province, Iran","authors":"Mohammad Sadegh Allahyaria, Maryam Ranjbar Atashi, E. Dunn","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2017.1363654","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2017.1363654","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study examined the feasibility of the use of mobile phones as an educational tool in agricultural extension services in the Guilan Province of Iran. A descriptive-survey methodology was employed on a sample population of 120 agricultural extension agents. Data were analyzed at descriptive and inferential levels using SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The results of the factor analysis indicated that the application of mobile phones in extension activities was influenced by three factors: economic, skill, and infrastructure. These factors accounted for 52.3% of the variance. Moreover, the possibility for the development of mobile phones as an educational medium is impacted by social, financial-credit, information-communicational, psychological, and improper conditions factors that, in total, captured 70.4% of the variance.","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"129 - 140"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2017.1363654","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48648673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Time Costs to Digitize Print Agricultural Serial Publications","authors":"R. McGeachin","doi":"10.1080/10496505.2018.1436443","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2018.1436443","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Time studies were conducted on the various steps in the digitization, quality control and ingestion into a DSpace institutional repository of Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletins. The average time to scan each page was 0.92 minutes. The time to create Dublin Core metadata, assign NALT subject terms, and do item quality control of images was 20.48 minutes per item. PDF file creation was 16.4 minutes per item on average. The time to create a DSpace batch load for automated ingestion was 1.34 minutes. The time to do quality control checking on ingested items and publish the items was 2.03 minutes","PeriodicalId":43986,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural & Food Information","volume":"19 1","pages":"116 - 120"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10496505.2018.1436443","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47929597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}