lynx   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0302136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agricultural education in Africa using YouTube multilingual animations: A retrospective feasibility study assessing costs to reach language-diverse populations

Author

Listed:
  • N Peter Reeves
  • Victor Giancarlo Sal y Rosas Celi
  • Anne N Lutomia
  • John William Medendorp
  • Julia Bello-Bravo
  • Barry Pittendrigh
Abstract
There is a critical need for widespread information dissemination of agricultural best practices in Africa. Literacy, language and resource barriers often impede such information dissemination. Culturally and linguistically localized, computer-animated training videos placed on YouTube and promoted through paid advertising is a potential tool to help overcome these barriers. The goal of this study is to assess the feasibility of reaching language-diverse populations in Africa using this new type of information dissemination channel. As a case study, cost estimates were obtained for YouTube ad campaigns of a video to prevent post-harvest loss through safe food storage using sanitized jerrycan containers. Seventy-three video variants were created for the most common 16 languages in Ghana, 35 languages in Kenya, and 22 languages in Nigeria. Using these videos, campaigns were deployed country wide or focused on zones of influence that represent economically underdeveloped regions known to produce beans suitable for jerrycan storage. Using data collected from YouTube ad campaigns, language-specific models were created for each country to estimate how many viewers could be reached per US dollar spent. Separate models were created to estimate the number of viewers who watched 25% and 75% of the video (most of video without end credits), reflecting different levels of engagement. For language campaigns with both country wide and zone of influence areas of deployment, separate region-specific models were created. Models showed that the estimated number of viewers per dollar spent varied considerably amongst countries and languages. On average, the expected number of viewers per dollar spent were 1.8 (Range = 0.2–7.3) for 25% watched and 0.8 (Range = 0.1–3.2) for 75% watched in Ghana, 1.2 (0.2–4.8) for 25% watched and 0.5 (Range = 0.1–2.0) for 75% watched in Kenya, and 0.4 (Range = 0.2–1.3) for 25% watched and 0.2 (Range = 0.1–0.5) for 75% watched in Nigeria. English versions of the video were the most cost-effective in reaching viewers in Ghana and Nigeria. In Kenya, English language campaigns ranked 28 (country wide) and 36 (zones of influence) out of 37 analyzed campaigns. Results also showed that many local language campaigns performed well, opening the possibility that targeted knowledge dissemination on topics of importance to local populations, is potentially cost effective. In addition, such targeted information dissemination appears feasible, even during regional and global crises when in-person training may not be possible. In summary, leveraging multilingual computer-animations and digital platforms such as YouTube shows promise for conducting large-scale agricultural education campaigns. The findings of the current study provides the justification to pursue a more rigorous prospective study to verify the efficacy of knowledge exchange and societal impact through this form of information dissemination channel.

Suggested Citation

  • N Peter Reeves & Victor Giancarlo Sal y Rosas Celi & Anne N Lutomia & John William Medendorp & Julia Bello-Bravo & Barry Pittendrigh, 2024. "Agricultural education in Africa using YouTube multilingual animations: A retrospective feasibility study assessing costs to reach language-diverse populations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(4), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0302136
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302136
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0302136
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0302136&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0302136?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dethier, Jean-Jacques & Effenberger, Alexandra, 2012. "Agriculture and development: A brief review of the literature," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 175-205.
    2. Vinod, Hrishikesh D., 2006. "Maximum entropy ensembles for time series inference in economics," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 955-978, December.
    3. Sam Moyo, 2016. "Family farming in sub-Saharan Africa: its contribution to agriculture, food security and rural development," Working Papers 150, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arlindo Rodrigues Fortes & Vladmir Ferreira & Elsa Barbosa Simões & Isaurinda Baptista & Stefano Grando & Erik Sequeira, 2020. "Food Systems and Food Security: The Role of Small Farms and Small Food Businesses in Santiago Island, Cabo Verde," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-30, June.
    2. Almeida, Alexandre N. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E., 2019. "Agricultural productivity, shadow wages and off-farm labor decisions in Nicaragua," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 99-110.
    3. Usman Alhassan & Emmanuel Umoru Haruna, 2024. "Rural farmers’ perceptions of and adaptations to climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does climate-smart agriculture (CSA) matter in Nigeria and Ethiopia?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 26(3), pages 613-652, July.
    4. Bernardina Algieri, 2014. "A roller coaster ride: an empirical investigation of the main drivers of the international wheat price," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(4), pages 459-475, July.
    5. Thu-Huong Nguyen & Oz Sahin & Michael Howes, 2021. "Climate Change Adaptation Influences and Barriers Impacting the Asian Agricultural Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    6. E. Ramos-P'erez & P. J. Alonso-Gonz'alez & J. J. N'u~nez-Vel'azquez, 2020. "Forecasting volatility with a stacked model based on a hybridized Artificial Neural Network," Papers 2006.16383, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2020.
    7. Clement Okechukwu Attamah & Anthonia Ngozi Asadu & Chukwubuikem Chinenye Eze, 2020. "Women Involvement in Rural Community Development in Enugu North Senatorial Zone of Enugu State, Nigeria," Traektoriâ Nauki = Path of Science, Altezoro, s.r.o. & Dialog, vol. 6(2), pages 3001-3012, February.
    8. Meira, Erick & Cyrino Oliveira, Fernando Luiz & de Menezes, Lilian M., 2022. "Forecasting natural gas consumption using Bagging and modified regularization techniques," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    9. Zhang, Liyunpeng & Zhuang, Yuhang & Ding, Yibing & Liu, Ziwei, 2023. "Infrastructure and poverty reduction: Assessing the dynamic impact of Chinese infrastructure investment in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    10. Ansari, S. A. & Khan, W., 2018. "Relevance of Declining Agriculture in Economic Development of South Asian Countries: An Empirical Analysis," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 10(2).
    11. Nick Vink, 2022. "African agricultural development: How are we contributing?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(4), pages 540-562, July.
    12. Zainab Oyetunde-Usman & Kehinde Oluseyi Olagunju, 2019. "Determinants of Food Security and Technical Efficiency among Agricultural Households in Nigeria," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-13, October.
    13. N'dede Hourizene, Bley Cynthia & Wilson, Norbert L.W., 2017. "Contributing to Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa through Value-Added Agriculture," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258333, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2016. "The effect of improved storage innovations on food security and welfare in Ethiopia," MERIT Working Papers 2016-063, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    15. Larson,Donald F. & Muraoka,Rie & Otsuka,Keijiro, 2016. "On the central role of small farms in African rural development strategies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7710, The World Bank.
    16. Tian, Renfang & Xu, Jingjing & Feng, Hui & McFarlane, Adian, 2024. "A maximum entropy bootstrap approach to financial development and economic growth in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 48(4).
    17. Wencheng Li & Lei Wang & Qi Wan & Weijia You & Shaowen Zhang, 2022. "A Configurational Analysis of Family Farm Management Efficiency: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    18. John Ssozi & Edward Bbaale, 2019. "The Effects of the Catch-Up Mechanism on the Structural Transformation of Sub-Saharan Africa," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-27, November.
    19. Pedro Macedo & Mara Madaleno, 2022. "Global Temperature and Carbon Dioxide Nexus: Evidence from a Maximum Entropy Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. Jing You & Sangui Wang & Laurence Roope, 2014. "Multi-dimensional Intertemporal Poverty in Rural China," CSAE Working Paper Series 2014-36, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0302136. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.
    Лучший частный хостинг