Project topics and materials
Get Complete Project Material File(s) Now! »
GLOBAL PERCEPTION OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF AGRICULTURE
The international community has pledged to halve poverty and hunger by 2015 (FAO, 2012). As a result, there is increased urgency in the fight to reduce hunger by 2015. Based on the “onedollar- a-day threshold”, there are 1.4 billion poor people in the developing countries. Of these, 985 million suffer from chronic hunger and thus their daily intake of calories is insufficient for them to live active and healthy lives. Despite numerous efforts on the part of organisations and governments to reduce poverty, extreme poverty remains a frightening problem in most of the developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, there were 58 million more poor people in 1999 than in 1990 (Swanson, 2008). By 2016, a billion people will still be living on less than US$1.25 a day (Swanson, 2008). In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of poor people has almost doubled from 200 million in 1981 to 390 million in 2005, although the poverty rate fell from 58% in 1996 to 50% in 2005 (Swanson, 2008).
Most of the people who are affected by poverty live in rural areas and thus it is essential that strategies to reduce the slow pace of poverty and to reduce hunger be implemented in these areas. The majority of research has indicated that agriculture is the main force behind the rural economy in developing countries. In addition, the literature has shown that very few countries achieve sustainable economic growth without developing their agricultural sector, with agriculture playing an important role in most developing countries through the provision of income, employment, and foreign exchange. Without a developed agricultural sector, a country becomes inefficient as regards feeding itself or importing foreign goods for consumption (Birkhaeuser et al., 1991). In order to reduce hunger and poverty, civil organisations and NGOs should commit themselves to mobilising resources and providing technical services and advocacy to communities because agricultural growth plays a critical role in enhancing food security and reducing poverty in developing countries (FAO, 2006).
There is an urgent need to increase agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa as the most basic food production is not able to keep pace with the increasing population growth in the region. However, achieving increased agricultural production is a complex issue as many factors are involved. Two of these many factors include agricultural extension and research as means of developing and conveying message to farmers. Thus, in the context of sustainable agricultural development, agricultural extension has a crucial role to play (FAO, 2006).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.4 ACADEMIC VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF THE PROPOSED STUDY
1.5 PRE- AND POST-INDEPENDENCE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION IN NAMIBIA
1.6 MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, WATER AND FORESTRY: DIRECTORATE OF ENGINEERING AND EXTENSION SERVICES (DEES)
1.7 TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
1.8 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
1.9 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATIONS
1.10 DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS
1.11 ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY CHAPTERS
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.2 GLOBAL PERCEPTION OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF AGRICULTURE
2.3 AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION APPROACHES AND CHALLENGES
2.4 CHALLENGES FACING ORGANISATIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS
2.5 THE “NEW EXTENSIONIST”: ROLES, STRATEGIES, AND CAPACITIES TO STRENGTHEN EXTENSION ADVISORY SERVICES
2.6 THE LANDSCAPE NEEDED FOR EFFECTIVE EXTENSION WORK
2.7 PARTICIPATION
2.8 DIFFERENT PARTICIPATORY MODELS
2.9 AN EXAMPLE OF A DECENTRALISED EXTENSION SYSTEM MODEL
2.10 STATE LEVEL
2.11 DISTRICT LEVEL
2.12 BLOCK LEVEL
2.13 VILLAGE
2.14 CONCLUSION OF LITERATURE
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 THE STUDY
3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN
3.5 POPULATION AND SAMPLE
3.6 DATA COLLECTION AND INSTRUMENTS
3.7 DATA ANALYSIS 6
3.8 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
3.9 RESEARCH ETHICS
CHAPTER 4: SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF THE OSHIKOTO REGION
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 DEMOGRAPHICS
4.3 FARMERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ASS
4.4 INFORMATION SOURCES USED BY FARMERS
4.5 SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT FINDINGS
CHAPTER 5: FARMER PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT IN GROUPS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 PARTICIPATION OF FARMER RESPONDENTS IN FBOS
5.3 SUMMARY OF THE IMPORTANT FINDINGS
5.4 PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY FARMERS
5.5 SUMMARY OF THE MAIN FINDINGS
5.6 PLURALISM AND COORDINATION
5.7 SUMMARY OF THE IMPORTANT FINDINGS
5.8 FINDINGS OF THE QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS
5.9 OBJECTIVE 2: IDENTIFY CURRENT ROLE PLAYERS AMONG THE ASS PROVIDERS
5.10 OBJECTIVE 3: INSTITUTIONAL LINKAGES AND COORDINATION OF ASS IN THE OSHIKOTO REGION
5.11 OBJECTIVE 4: THE REQUIRED CAPACITIES AND SKILLS FOR COORDINATED ASS
5.12 OBJECTIVE 5: PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES OF STAKEHOLDERS TOWARDS COORDINATED, PLURALISTIC ASS
5.13 OBJECTIVE 6: FRAMEWORK FOR IMPROVING COORDINATION IN THE PROVISION OF ASS TO FARMERS IN THE OSHIKOTO REGION
5.14 OPERATIONALISATION OF THE FRAMEWORK
5.15 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
