"A great deal of controversy has developed concerning the Institution on the Farm Training Program aspect of the Servicemens' Re-Adjustment Act. Some have said that it is ineffective and extravagant, others have taken the opposite point of view. The program has been in effect in Leon and Wakulla Counties since 1946, and no attempt has been made to evaluate it. It is felt that there is a need for such an evaluation. This study is an attempt to meet that need by including an evaluation of the over all program as well as of the methods used in teaching and in the supervisory program"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "January, 1955." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 57).

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 1998. / "A thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy" -- tp.

Webster describes education as ….. “a science dealing with the principles and practice of teaching and learning". Vocational Agricultural Education endeavors to train present and prospective famers for proficiency in farming. The end of World War II found this country faced with the problem of readjusting to civilian life many millions of men and women who so ably served their country in the armed forces. The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944., Public Lew 346, and The Act Providing for Vocational Rehabilitation of Disabled Veterans, Public law 16, commonly called the G. I. Bill of Rights, was formulated by the 78th Congress of the United States with the expressed idea in mind of rehabilitating and re-establishing veterans of World War II into a more permanent and satisfactory way of life. The application of the provisions of these laws, as amended by Public law 377, 80th Congress, makes specific provisions for training; veterans who elected to pursue a course of Institutional on-farm training. The responsibility for training those veterans who had returned to the fam to live, finally rested with the Virginia State Department of Education. Much work had been done in connection with this program. Supervisors and instructors have spent many hours of concentrated work and study in carrying out a program designed to meet the requirements of the law, with specific emphasis placed on the needs of the individual veteran. The purpose of this study was to show some of the conditions and practice: being; followed in carrying out the institutional on-farm training; program, and any evidence of success that the program may show. / Master of Science

This study identified and rated the leadership competencies that were considered needed by young farmers and should be taught in the young farmer instructional program. The participants in the study were the young farmer advisors, certain young farmer members, state staff, and teacher educators. All participants were from the state of Virginia. The participants rated a list of 43 leadership competencies according to the following rating scale: 4...High Importance, 3... Medium Importance, 2...Low Importance, and 1...No Importance. The mean of the ratings for the four groups were computed as well as the total mean for all groups. The total mean for all competencies was 2.5 or above. All competencies were placed in the medium to high importance category. The ratings of the four groups were examined to determine if the groups rated the competencies similarly. The two groups who rated the most competencies similarly were the advisors and the members. The groups who rated the fewest competencies similarly were members and state staff, and state staff and teacher educators. Also, the respondents ranked the top ten competencies. The competencies which were ranked the top ten are listed below: Bank Competency 1 37. Assume responsibility. 2 34. Cooperate with others. 3 36. Develop enthusiasm. 4 38. Learn to be fair in dealings with others. 5 30. Speak effectively to others. 6 31. Listen effectively to others. 7 39. Participate in community activities. 8 18. Obtain participation by all members. 9 1. Open and close a meeting correctly. 10 32. Accept others as they are. / Ed. D.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African government continues to provide post-settlement support to emerging farmers, with the objective of improving productivity through targeted funding or conditional grants. The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP), which came into effect in 2004, provides funding targeted at supporting emerging farmers. CASP has six pillars, of which this study focused on one, which is capacity building and training. The study investigated the assessment of the impact of training on the projects’ beneficiaries who had benefited from the CASP pillar of training and capacity building in the Limpopo Province. The methodology applied was the difference-in-difference technique. Projects that benefited from funding were regarded as the treatment group and those that did not benefit from the programme were regarded as the control group. The justification for the research was that while the government had financed CASP through fiscal allocation since 2004, because CASP is a conditional grant, there was a need to review the programme, focusing on establishing whether the budget allocation had achieved its intended objectives during this time. The objectives of the study were to measure whether there had been an improvement in the beneficiaries’ income levels. It focused on the status of the projects prior to the beneficiaries receiving training and benefiting from capacity building, and what the status was after receiving training through the programme, with the key determinant being an increase in income levels. Not all funded projects had benefited from the particular pillar investigated here. The selection of the beneficiaries to be trained was based on a skills audit which treated the groups as homogeneous, which was found to be inappropriate because of the differences in the prior skills, education levels and the specific interests of individuals. The findings were that there was variation in the increase of income levels. There was a positive relationship between training and reported increase in income levels in some projects, and a negative relationship between training and income levels for other projects. It was interesting that income levels increased for projects that had benefited from the CASP pillar of training and capacity building when the projects were analysed as a group, but when projects were analysed individually, it was revealed that there was a marginal decrease in income levels. There should be a shift in policy. The focus on training and capacity building should be a priority and should occur prior to the projects receiving infrastructure support. The 10% of the total CASP budget allocated for training and capacity building needs to be reviewed, taking into account that low skills levels continue to be the main reason why projects are not sustainable. There is also a need to review the impact of training. The type of training offered should not be generic for all projects, it should be differentiated to suit the both the people and the commodities concerned and should be more biased towards entrepreneurship, as this would enable emerging farmers to grow their business units and realise increased income levels.

