jelili adebiyi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by jelili adebiyi
members, Kathleen Delate, and Robert Mazur, for their guidance and support throughout the duratio... more members, Kathleen Delate, and Robert Mazur, for their guidance and support throughout the duration of this research. Furthermore, I would also like to express gratitude to my friends, colleagues, the department faculty and staff in Community and Regional Planning for making my time at Iowa State University a delightful experience. I like to specifically mention Carlton Basmajian for taking time to discuss my thesis with me on several occasions despite the fact that he was not on my committee. Also, I want to also offer my appreciation to the organic stakeholders in Tunisia and Uganda who provided me with supplementary information through email exchanges and phone conversations. Without them, this thesis would not have been possible. In addition, I extend my appreciation to the Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) for providing me with scholarship as a support for this study. Finally, thanks to my family for their encouragement and to my wife for keeping the home front together and for her spiritual support.
Regional Environmental Change, 2022
Food security in West Africa is threatened by climate change, as well as demographic shifts and l... more Food security in West Africa is threatened by climate change, as well as demographic shifts and land constraints. Communities and policy-makers in the region need to plan for long term sustainability and food security when many conditions are highly uncertain. Participatory scenario planning has been proposed as a tool for building strategic action in the face of uncertainty. Proponents have made claims that this process can generate consensus and self-efficacy for action, but these claims have not been tested empirically. We used two parallel scenario processes in Ghana and Mali, designed with the goal of prioritizing strategic actions for food security, to gather data from participants on their views of the top challenges to food security in their region, the causes of those challenges, and actors who should be implementing solutions. The data indicate that the scenario process did promote consensus among participants on these topics, as well as self- and collective-efficacy to ta...
Climate Policy, 2021
ABSTRACT Strategies for agricultural climate change adaptation are needed to ensure that sub-Saha... more ABSTRACT Strategies for agricultural climate change adaptation are needed to ensure that sub-Saharan Africa can continue to feed itself, given its rapidly growing population and the expected impacts of climate change on food production. The poultry sector is an important component of the African food system, but national climate change adaptation plans in many countries fail to take into account the specific contextual challenges faced by poultry producers. We developed a participatory system dynamics modelling tool to involve stakeholders from the poultry sector in Nigeria in analyzing how climate impacts would affect the sector, with the goal of generating insights for state (sub-national) and national scale policy makers. A second goal of the exercise was to facilitate social learning and knowledge sharing on adaptation strategies among the stakeholders. Given the high uncertainty of the conditions surrounding the Nigerian poultry sector, the model's use is primarily as a discussion tool for poultry sector stakeholders, including policy makers, to share concerns and develop adaptation strategies. It served this purpose, as evidenced by the creation of a manual for poultry producers from the exercise. Similar stakeholder engagement efforts can stimulate knowledge sharing around climate change adaptation for problems around which limited data and high uncertainty exist. Key policy insights Participatory system dynamics modelling is shown to be a useful tool for integrating national and community-level priorities for policy and management under climate change in the Nigerian poultry sector. Effective climate change adaptation will require building resilience to large-scale external drivers such as global trade dynamics, which are highly influential in the system. In order to effectively move from planning to implementation, climate change adaptation processes must facilitate social learning and knowledge sharing around the long-term consequences of policy and management choices.
Environmental Management, 2022
Contrary to the expectations of promoters of organic agriculture, the adoption of the technology ... more Contrary to the expectations of promoters of organic agriculture, the adoption of the technology by smallholder farmers in Africa has been low and slow, for reasons not well understood. Existing studies on the topic mostly estimated the effect of some variables on the adoption of the technology. But adoption is characterized by complex and dynamic interactions of many interconnected factors, which existing studies overlooked. The underlying causal structures and feedback mechanisms that dynamically interact to affect the adoption of organic farming in urban and rural Africa are also not well known. To bridge these gaps, we used a system dynamics tool called participatory causal loop diagraming to map the underlying causal factors and feedback mechanisms driving the adoption of organic farming in rural and urban Nigeria. We conducted loop and network analyses of the group causal loop diagrams, which were created during the participatory system dynamics modeling workshops with the organic farmers in our study areas. Our findings underscore the importance of the knowledge of organic farming, demand- and supply-side-oriented awareness creation, and the economic viability of organic farming for widespread adoption of the technology. We suggested the potential leverages around which interventions can be built to boost the adoption rates of the technology.
Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2020
In the original publication of the article, the fourth author name was published incorrectly usin... more In the original publication of the article, the fourth author name was published incorrectly using a moniker/nickname. The corrected author legal name is provided in this correction. Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Sustainability, 2019
Nigeria, the seventh most populous country in the world, is plagued by livelihood challenges such... more Nigeria, the seventh most populous country in the world, is plagued by livelihood challenges such as poverty and food insecurity, which are more pervasive among farming households and rural communities. Organic farming is being promoted by some domestic non-governmental organizations as a means of addressing the problem of poverty and food insecurity among farming households and rural communities in the country. Promoters consider organic farming to be well-suited to smallholder farmers’ socio-economic conditions in Nigeria, and that it can help improve their livelihood conditions through increased agricultural productivity and farm income. However, the adoption of the technology by smallholder farmers has been underwhelming, for reasons yet to be studied. Using a livelihood framework and through a case study of farmers in Ibadan, Oyo State, this study qualitatively explores and provides insights into the factors that influence, constrain, and gender the adoption of organic farming ...
Agricultural Systems, 2019
Perennial crops offer the opportunity to harvest from the same plant many times over several year... more Perennial crops offer the opportunity to harvest from the same plant many times over several years while reducing labor and seed costs, reducing emissions and increasing biomass input into the soil. We use system dynamics modeling to combine data from field experiments, crop modeling and choice experiments to explore the potential for adoption and diffusion of a sustainable agriculture technology in a risky environment with high variability in annual rainfall: the perennial management of pigeonpea in maize-based systems of Malawi. Production estimates from a crop model for the annual intercrop system and data from field experiments on ratooning for the perennial system provided the information to create a stochastic production model. Data from choice experiments posed by a farmer survey conducted in three Malawi districts provide the information for parameters on farmers' preferences for the attributes of the perennial system. The perennial pigeonpea technology appeared clearly superior in scenarios where average values for maize yield and pigeonpea biomass production were held constant. Adoption was fastest in scenarios where relatively dry growing seasons showcased the benefits of the perennial system, suggesting that perennial management may be appropriate in marginal locations. The potential for adoption was reduced greatly when stochasticity in yields and seasons combine with significant social pressure to conform. The mechanism for this is that low yields suppress adoption and increase disadoption due to the dynamics of trust in the technology. This finding is not unique to perennial pigeonpea, but suggests that a critical factor in explaining low adoption rates of any new agricultural technology is the stochasticity in a technology's performance. Understanding how that stochasticity interacts with the social dynamics of learning skills and communicating trust is a critical feature for the successful deployment of sustainable agricultural technologies, and a novel finding of our study.
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 2016
Participatory scenario processes are associated with positive social learning outcomes, including... more Participatory scenario processes are associated with positive social learning outcomes, including consensus-building and shifts toward more systemic thinking. However, these claims have not been assessed quantitatively in diverse cultural and socio-ecological settings. We convened three stakeholder workshops around the future of agricultural development and rural livelihoods in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Malawi, using a participatory scenario generation process to examine proposed research and action priorities under conditions of uncertainty. We administered pre- and post-workshop surveys, and used a paired t-test to assess how stakeholders’ rankings of research priorities changed after participating in the scenario visioning exercise. Workshop participants also listed their own priorities for research and implementation on both the pre- and post-survey forms. We found indications that the workshops promoted consensus-building around the research priorities, including a reduction i...
The Islamic Quarterly, 2010
The inscrutable and traumatising situation of the Muslim world in the 19th century provoked the r... more The inscrutable and traumatising situation of the Muslim world in the 19th century provoked the response of Muslim thinkers who feared that, if nothing were done to remedy the situation; Muslims would lose their religious/political identity. Amongst those who spearheaded the challenge of responding to the crises besieging the Muslim Ummah were Sir Seyyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) and Jamal ad-Deen Al-Afghani (1839-97). Both identified taqlid, loss of the scientific spirit of enquiry that was typical of the Islamic culture of learning and conservatism, among other things, as contributory factors that triggered the decline of Muslim mentality and, hence, of its civilisation. As a result, they made education an essential element of their reformative and revivalist drive. The thrust of this article is to examine and present a modest comparative overview of the educational reforms that they both proposed, with a view to identifying their similarities and differences. To achieve this objective, their thoughts on education are concentrated in the historic situation of Muslims in the 19 th century, the particulars of their concerns and their educational/environmental background. This study concludes by suggesting that their understanding of the crises of the Muslim world in the 19 th century, as well as their backgrounds, affected the educational reforms that they proposed. Whilst liberal humanities, knowledge of natural sciences and ijthihad resonate in their educational reform theses, neither was able to establish how these things could be achieved.
