| dc.description.abstract | Youth participation in the agricultural sector in Uganda has declined in the last decades due to development of the private sector, poor economic, diversification and low productivity and profitability of subsistence agriculture among others. The shift of youth from agriculture mainly affects food security since the country mainly depends on subsistence farming especially at household level. Staples such a peanut mainly consumed as a protein source at household level has its quality and safety highly compromised along the value chain especially by aflatoxins and available assessment techniques have proved to be expensive especially to rural communities. Therefore, there is need for a cheaper alternative technique which can be used to assess peanut quality and safety and also encourage youth participation in the peanut value chain. This research aimed at assessing the applicability of using photovoice technique among rural youth farmers for assessment of peanut quality and safety along the value chain.
Thirty (30) rural youth aged 18-35 years in Nwoya and Tororo districts (15 youth per district) involved in peanut farming were purposively selected and grouped based on their age and sex for inclusion in the study. The participants were trained in photovoice methodology, provided their written consent and were given smartphones (TECHNO F2 POP) to take photos of what they understood by peanut quality and safety over two peanut seasons. Focus group discussions were conducted with the youth every two months and each participant was given a chance to present their photos to the group using the SHOWeD method (SHOWeD stands for; what do you SEE? What is HAPPENING? How does it relate to OUR lives? WHY does the situation exist? what can we DO about it?) which guided the discussion. The sessions were recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis using Atlas ti software version 6.0.15. At the end of the second peanut season, the youth were issued with questionnaires to evaluate their understanding of using photovoice as an assessment tool for peanut quality and safety in their communities. The questionnaires entailed a mixed-method approach and the qualitative and quantitative data obtained was analyzed using NVIVO 12 and SPSS version 21 packages, respectively.
From the questionnaires, 88.5% (n=25) of the participants enjoyed using photovoice whereas 11.5% (n=3) reported their dissatisfaction while using the technique. All the participants (100%, n=26) reported that through photovoice, they had acquired knowledge about peanut quality and safety and referred to the technique as a suitable tool for assessing peanut quality and safety (96.2%, n=25) in their communities. Even though 88.5% (n=23) participants faced challenges during the photovoice activities, 92.4% (n=24) were willing to use photovoice in their communities as a data collection tool and knowledge sharing platform for change. Participants were also in position to describe photovoice, peanut quality and safety and provided explanations for the knowledge obtained, suitability of the tool for peanut quality and safety assessment, challenges faced and prospects for application of the technique in their communities after the study. Since the rural youth farmers used photovoice for two peanut seasons, they were able to assess farm and post-harvest handling practices that influenced peanut quality and safety under five broad categories; agronomic practices, pests and diseases, storage, processing and marketing.
Throughout the study, photovoice was a capable technique for directly assessing peanut quality by portraying the good and bad practices in communities which could later be used to predict the safety of peanuts. Suitability of the technique in assessment and use, knowledge sharing during discussions and future projections forwarded by youth demonstrated adoption of the technique by youth which may encourage their active participation along the value chain. | en_US |