Printed information access, preferences and use by small-scale farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, who are experimenting with or converting to organic farming, were investigated to establish the need for information on organic production, certification, and marketing. Forty-six resource-poor farmers from four groups at Umbumbulu, Tugela Ferry, KwaMashu and Muden participated in semi-structured group interviews. Guiding questions, information tabulation, ranking and sorting, and voting were used to gather data. Five printed agricultural information materials were evaluated. The findings indicated that the participants trusted and relied on intermediaries for access to innovative, research-based information, and preferred interpersonal communication over other information channels. Printed materials were valued for their permanence, while participants preferred materials in isiZulu as 75% of participants were able to read and write isiZulu or were able to ask family members to read materials in isiZulu. At least one functionally literate farmer was a member of each of the participating farmer groups. Appropriate printed information on organic production, certification and marketing had not reached the participants. Characteristics of printed information materials preferred by participating farmers included: large typeface, photographs, drawings, step-by-step instructions, stories about people and events, context-specific content, the use of plain language in English or preferably isiZulu. / Thesis (M.Agric.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

The focus of this study is to explore and expand farmer learning processes in sustainable agriculture workplace contexts. It examines change oriented learning processes in the context of three sustainable agriculture practices. The study begins by discussing the history and emergence of environmental discourses and approaches; sustainable agriculture; and the histories of three kinds of sustainable agriculture practices: Permaculture, Organic Farming and Machobane Farming System. It also traces the evolution of agricultural extension approaches within the wider context of education for sustainable development. The main focus of the study is an exploration of how farmer learning can be mediated through an expansive learning process. The study methodology surfaces some of the contradictions in sustainable agriculture and learning activity systems that farmers encounter in learning and practising sustainable agriculture. It uses these contradictions as sources of expansive learning in and between the respective activity systems of farmers, sustainable agriculture facilitators, agricultural extension workers (conventional) and organic entrepreneurs. As shown in the study, the expansive learning processes result in the modelling, implementation and reviewing of solutions to contradictions being faced in the learning and practice of sustainable agriculture. The study also proposes a number of tools that can be adapted and used by development farmers and agricultural trainers to examine and expand learning as well as build farmer agency. The study was conducted in three case study sites in Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe the study is located in Hwedza district in the St Margaret Primary School and community that learn, practise and facilitate the learning of Permaculture within the Schools and Colleges Permaculture Programme (SCOPE). The second study site is in South Africa: Durban urban and peri-urban areas where a community of organic farmers, facilitators and entrepreneurs coordinate the marketing of their produce through Isidore Farm and Earth Mother Organic and support each other to learn and practise organic farming. The third study site is based in the Mafeteng and Mohale‟s Hoek districts of Lesotho where the focus was on farmers who learn and practise the Machobane Farming System (MFS) and are supported in this by the Rural Self Development Association (RSDA) and the Machobane Agricultural Development Foundation (MADF). Drawing on three sensitising concepts of dialectics, reflexivity and agency, the study worked with Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) underpinned by critical realism to reveal how farmer learning is mediated and expanded. The theory of practice/habitus also provided a useful theoretical lens with which to examine data generated. Using a two-phased, multiple embedded case study approach, the study worked within the broad framework of social learning. It used semi-structured individual and group interviews, observations and document analysis to explore learning processes and generate „mirror‟ data. This data was then used in Change Laboratory Workshops, within the Developmental Work Research methodology, where double stimulation and focus group discussions contributed to expanding learning processes. Drawing on critical realism the study used inductive, abductive and retroductive modes of inference to analyse data in each case study as well as across case studies. The findings of the study reveal that farmer learning is influenced by both intrinsic motives, such as identity, and extrinsic motives which are primarily associated with economic, ecological and health benefits. Farmers learn through scaffolding and mediating tools that link everyday and scientific knowledge. They also learn from fellow farmers through observation, practising and experimentation. Some of the issues that were raised in connection with farmer learning processes are: language; time to learn, practice and appropriate concepts; time to improve the natural resource base while at the same time improving income generation; and responses to climate change. The study also found that farmer learning and practice of sustainable agriculture in the case studies investigated, is influenced by past and current