The Islamic Quarterly, 2010
The inscrutable and traumatising situation of the Muslim world in the 19th century provoked the r... more The inscrutable and traumatising situation of the Muslim world in the 19th century provoked the response of Muslim thinkers who feared that, if nothing were done to remedy the situation; Muslims would lose their religious/political identity. Amongst those who spearheaded the challenge of responding to the crises besieging the Muslim Ummah were Sir Seyyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) and Jamal ad-Deen Al-Afghani (1839-97). Both identified taqlid, loss of the scientific spirit of enquiry that was typical of the Islamic culture of learning and conservatism, among other things, as contributory factors that triggered the decline of Muslim mentality and, hence, of its civilisation. As a result, they made education an essential element of their reformative and revivalist drive. The thrust of this article is to examine and present a modest comparative overview of the educational reforms that they both proposed, with a view to identifying their similarities and differences. To achieve this objective, their thoughts on education are concentrated in the historic situation of Muslims in the 19 th century, the particulars of their concerns and their educational/environmental background. This study concludes by suggesting that their understanding of the crises of the Muslim world in the 19 th century, as well as their backgrounds, affected the educational reforms that they proposed. Whilst liberal humanities, knowledge of natural sciences and ijthihad resonate in their educational reform theses, neither was able to establish how these things could be achieved.
The core objective of this thesis was to draw lessons from the factors of success that underlie t... more The core objective of this thesis was to draw lessons from the factors of success that underlie the development of Tunisian and Ugandan organic sectors to advance recommendations that can help spur the development of African organics. The study drew on secondary data obtained from an array of sources, supplemented with clarifying information obtained through phone discussions and email exchanges with organic stakeholders in the two countries. The study framed broad and specific questions aimed at identifying and explaining the roles played by different stakeholders, governmental and non-governmental, in fostering the development of the organic sectors in the two countries. Also, the questions enabled the study to identify and account for the roles of organic standards/regulations and certification, organic policies and action plans, organic market development and awareness creation, and organic research, training and extension service in the evolution of Tunisian and Ugandan organic sectors as the most successful in Africa and as one of the world’s most highly ranked. Specific lessons included the need to create effective and well-structured institutions at all levels of the organic value chain. These include institutions that will serve as national organic umbrella bodies and other that will undertake activities and provide services such as organic certification and inspection, organic standards development and policy formulation, organic market development and awareness creation, organic research, training and outreach. A mix of state and market was also recommended as a way to advance the development of African organics.
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2015
Perennial grain crops are an example of a ‘transformative technology,’ in which the functionality... more Perennial grain crops are an example of a ‘transformative technology,’ in which the functionality and science of the technology differ in a fundamental manner from conventional grain crops. A review of the literature indicates that the motivation for farmer adoption of transformative technologies is complex and poorly understood. At the same time, many studies have found concern and awareness about environmental issues to be significantly and positively correlated with the adoption of no-till agriculture, organic farming and agroforestry. Building on these insights, we conducted anex antestudy of perennial wheat adoption among 11 farmers from Michigan and Ohio. Perennial wheat is not yet commercially available, so a semi-structured interview format was chosen to allow for in-depth discussions of the crop's potential characteristics and uses. Consistent with the literature on transformative technology adoption, farmers who approached us to learn more about perennial grains descri...
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2011
... Muslims in modern Turkey: Kemalism, modernism and the revolt of the Islamic intellectuals. By... more ... Muslims in modern Turkey: Kemalism, modernism and the revolt of the Islamic intellectuals. By Sena Karasipahi. Abubakar Abubakar Usman. Full Text: Full Text (PDF) INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE. ISSN: 0128-4878.
Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2020
Low agricultural productivity is a major challenge constraining food production in developing cou... more Low agricultural productivity is a major challenge constraining food production in developing countries. Attempts at addressing the problem have resulted in the development and deployment of agricultural technologies, such as organic farming, to help boost productivity, enhance farmers’ income, and their overall livelihood conditions. The deployment of such productivity-enhancing technologies has mostly overlooked their inexplicable interconnectedness and interdependencies with nexus factors such as climate, water, and energy within the embeddings of a food production system. Through a Nigerian case study approach, this study attempts to bridge this gap by qualitatively investigating how organic leafy vegetable production (OLVP) and its anticipated outcomes can be affected by the interface of water, energy, and climate with food production. This was intended to generate exploratory insights that will help underscore why cross-sectoral linkages should be accounted for when deploying agricultural technology interventions. To achieve this objective, we conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, and field visits to the farms of organic farmers in Ajibode, Ibadan, Nigeria. Results indicate that the productivity of OLVP was severely constrained by highly contextual nexus factors such as energy deficit, the water source for irrigation, changes in rainfall patterns, and temperature effect of harmattan. We concluded that location-specific nexus elements that intersect with food production should be accounted for when introducing productivity-enhancing technologies. Otherwise, the opportunity for improved agricultural productivity may remain elusive. Finally, our study shows that the nexus approach can help reveal intricately linked cross-sectoral factors that can constrain the performance of agricultural technologies.
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at Digital Reposit... more This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at Digital Repository @ Iowa State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Repository @ Iowa State University. For more information, please contact
Thesis Chapters by jelili adebiyi
The core objective of this thesis was to draw lessons from the factors of success that underlie t... more The core objective of this thesis was to draw lessons from the factors of success that underlie the development of Tunisian and Ugandan organic sectors to advance recommendations that can help spur the development of African organics. The study drew on secondary data obtained from an array of sources, supplemented with clarifying information obtained through phone discussions and email exchanges with organic
stakeholders in the two countries. The study framed broad and specific questions aimed at identifying and explaining the roles played by different stakeholders, governmental and non-governmental, in fostering the development of the organic sectors in the two countries. Also, the questions enabled the study to identify and account for the roles
of organic standards/regulations and certification, organic policies and action plans, organic market development and awareness creation, and organic research, training and extension service in the evolution of Tunisian and Ugandan organic sectors as the most successful in Africa and as one of the world’s most highly ranked. Specific lessons included the need to create effective and well-structured institutions at all levels of the organic value chain. These include institutions that will serve as national organic umbrella bodies and other that will undertake activities and provide services such as organic certification and inspection, organic standards development and policy formulation, organic market development and awareness creation, organic research, training and outreach. A mix of state and market was also recommended as a way to
advance the development of African organics.
members, Kathleen Delate, and Robert Mazur, for their guidance and support throughout the duratio... more members, Kathleen Delate, and Robert Mazur, for their guidance and support throughout the duration of this research. Furthermore, I would also like to express gratitude to my friends, colleagues, the department faculty and staff in Community and Regional Planning for making my time at Iowa State University a delightful experience. I like to specifically mention Carlton Basmajian for taking time to discuss my thesis with me on several occasions despite the fact that he was not on my committee. Also, I want to also offer my appreciation to the organic stakeholders in Tunisia and Uganda who provided me with supplementary information through email exchanges and phone conversations. Without them, this thesis would not have been possible. In addition, I extend my appreciation to the Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) for providing me with scholarship as a support for this study. Finally, thanks to my family for their encouragement and to my wife for keeping the home front together and for her spiritual support.
Regional Environmental Change, 2022
Food security in West Africa is threatened by climate change, as well as demographic shifts and l... more Food security in West Africa is threatened by climate change, as well as demographic shifts and land constraints. Communities and policy-makers in the region need to plan for long term sustainability and food security when many conditions are highly uncertain. Participatory scenario planning has been proposed as a tool for building strategic action in the face of uncertainty. Proponents have made claims that this process can generate consensus and self-efficacy for action, but these claims have not been tested empirically. We used two parallel scenario processes in Ghana and Mali, designed with the goal of prioritizing strategic actions for food security, to gather data from participants on their views of the top challenges to food security in their region, the causes of those challenges, and actors who should be implementing solutions. The data indicate that the scenario process did promote consensus among participants on these topics, as well as self- and collective-efficacy to ta...
