A review of on-farm recording tools for smallholder dairy farming in developing countries.

The dairy industry has been expanding significantly recently, which has prompted the improvement and adoption of increasingly digital dairy recording tools with cutting-edge technology. The study aimed to identify smallholder dairy farmers' recording tools in developing countries. The study presents the results of an extensive literature review conducted using electronic journal databases. The review involved applying a combination of search terms and Boolean operators. The search found a total of 412 research publications. However, only 21 articles with 24 recording tools were deemed appropriate and were subsequently included in the study. Dairy recording entails gathering and managing data on animal information, traceability, health, and productivity that can be conducted using various methods, from manual record-keeping to digitization. The results show that most studies have endeavoured to develop digital recording tools that focus on production performance (PR), mainly milk production, using the Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile phone applications. Moreover, various technologies, such as networks, desktops, and web apps, have also been invented. Given the widespread ownership of mobile phones among the general population, the use of mobile phones continues to be an appealing choice for recording tools. To enhance the advancement of these tools, it is necessary to address technological obstacles, particularly those associated with access and connectivity. In addition, it is also important to consider the continuity of data input and feedback obtained to the farmers, thus helping them evaluate their farms periodically.

Community-Based Livestock Breeding: Coordinated Action or Relational Process?

Over the past decade, community-based breeding programs (CBBPs) have been promoted as a viable approach to improving smallholder livelihoods through a systematic livestock breeding. CBBPs aim to initiate systematic breeding at the community level, including an organized animal identification and recording of performance and pedigree data. To ensure the breeding programs' continuity, building capacities, and ownership among participants are essential to the approach. This study's purpose was to understand how CBBPs have evolved in specific institutional settings and which dynamics occur in the course of implementation. We addressed these questions in reflective conversations with six coordinators of a diverse sample of CBBPs: goats (Malawi, Uganda, and Mexico), sheep (Ethiopia), alpaca (Peru), and cattle (Burkina Faso). The interviews and analysis were guided by categories of the multi-level perspective. The respondents considered lack of funding and weak institutionalization as the main constraints on the CBBPs. While the idea of participation and localized ownership was at the center of the programs, linear paradigms of knowledge transfer prevailed. In all cases, the impulse to start a CBBP came from individual researchers, who relied on intermediaries, such as extension agents, for implementation. Personal relations and trust were seen as both a factor in the success and a positive outcome of CBBPs. We conclude that these findings have different implications depending on how rural development is conceptualized: proponents of the innovation systems perspective would call for stakeholders to further align their interests and coordinate their actions. Proponents of process-relational concepts, in contrast, would not consider the CBBP a product but a starting-point for initiators and participants to continuously discover new ways of collaboration and engagement.

Consumer attitudes towards vegetable attributes: potential buyers of pesticide-free vegetables in Accra and Kumasi, Ghana.

Considering the inappropriate use of synthetic pesticides on vegetables in West Africa, the rationale behind this research was to assess the extent to which consumers can function as demanders of risk reduced vegetables and hence act as innovators towards vegetable safety. Using the cases of Kumasi and Accra in Ghana, the study examined possible consumer responses to product certification that communicates freedom from pesticides (e.g., organic certification). Generally, search attributes such as the fresh and healthy appearance of a vegetable were found to be central to consumer choice. While consumers stress the importance of health value, they are mostly unaware of agro-chemical risks related to vegetable consumption.