The influence of gender-responsive communication tools on knowledge, attitudes, and practices around orange-fleshed sweet potato innovations

ABSTRACT

This study examined the relationship between exposure to gender-responsive agricultural communication channels and sweet potato knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs). Our data, collected from men and women farmers in 300 households, showed that a higher proportion of farmers applied good agricultural practices after participating in a demonstration (and also seeing a video or otherwise). The ratio of men and women farmers who used sand storage and sprouting technology was lowest among unexposed farmers and highest among farmers exposed to both video and demonstration. Our findings suggest that multi-channel communication is more effective in influencing the KAPs of farmers than individual channels.

KEYWORDS:

• Communication channels
• Ghana
• knowledge
• attitudes and practices
• orange-fleshed sweet potato

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 For a detailed description of the Triple S technology, see Namanda, Amour, and Gibson (2013).

2 Following from Shikuku et al. (2019), we recognise that knowledge and attitudes/beliefs influence practices. Therefore, we presented 14 statements/questions for farmers to rank on a three-point Likert scale (i.e. disagree, indifferent, and agree). We deliberately included a mixture of affirmative and negative statements/questions in order to minimise agreement bias.

3 An attractive feature of radio is its ability to provide rich agricultural information to illiterate farmers in a language that they can understand (Chapman et al. 2003).

4 Field officers were tasked to translate the videos, during screening, into the local language spoken by members of a beneficiary community.

5 The Scaling Sweet Potato Triple S PLUS project did not conduct a formal baseline survey as it was implemented as a follow up to earlier CIP interventions.

6 A similar study showed that farmers in western Kenya obtained information on integrated soil fertility management from a couple of communication channels including the four that we study and other channels such as workshops/seminars, exchange visits, mobile phones, brochures, television, books, billboards/posters, newspapers/magazines, and internet (Adolwa et al. 2012).

7 A farmer is deemed to have used a good storage container if he or she used a Triple S container, sandbox, stepped pit, or a combination of these. We do not make a distinction between use of a single or multiple container types.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was developed as part of the CGIAR research program on Roots, Tubers, and Bananas and supported by CGIAR Funds Donors (www.cgiar.org/about-us/our-funders).

Notes on contributors

Prince Maxwell Etwire

Prince Maxwell Etwire is Research Scientist (Agricultural Economist) at the CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, Tamale, Ghana where he has been a faculty member of the socioeconomic section since 2009. He received his BSc (Agricultural Technology), MPhil (Agricultural Economics) and PhD (Economics) degrees from the University for Development Studies, University of Ghana and University of Otago, respectively. His research interests are in the areas of monitoring and evaluation of agricultural projects, climate change adaptation modelling, productivity studies, general microeconomic modelling and building of organizational capacity. Email: [email protected].

Simon Imoro

Simon Imoro is a Data Manager at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Prior to joining IITA in 2021, he worked for the International Potato Centre (CIP) as a Data Manager/IT Specialist. He is a specialist in developing and maintaining databases and digital data collection tools for surveys, providing training and support to scientists and technicians in the use of digital and information systems for research data management. Simon has over 10 years of experience in collaborating with private, international and local organizations in managing general information systems, agriculture, and health data. He obtained his BSc. in Computer Science and MSc. in Information Technology from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Email: [email protected].

Issahaq Suleman

Issahaq Suleman is a Project Coordinator at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. Before his current portfolio, he worked with the International Potato Center (CIP) as an Agronomy and Post-harvest Research Officer. Issahaq is an agriculture innovation champion with over 12 years of experience in agricultural extension and research and development in West Africa, leading farmers to access improved technology in seed systems, market access, contract farming and regulatory compliance. Issahaq obtained his BSc in Agriculture Education at the University of Education (Ghana) and is currently pursuing a Mphil degree in Agronomy. Email: [email protected].

Thomas Van Mourik

Thomas van Mourik is the global advisor food systems at Helen Keller International (HKI). Prior to joining HKI in 2022, he worked for the Royal Tropical Institute as Advisor on Agriculture and Seed Systems (2020-2022) and at the International Potato Centre (CIP) as the Country manager for Ghana and Wes Africa. He is a specialist in agronomy, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, food systems, seed systems, research and extension linkages, communication and scaling of innovations, providing training and technical support to farmer organisations, national research institutes, private sector and NGOs. He has over 15 years of experience in research and development in Africa and Asia. Thomas obtained his MSc. in Biology at the Free University in Amsterdam and a doctorate degree in production ecology (agriculture) at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Email: [email protected].