REVIEW OF THE USE OF VIDEO IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION TO INCREASE THE ADOPTION OF AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION

Abstract

Agricultural production in developing countries has been limited by several factors: slow adoption of agricultural innovations due to lack of information and knowledge. Agricultural Extension in these countries is faced with diverse challenges such as; top-down mechanism, cost intensiveness, low personnel to farmer ratio, among others, which has not been effective in reaching the large farming population across broad geographical boundaries. Increasing agricultural productivity to cope with the 10 billion global estimated population requires enhancement of rapid uptake of agricultural innovations by smallholder farmers in developing countries through digital tools. In this study, we examined the impact of video-mediated (Digital Green) agricultural Extension on the adoption rate of agricultural innovations in developing countries. We examined the working mechanisms of digital green; and the activities and the role of digital green in increasing the uptake of agricultural technologies by farmers. The result indicated that Digital Green increased the adoption rate of agricultural innovations, enhanced farmers' access to markets through the Loop, and indirectly increased yield due to farmers' adoption of yield-enhancing innovations.  The study recommended using videos to disseminate innovations to farmers as video-mediated agricultural extension helps lower the perceived risks of agricultural innovations as farmers can see the results from the beginning, leading to fast adoption of innovations.