agricultural and educational policies; societal values and attitudes; social and cultural backgrounds; work affordances and gender relations; quality of training offered; poverty; and, HIV and AIDS. In the second phase of the study, which built on the problematic situations being encountered by research participants (sustainable agriculture farmers, sustainable agriculture facilitators, extension workers, and organic marketers) to surface contradictions, the main finding was that the expansive learning process has potential to enhance farmer learning and practice of sustainable agriculture. It does this by mobilising distributed cognition among participants as well as their preparedness to act. Through the expansive learning processes in each case study, research participants were able to question their practices, surface contradictions, model solutions and implement them, and thus build individual, collective and relational agency reflexively. Observation of this required micro-analysis of agentive talk and reflective talk. The study contributes in-depth insight into participatory research and learning processes, especially within the context of people-centred learning and innovation in the agricultural development arena. It provides empirical and explanatory insight into how change oriented social learning can emerge and be expanded in Education for Sustainable Development, explaining learning and change relationships in three sustainable agricultural practices. It also provides learning and extension tools to work with contradictions that arise from intentionality, experience, context and history in farming and training activity systems. Its key contribution lies in providing in-depth insight into mobilisation of human agency and reflexivity in change oriented sustainable agriculture learning and development, processes that are critical for responding to contemporary socio-ecological issues and risks.

This thesis is about agricultural extension education. The context is agricultural extension in South Africa. It addresses the following questions: To what extent does current agricultural extension education in South Africa adequately reflect the current and changing educational and developmental imperatives? To what extent does it adequately equip extension officers and other agricultural development practitioners to deliver relevant support to farmers and farming communities? In short, how relevant is the training received by South African Agricultural Extension practitioners? The South African government has made significant changes in the policy environment governing agriculture. While the majority of the policy changes fall outside the scope of this research, it can be safely argued, as noted in the current Strategy for South African Agriculture, that the changes are fundamental. The changes redirect agriculture to the majority population which has hitherto been marginalised and generally denied meaningful access to the agricultural sector of the South African economy. To implement these changes, the agricultural sector will need appropriate skills – skills which, it is submitted – are largely lacking within the agricultural extension service and, more relevantly to this study, in Agricultural Extension curricula. In addition to the foregoing, assumptions about farmers and their roles in technology and information creation and consumption, assumptions about the roles of tertiary institutions in the triad of teaching, extension and research and indeed about the triad itself need to be challenged. A system of education which has its origins in the 1800s (before even the industrial revolution, much less the digital revolution) needs, per force, to be interrogated regularly to ensure that it delivers according to the demands of the exigencies of the time. Similarly, assumptions about the aim of development and in particular agricultural development have been questioned in many parts of the world. And yet it is submitted that in South Africa, the basic extension methodologies have not changed in any fundamental way; rather they have adopted some of the outer trappings of new approaches, without assessing the fundamentals of the core extension approach. It is believed that extension is in need of a serious review and that it is timely to do so. Recent research in Africa and elsewhere in the world indicates that extension needs be reconstructed on a different set of operational objectives led by a different vision. The extension strategy herein presented is built around a vision which places the focus on the farmer (and other land users) in the context not of technology, but of creating prosperity. The vision implies that the purpose of agricultural extension is to facilitate the establishment of self-reliant farmers who are contributing to widespread prosperity. The dual outcomes of self-reliant farmers and widespread prosperity are meant to be realised through a new set of =rules of engagement‘. Prosperity is derived out of farmers working together, sharing information, and learning together. Self-reliant farmers are an outcome of a learning partnership between farmers and extension practitioners. This study was conducted in a series of stages. The first thrust examined the nature of Agricultural Extension and the assumptions on which it is predicated. The result of this interrogation was to propose a new concept for Agricultural Extension – Agriflection – which is a learning-based concept aimed at improving the sustainability of the livelihoods of farmers through iterative development processes fostered through a learning agenda that is facilitated by an appropriately trained Agricultural Extension practitioner. To realise such a vision, it is essential that the mission of the extension service be recast to reflect the dynamics of the implications of the vision. The key elements of the mission