Climate Policy, 2021
ABSTRACT Strategies for agricultural climate change adaptation are needed to ensure that sub-Saha... more ABSTRACT Strategies for agricultural climate change adaptation are needed to ensure that sub-Saharan Africa can continue to feed itself, given its rapidly growing population and the expected impacts of climate change on food production. The poultry sector is an important component of the African food system, but national climate change adaptation plans in many countries fail to take into account the specific contextual challenges faced by poultry producers. We developed a participatory system dynamics modelling tool to involve stakeholders from the poultry sector in Nigeria in analyzing how climate impacts would affect the sector, with the goal of generating insights for state (sub-national) and national scale policy makers. A second goal of the exercise was to facilitate social learning and knowledge sharing on adaptation strategies among the stakeholders. Given the high uncertainty of the conditions surrounding the Nigerian poultry sector, the model's use is primarily as a discussion tool for poultry sector stakeholders, including policy makers, to share concerns and develop adaptation strategies. It served this purpose, as evidenced by the creation of a manual for poultry producers from the exercise. Similar stakeholder engagement efforts can stimulate knowledge sharing around climate change adaptation for problems around which limited data and high uncertainty exist. Key policy insights Participatory system dynamics modelling is shown to be a useful tool for integrating national and community-level priorities for policy and management under climate change in the Nigerian poultry sector. Effective climate change adaptation will require building resilience to large-scale external drivers such as global trade dynamics, which are highly influential in the system. In order to effectively move from planning to implementation, climate change adaptation processes must facilitate social learning and knowledge sharing around the long-term consequences of policy and management choices.
Environmental Management, 2022
Contrary to the expectations of promoters of organic agriculture, the adoption of the technology ... more Contrary to the expectations of promoters of organic agriculture, the adoption of the technology by smallholder farmers in Africa has been low and slow, for reasons not well understood. Existing studies on the topic mostly estimated the effect of some variables on the adoption of the technology. But adoption is characterized by complex and dynamic interactions of many interconnected factors, which existing studies overlooked. The underlying causal structures and feedback mechanisms that dynamically interact to affect the adoption of organic farming in urban and rural Africa are also not well known. To bridge these gaps, we used a system dynamics tool called participatory causal loop diagraming to map the underlying causal factors and feedback mechanisms driving the adoption of organic farming in rural and urban Nigeria. We conducted loop and network analyses of the group causal loop diagrams, which were created during the participatory system dynamics modeling workshops with the organic farmers in our study areas. Our findings underscore the importance of the knowledge of organic farming, demand- and supply-side-oriented awareness creation, and the economic viability of organic farming for widespread adoption of the technology. We suggested the potential leverages around which interventions can be built to boost the adoption rates of the technology.
Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2020
In the original publication of the article, the fourth author name was published incorrectly usin... more In the original publication of the article, the fourth author name was published incorrectly using a moniker/nickname. The corrected author legal name is provided in this correction. Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Sustainability, 2019
Nigeria, the seventh most populous country in the world, is plagued by livelihood challenges such... more Nigeria, the seventh most populous country in the world, is plagued by livelihood challenges such as poverty and food insecurity, which are more pervasive among farming households and rural communities. Organic farming is being promoted by some domestic non-governmental organizations as a means of addressing the problem of poverty and food insecurity among farming households and rural communities in the country. Promoters consider organic farming to be well-suited to smallholder farmers’ socio-economic conditions in Nigeria, and that it can help improve their livelihood conditions through increased agricultural productivity and farm income. However, the adoption of the technology by smallholder farmers has been underwhelming, for reasons yet to be studied. Using a livelihood framework and through a case study of farmers in Ibadan, Oyo State, this study qualitatively explores and provides insights into the factors that influence, constrain, and gender the adoption of organic farming ...
Agricultural Systems, 2019
Perennial crops offer the opportunity to harvest from the same plant many times over several year... more Perennial crops offer the opportunity to harvest from the same plant many times over several years while reducing labor and seed costs, reducing emissions and increasing biomass input into the soil. We use system dynamics modeling to combine data from field experiments, crop modeling and choice experiments to explore the potential for adoption and diffusion of a sustainable agriculture technology in a risky environment with high variability in annual rainfall: the perennial management of pigeonpea in maize-based systems of Malawi. Production estimates from a crop model for the annual intercrop system and data from field experiments on ratooning for the perennial system provided the information to create a stochastic production model. Data from choice experiments posed by a farmer survey conducted in three Malawi districts provide the information for parameters on farmers' preferences for the attributes of the perennial system. The perennial pigeonpea technology appeared clearly superior in scenarios where average values for maize yield and pigeonpea biomass production were held constant. Adoption was fastest in scenarios where relatively dry growing seasons showcased the benefits of the perennial system, suggesting that perennial management may be appropriate in marginal locations. The potential for adoption was reduced greatly when stochasticity in yields and seasons combine with significant social pressure to conform. The mechanism for this is that low yields suppress adoption and increase disadoption due to the dynamics of trust in the technology. This finding is not unique to perennial pigeonpea, but suggests that a critical factor in explaining low adoption rates of any new agricultural technology is the stochasticity in a technology's performance. Understanding how that stochasticity interacts with the social dynamics of learning skills and communicating trust is a critical feature for the successful deployment of sustainable agricultural technologies, and a novel finding of our study.
