ABSTRACT
Agriculture is a complicated system, related to a wide
range of environments, which is difficult to deal with perfectly. Web-based
agricultural extension system has been proposed to applicable support agricultural
activities, which combines web Technologies and agricultural systems. This research
work analyzed the basic characters of the web-based agricultural extension system
and then describe the functionalities of the system. In the study, it is
revealed that lack of awareness, provision of education and training, absence
of supervision and coordination, insufficient daily perdium, inadequate
infrastructure, lack of credit service and expensive nature of the price of
agricultural inputs were the major factors affecting the implementation of agricultural
extension program in Ishiagu. Based on the findings of the study, the developed
software will help a create community
awareness, providing educational and training facilities, supportive
supervision and coordination, establishing sufficient infrastructural conditions,
provision of sufficient allowance to agricultural extension workers and credit
service to the rural households .
CHAPTER
ONE
1.0
Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
Web base Agriculture is an important
sector in the economic development and poverty alleviation drive of many
countries. The role which agriculture has played in the industrial growth and
development of most of the industrialized countries in the world cannot be over
emphasized. The importance of this sector is more pronounced in the developing
countries including Nigeria where it is one of the facets of national survival,
employment and food (Muhammad, 2009). Agriculture has become a way of life mostly
for rural people. Despite its declining importance as a contributor to the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), agriculture still represents an important input to the
national economy and to rural livelihoods in Nigeria (Ephrem 2009).
Web base Agricultural extension can be defined as an advice
and assistance given to the farmers and his families through educational
procedures on new farming methods and techniques in order to improve their
production efficiency and income, bettering their level of living and up
lifting the education and social standard of the farmers. Agricultural
extension is the application of scientific research and knowledge to
agricultural practices through farmer education. Generally,
agricultural extension can be defined as the “delivery of information inputs to
armers.” (Anderson et al, 2007). The role of extension services is
invaluable in teaching farmers how to improve their productivity. Web based Agricultural
extension management system is Web base
Agricultural extension is a service or a system which assists farmers through
educational procedures, in improving farming methods and techniques. This
research delved into the brief history of agricultural extension services in
Nigeria and have profoundly influenced the activities of extension worker in
Nigeria. More so, a web based system was developed to replace the anomalies
found in existing system.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Because
the public and private sectors are currently actors in both training and
communicating with local farmers and agricultural stakeholders in Nigeria, the
agricultural extension sector in Nigeria is been crippled with this limitation.
1.
Delay
in timing: It takes a long time to provide and to
get trainings in normal forms (where trainer and the trainee(s) meet physically
in the same location for exchanging a face to face dialogue).
2.
Cost
of extension services: Sometimes, extension information is expensive
(in addition to the fees for getting extension services, some groups of farmers
can hire an expert on their own).
1.3
Objectives of the Study
The
main objective of the work is to design a web based agricultural extension and
management system for farmers in Ishiagu. The specific objectives includes to
Ø Determine the specific agricultural
information system needed by Ishiagu Farmers and other agricultural
stakeholders and way of getting it.
Ø Evaluate the agricultural stakeholders’
awareness and access to web technologies in Nigeria.
Ø Assess the use and access to ICT extension
information in Nigeria.
1.4 Significance of the study
The
software will software will be available to farmers and other agricultural
stakeholder’s location. In this way newer inventions in agricultural
technologies and their uses can then be easily accessed without delay or
restriction.
1.5 Scope of the Study
This project was designed with Federal College of
Agriculture Ishiagu in mind but the content can be assessed by farmers around
the globe .
1.6 Definition of
Terms
Software: This is a set of instruction that tell the computer what to
do and how to do it.
Management:
Management refers to the process of getting activities completed efficiently
with and through other people.
Agriculture: The science, art, or
practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in
varying degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.
Agricultural
Extension: Cooperative (Federal, State, and County)
agency doing research and education for rural and urban producer and consumer
groups, located in each county with specialist personnel for each particular
area.
Computer: Is
an electronic device which is capable of receiving information (data) in a
particular form and of performing a sequence of operations in accordance with a
predetermined but variable set of procedural instructions (program) to produce
a result in the form of information or signals.
Online:
Is the condition of being connected to a network of computers or other devices.
Web-based
application: is any program that is accessed over a network connection
using HTTP, rather than existing within a device's memory.
Extension:
Refers
to a service or system which assists maize farmers, through educational
procedures, in improving farming methods and techniques, increasing production
efficiency and income, bettering their levels of living and lifting social and
educational standards.
Online: online is the condition of being connected to a network of
computers or other devices
Management: Management (or managing) is the administration of an
organization, whether it is a business, a not-for-profit organization, or
government body.
Advisory: An advisory is an official announcement or report that warns
people about bad weather, diseases, or other dangers or problems.
Information: information is the message has different meanings in different contexts.
Thus the concept of information becomes
closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form,
education, knowledge, meaning,
understanding, mental stimuli, pattern, perception, representation, and
entropy.
Farmers: farmer is a person who owns, works on or operates an
agricultural enterprise, either commercially or to sustain himself or his
family.