are, therefore, client-responsiveness and partnerships. The power to realise the vision rests in three critical aspects. First is the capacity of the extension service to engage with its clients as genuine partners in a shared learning agenda. The second is the capacity of the extension service to engage with the many other agencies and organisations which supply goods and services to farmers and land users. The third is ensuring that engagements with farmers support sustainable development, that is, that production of food, fibre and fuel is socially just, economically sustainable and environmentally sustainable. This new vision and mission lay the foundation for a fundamental shift in the way agricultural extension is positioned, resourced, implemented and evaluated. The strategic goals, principles and values presented in this strategy are built on this foundation, and they, in turn, create the framework for constructing the operational plans of the extension service as well as for management and measurement of the service. The second thrust of the study was to filter the Agriflection concept through South African educational and agricultural policy. Given that the agricultural frontier is subject to change in focus and priorities, it was reasoned that the training and education of would-be extension practitioners needs to be able to respond to changes in methods and in the field. The National Government has adopted the outcomes-based model as the general structure for curriculum development. Further sustainable development/livelihoods has been adopted as the general framework for development. Outcomes-based education and sustainable development/livelihoods provide a framework for studying and developing curricula. A tool that enables curriculum analysis and development which allows for adjustment to changing imperatives while maintaining integrity in terms of education and development, would be valuable for tertiary institutions training extension officers. The result of this second thrust was the development of curriculum markers that encapsulated what non-technical knowledge and skills (i.e. Agricultural Extension knowledge and skills) were needed to be able to deliver on the imperatives of the transformation agenda of current agricultural policy. Thirty-four markers were identified. The third thrust of the study was to create a credible method to evaluate Agricultural Extension curricula and to capture and analyse data. A detailed review of methods and approaches was made resulting in fashioning the Theory-led Instructional-Design Curriculum Evaluation (TICE) method. One of the primary facets of this six-process method is questioning of the assumptions on which the discipline of Agricultural Extension is based. Such a questioning would lead to a new theory to govern the evaluation of curriculum. Ancillary to the TICE method were the methods of data collection and analysis. The study consolidated these in presence and efficacy factors. These factors measured the presence of the 34 markers in Agricultural Extension curricula and the extent to which they were addressed, if present. The fourth thrust of the study was the detailed evaluation of curricula of qualifications most commonly held by public sector Agricultural Extension practitioners. The study examined the curricula of agricultural diplomas, of three- and four-year agricultural degrees and of one-year postgraduate qualifications offered by Colleges of Agriculture and selected Universities and Universities of Technology. The fifth thrust was to conduct corroborative investigations in the public sector. This was done by surveying Agricultural Extension practitioners asking them to evaluate the extent to which they believed they have knowledge and/or skill represented by the 34 curricula markers. In addition, a brief analysis was made of Agricultural Extension practitioner job descriptions used in the public sector. This was done to determine what knowledge and skills were expected of Agricultural Extension practitioners and comparing this to the 34 markers. The study revealed that there is very limited Agricultural Extension training offered in the curricula of qualifications held by the majority of public sector Agricultural Extension practitioners. Further, using the 34 markers as the touchstone, it was determined that the current curricula do not adequately equip public sector Agricultural Extension practitioners to deliver on the agenda of current South African agricultural policy. Without extensive revision of curricula in terms of both the quantity and content of extension training, the South African public sector Agricultural Extension service will not be able to realise the intended transformation of agriculture. Its key operatives will not have the knowledge and skills needed to do so. This is a unique study. No study of its kind has ever been conducted in South Africa. Numerous studies have been conducted into the training needs of Agricultural Extension practitioners. None have gone to the extent of questioning the assumptions on which Agricultural Extension is based. None have made a critical examination of curricula in the light of current educational and agricultural policy. This study found that there is an urgent need for serious attention to be given the purpose, scope, outcomes of Agricultural Extension higher education in South Africa to ensure that it can contribute to the positive and sustainable transformation of agriculture. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