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 2016
Participatory scenario processes are associated with positive social learning outcomes, including... more Participatory scenario processes are associated with positive social learning outcomes, including consensus-building and shifts toward more systemic thinking. However, these claims have not been assessed quantitatively in diverse cultural and socio-ecological settings. We convened three stakeholder workshops around the future of agricultural development and rural livelihoods in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Malawi, using a participatory scenario generation process to examine proposed research and action priorities under conditions of uncertainty. We administered pre- and post-workshop surveys, and used a paired t-test to assess how stakeholders’ rankings of research priorities changed after participating in the scenario visioning exercise. Workshop participants also listed their own priorities for research and implementation on both the pre- and post-survey forms. We found indications that the workshops promoted consensus-building around the research priorities, including a reduction i...
The Islamic Quarterly, 2010
The inscrutable and traumatising situation of the Muslim world in the 19th century provoked the r... more The inscrutable and traumatising situation of the Muslim world in the 19th century provoked the response of Muslim thinkers who feared that, if nothing were done to remedy the situation; Muslims would lose their religious/political identity. Amongst those who spearheaded the challenge of responding to the crises besieging the Muslim Ummah were Sir Seyyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) and Jamal ad-Deen Al-Afghani (1839-97). Both identified taqlid, loss of the scientific spirit of enquiry that was typical of the Islamic culture of learning and conservatism, among other things, as contributory factors that triggered the decline of Muslim mentality and, hence, of its civilisation. As a result, they made education an essential element of their reformative and revivalist drive. The thrust of this article is to examine and present a modest comparative overview of the educational reforms that they both proposed, with a view to identifying their similarities and differences. To achieve this objective, their thoughts on education are concentrated in the historic situation of Muslims in the 19 th century, the particulars of their concerns and their educational/environmental background. This study concludes by suggesting that their understanding of the crises of the Muslim world in the 19 th century, as well as their backgrounds, affected the educational reforms that they proposed. Whilst liberal humanities, knowledge of natural sciences and ijthihad resonate in their educational reform theses, neither was able to establish how these things could be achieved.
The Islamic Quarterly, 2010
The inscrutable and traumatising situation of the Muslim world in the 19th century provoked the r... more The inscrutable and traumatising situation of the Muslim world in the 19th century provoked the response of Muslim thinkers who feared that, if nothing were done to remedy the situation; Muslims would lose their religious/political identity. Amongst those who spearheaded the challenge of responding to the crises besieging the Muslim Ummah were Sir Seyyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) and Jamal ad-Deen Al-Afghani (1839-97). Both identified taqlid, loss of the scientific spirit of enquiry that was typical of the Islamic culture of learning and conservatism, among other things, as contributory factors that triggered the decline of Muslim mentality and, hence, of its civilisation. As a result, they made education an essential element of their reformative and revivalist drive. The thrust of this article is to examine and present a modest comparative overview of the educational reforms that they both proposed, with a view to identifying their similarities and differences. To achieve this objective, their thoughts on education are concentrated in the historic situation of Muslims in the 19 th century, the particulars of their concerns and their educational/environmental background. This study concludes by suggesting that their understanding of the crises of the Muslim world in the 19 th century, as well as their backgrounds, affected the educational reforms that they proposed. Whilst liberal humanities, knowledge of natural sciences and ijthihad resonate in their educational reform theses, neither was able to establish how these things could be achieved.
The core objective of this thesis was to draw lessons from the factors of success that underlie t... more The core objective of this thesis was to draw lessons from the factors of success that underlie the development of Tunisian and Ugandan organic sectors to advance recommendations that can help spur the development of African organics. The study drew on secondary data obtained from an array of sources, supplemented with clarifying information obtained through phone discussions and email exchanges with organic stakeholders in the two countries. The study framed broad and specific questions aimed at identifying and explaining the roles played by different stakeholders, governmental and non-governmental, in fostering the development of the organic sectors in the two countries. Also, the questions enabled the study to identify and account for the roles of organic standards/regulations and certification, organic policies and action plans, organic market development and awareness creation, and organic research, training and extension service in the evolution of Tunisian and Ugandan organic sectors as the most successful in Africa and as one of the world’s most highly ranked. Specific lessons included the need to create effective and well-structured institutions at all levels of the organic value chain. These include institutions that will serve as national organic umbrella bodies and other that will undertake activities and provide services such as organic certification and inspection, organic standards development and policy formulation, organic market development and awareness creation, organic research, training and outreach. A mix of state and market was also recommended as a way to advance the development of African organics.
