Agricultural education

About: Agricultural education is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6343 publications have been published within this topic receiving 54285 citations. The topic is also known as: farm education & farming education.

Enhancing agricultural innovation : how to go beyond the strengthening of research systems

Abstract: Agricultural development depends to a great extent on how successfully knowledge is generated and applied. Investments in knowledge - especially in the form of science and technology have featured prominently and consistently in most strategies to promote sustainable and equitable agricultural development at the national level. As the context of agricultural development has changed, ideas of what constitutes innovation have changed, and so have approaches for investing in it. Strengthened research systems may increase the supply of new knowledge and new technologies, but they may not necessarily improve the capacity for innovation throughout the agricultural sector. The concept of an innovation system has guided this more holistic approach to planning knowledge production and use. This paper uses this concept to develop a framework for guiding diagnosis of innovation capacity and for planning interventions. The innovation systems concept focuses not merely on the science suppliers but on the totality and interaction of actors involved in innovation. It extends beyond the creation of knowledge to encompass the factors affecting demand for and use of new and existing knowledge in novel and useful ways. The question then is whether the principles and insights arising from the innovation systems concept and the perspective on innovation capacity development it implies can be converted into operational tools for policies and projects that address the practical challenges of agricultural development and sustained economic growth. This paper attempts to answer that question. Chapter one presents why assess the value of the innovation systems perspective? The innovation systems concept is discussed in chapter two, especially with regard to its potential value for agricultural development interventions. Chapter three describes the methodology for the study, further discusses the rationale for selecting each case study, and summarizes results of each study. Chapter four, a comparative analysis of the eight studies highlights differences in the evolution of the eight cases and identifies potential sources of these differences. The main findings from the case studies are used in chapter five to derive lessons on what drives innovation and the generic interventions that promote the capacity to innovate. The comparative analysis of the case studies is used to develop an intervention framework in chapter six. Chapter seven recapitulates the main conclusions from the case studies, revisits the utility of the analytical framework for understanding agricultural innovation, and also revisits the value of the intervention framework for identifying activities in support of agricultural innovation.

Civic Agriculture: Reconnecting Farm, Food, and Community

Abstract: While the American agricultural and food systems follow a path of industrialization and globalization, a counter trend has appeared toward localizing some agricultural and food production. Thomas A. Lyson calls this rebirth of locally based agriculture and food production civic agriculture because these activities are tightly linked to a community's social and economic development. Civic agriculture embraces innovative ways to produce and distribute food, and it represents a sustainable alternative to the destructive practices associated with conventional large-scale agriculture. Lyson argues that farming in the United States was modernized using the same techniques that transformed the manufacturing sector from a system of craft production to one of mass production. Viewing agriculture as just another industrial sector led to transformations in both the production and the processing of food. Lyson enumerates the shortcomings of the current agriculture and food systems, and he then introduces the concept of community problem solving and demonstrates that a re-localization of the food production system is underway.

Education for Development: An Analysis of Investment Choices

Abstract: The principal aim of this book is to make planners and policymakers more aware of the problems that can arise in developing investment strategies for education and the analytical tools and information that are available to help solve them. It draws both on World Bank analysis and research and on the wider literature on planning educational investment. Among the topics discussed are the contribution of education to economic and human development, cost-benefit analysis, the demand for educated manpower, finance, the efficiency and quality of education, equity considerations, and the links between investment in education and in other sectors.

Students' perception and preference for online education in India during COVID -19 pandemic.

Abstract: Educational institutes across the world have closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic jeopardizing the academic calendars. Most educational institutes have shifted to online learning platforms to keep the academic activities going. However, the questions about the preparedness, designing and effectiveness of e-learning is still not clearly understood, particularly for a developing country like India, where the technical constraints like suitability of devices and bandwidth availability poses a serious challenge. In this study, we focus on understanding Agricultural Student's perception and preference towards the online learning through an online survey of 307 students. We also explored the student's preferences for various attributes of online classes, which will be helpful to design effective online learning environment. The results indicated that majority of the respondents (70%) are ready to opt for online classes to manage the curriculum during this pandemic. Majority of the students preferred to use smart phone for online learning. Using content analysis, we found that students prefer recorded classes with quiz at the end of each class to improve the effectiveness of learning. The students opined that flexibility and convenience of online classes makes it attractive option, whereas broadband connectivity issues in rural areas makes it a challenge for students to make use of online learning initiatives. However, in agricultural education system where many courses are practical oriented, shifting completely to online mode may not be possible and need to device a hybrid mode, the insights from this article can be helpful in designing the curriculum for the new normal.

Farmer education and farm efficiency: a survey

Abstract: Development strategies increasingly emphasize agricultural development, employment, and equity; it is therefore important to examine the role of education in light of these new emphases. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the conclusions of a number of studies of the effect of a farmer's educational level and exposure to extension services on his productivity. Eighteen studies conducted in low-income countries provided 37 sets of farm data that allow a statistical estimation of the effect of education. The overall conclusion of this paper is that farm productivity increases as a result of a farmer's completing at least 4 additional years of elementary education rather than none. Also, the effects of education were much more likely to be positive in modernizing agricultural environments than in traditional ones.