South Africa as other African countries has not been spared from the rural poverty. The South African government is trying to address this problem through various government departments. One such ministry trying to address rural poverty is the Ministry of Agriculture, working together with the provincial Ministries of Agriculture in different provinces. The provision of appropriate agricultural extension services is regarded as a tool that may be used to address rural poverty and development in South Africa’s rural areas. Appropriate extension services will depend on the knowledge management system applied by the organisation making it innovative and responsive to the needs of the farmers. The objective of this research was therefore to identify knowledge management systems applied by extension workers to support community garden farmers in the uMgungundlovu District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. To address the objective, qualitative research methods, namely focus group discussion and semi-structured interviews, were used. In this research, it was evident that the extension workers were not efficiently managing knowledge within their department, among themselves as well as among the farmers. The extension workers have potential knowledge management methods in place, such as departmental meetings. However, the extension workers’ practices do not capture the true essence of knowledge management. There is no evidence that knowledge gained by extension workers during meetings and informal discussions in the organisation is translated into learning, which could lead to the development of new knowledge by the extension workers. The extension workers claimed that they are using appropriate methods to learn from the farmers and to share knowledge with them. However, the farmers do not believe that the extension workers make use of any methods to encourage knowledge sharing and learning. It is thus evident that extension workers do not integrate knowledge gained from the farmers into the improvement of their own agricultural extension practices. Agricultural extension organisations therefore need to adopt methods that encourage learning, reflection and engagement with the knowledge gained from the organisation and the farmers for real knowledge management to take place. This, in essence, will lead to the creation, sharing, utilization, absorption and transformation of knowledge. / Thesis (M.Agric.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

Historically, South Africans, particularly small-scale farmers have had little support and hence lack tools and information when faced with production decisions. Information plays an important role in enlightening people, raising their level of knowledge and in turn improving their standard of living and participation in decision making process. Research shows that Information Communication Technology (ICT) like Decision support tools (DSTs) plays an important role in systematic dissemination of information in agriculture, thus improving the quality of farmers’ decisions. Decision support tools provide up-to-date data, procedures and analytical capacity leading to better-informed decisions, especially in rural areas. A body of research is emerging around issues of effectiveness of DSTs for farmers in the developed world. However, few studies have focused on issues around effectiveness of these tools for farmers in the developing world, particularly for resource-limited farmers. This study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of a new DST for organic and small-scale farmers with a group of extension officers and researchers in KwaZulu-Natal. As an extension to the DST, a crop disease management component linked to the DST was developed. The study also set to evaluate the effectiveness of the crop disease management component. Extension officers and researchers were purposively selected for this study because both groups play a major role as far as organising and disseminating information to organic and small-scale farmers is concerned. This study identified key measures for effectiveness of DSTs and crop disease management guides using literature from the study. Two frameworks for measuring effectiveness were developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the new DST and its crop disease management component with the extension officers and researchers. Focus group discussions were used for data collection. The frameworks were used as a base for the focus group discussions. Focus groups were conducted to explore and establish whether in the light the groups (extension officers and researchers), the new DST and its crop disease management component are effective. Results from the study revealed that extension officers and researchers felt that the DST and its crop disease management component are effective since they meet key measures for effectiveness identified in the framework. The groups agreed that the DST and its crop disease management component are relevant to small-scale farmers. They also agreed that the DST has the ability to improve access to information for small-scale farmers. Lastly, they also agreed that the DST and its crop disease management component are transparent (meaning flexible and user friendly) for small-scale farmers. Some of the areas for improvement identified by the groups included a need for information on pests and more diseases for the DST and the crop disease management component. Although the groups felt that both the DST and crop disease management were effective, they strongly recommended a need for another study that will aim at developing a pest management component of the DST as this was clearly requested by groups in this study. Results of this study showed that half the respondents felt that the DST was easy enough to be used by small-scale farmers without help from extension officers, while the other half believed that small-scale farmers will still need the help of extension officers to show them how to use the DST. Government and other relevant institutions need to provide appropriate training for these farmers, making the DST useful to them. / Thesis (M.Agric)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.