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2015
Perennial grain crops are an example of a ‘transformative technology,’ in which the functionality... more Perennial grain crops are an example of a ‘transformative technology,’ in which the functionality and science of the technology differ in a fundamental manner from conventional grain crops. A review of the literature indicates that the motivation for farmer adoption of transformative technologies is complex and poorly understood. At the same time, many studies have found concern and awareness about environmental issues to be significantly and positively correlated with the adoption of no-till agriculture, organic farming and agroforestry. Building on these insights, we conducted anex antestudy of perennial wheat adoption among 11 farmers from Michigan and Ohio. Perennial wheat is not yet commercially available, so a semi-structured interview format was chosen to allow for in-depth discussions of the crop's potential characteristics and uses. Consistent with the literature on transformative technology adoption, farmers who approached us to learn more about perennial grains descri...
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2011
... Muslims in modern Turkey: Kemalism, modernism and the revolt of the Islamic intellectuals. By... more ... Muslims in modern Turkey: Kemalism, modernism and the revolt of the Islamic intellectuals. By Sena Karasipahi. Abubakar Abubakar Usman. Full Text: Full Text (PDF) INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE. ISSN: 0128-4878.
Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2020
Low agricultural productivity is a major challenge constraining food production in developing cou... more Low agricultural productivity is a major challenge constraining food production in developing countries. Attempts at addressing the problem have resulted in the development and deployment of agricultural technologies, such as organic farming, to help boost productivity, enhance farmers’ income, and their overall livelihood conditions. The deployment of such productivity-enhancing technologies has mostly overlooked their inexplicable interconnectedness and interdependencies with nexus factors such as climate, water, and energy within the embeddings of a food production system. Through a Nigerian case study approach, this study attempts to bridge this gap by qualitatively investigating how organic leafy vegetable production (OLVP) and its anticipated outcomes can be affected by the interface of water, energy, and climate with food production. This was intended to generate exploratory insights that will help underscore why cross-sectoral linkages should be accounted for when deploying agricultural technology interventions. To achieve this objective, we conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, and field visits to the farms of organic farmers in Ajibode, Ibadan, Nigeria. Results indicate that the productivity of OLVP was severely constrained by highly contextual nexus factors such as energy deficit, the water source for irrigation, changes in rainfall patterns, and temperature effect of harmattan. We concluded that location-specific nexus elements that intersect with food production should be accounted for when introducing productivity-enhancing technologies. Otherwise, the opportunity for improved agricultural productivity may remain elusive. Finally, our study shows that the nexus approach can help reveal intricately linked cross-sectoral factors that can constrain the performance of agricultural technologies.
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at Digital Reposit... more This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at Digital Repository @ Iowa State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Repository @ Iowa State University. For more information, please contact
The core objective of this thesis was to draw lessons from the factors of success that underlie t... more The core objective of this thesis was to draw lessons from the factors of success that underlie the development of Tunisian and Ugandan organic sectors to advance recommendations that can help spur the development of African organics. The study drew on secondary data obtained from an array of sources, supplemented with clarifying information obtained through phone discussions and email exchanges with organic
stakeholders in the two countries. The study framed broad and specific questions aimed at identifying and explaining the roles played by different stakeholders, governmental and non-governmental, in fostering the development of the organic sectors in the two countries. Also, the questions enabled the study to identify and account for the roles
of organic standards/regulations and certification, organic policies and action plans, organic market development and awareness creation, and organic research, training and extension service in the evolution of Tunisian and Ugandan organic sectors as the most successful in Africa and as one of the world’s most highly ranked. Specific lessons included the need to create effective and well-structured institutions at all levels of the organic value chain. These include institutions that will serve as national organic umbrella bodies and other that will undertake activities and provide services such as organic certification and inspection, organic standards development and policy formulation, organic market development and awareness creation, organic research, training and outreach. A mix of state and market was also recommended as a way to
advance the development of African organics.