Browsing by Author "Mpiira, Samuel"

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    Building agricultural networks of farmers and scientists via mobile phones: case study of banana disease surveillance in Uganda
    (Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology, 2016) Nakato, Gloria Valentine; Beed, Fenton; Bouwmeester, Hein; Ramathani, Idd; Mpiira, Samuel; Kubiriba, Jerome; Nanavati, Saurin
    An important challenge threatening agriculture in Africa is the difficulty to collect timely data on disease spread and effectiveness of on-farm control methods. This study served as a case study for assessing the viability of a participatory GIS (Geographic Information System) to enable plant diagnostics network with field workers. The use of mobile phone applications and a centralized database were integrated to provide a blueprint for how a range of agriculture-focused field organizations can collect data, explain events, predict outcomes, and adapt and refine strategies with more accurate, cost-efficient, and timely information. Over the course of two months, 38 Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) using mobile phones, MTN Mobile Internet, and GPS devices collected 3,018 surveys documenting the presence/absence of three banana diseases: Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW), Fusarium Wilt (FW) and Banana Bunchy Top disease (BBTD) in Bushenyi and Mbale districts in Uganda. Costs were saved by only mobilizing CKWs who then trained the communities on methods of banana disease detection, preventative measures, and disease control procedures; only when doubts over identification or control occurred did the IITA and NARO technical team then prioritize visits. Although the CKWs provided an efficient and cost effective information channel that can be leveraged to integrate the efforts of scientists with the needs of rural communities, there were significant gaps in prior farmer knowledge on the three targeted diseases, including how to identify or control them, despite extensive awareness campaigns preceding this initiative. Factsheets used for reference following training greatly improved CKW prior knowledge of disease recognition and control methods; hence, 90% of the surveys conducted during the second month met the data quality standards based on survey completeness, GPS accuracy, and quality of symptomatic plant photos. There was significant and consistent demand by farmers for CKW services throughout the pilot period. In-depth training and continuous support of CKWs is thus essential. The technology infrastructure is scalable, and further integration of technology components G.V. Nakato et al. Building agricultural networks via mobile phones promises a customizable web-based tool for data collection, GIS analysis, information dissemination and management of agriculture extension operations.
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    Management of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt: Evidence from Impact of Adoption of Cultural Control Practices in Uganda
    (Sustainability, 2019) Kikulwe, Enoch M.; Lule Kyanjo, Joseph; Kato, Edward; Ssali, Reuben T.; Erima, Rockefeller; Mpiira, Samuel; Ocimati, Walter; Tinzaara, William; Kubiriba, Jerome; Gotor, Elisabetta; Stoian, Dietmar; Karamura, Eldad
    Banana XanthomonasWilt (BXW) is an important emerging and non-curable infectious plant pathogen in sub-Saharan Africa that can cause up to 100% yield loss, negatively impacting sustainable access to food and income to more than 100 million banana farmers. This study disentangles adopters into partial and full adopters to investigate the factors that are relevant to sustain the adoption process of BXW control practices and quantifies the impact of adopting the practices. Data from a randomly selected sample of 1200 banana farmers in Uganda where the disease is endemic was used. A multinomial logit model was used to determine the factors a ecting adoption of control practices and augmented inverse probability weighting was employed to estimate the impacts of adoption on banana productivity and sales. Results show that training a woman farmer and having diverse sources of information about BXW control practices increased adoption of the control practices and reduced the disease incidences. Farmers who adopted all the recommended control practices achieved significantly the highest values of banana production and sales. We conclude that improving information access through farmers’ preferred communication channels, having women-inclusive trainings, and a combination of cultural practices are e ective ways for sustaining adoption of the control practices.