Title: Developing agricultural literacy through USR and blockchain

Authors: Chien-Pang Lee; Cheng-I. Wei; Tzong-Ru Lee

Addresses: Department of Maritime Information and Technology, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan ' Interim Department Chair of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, USA ' Marketing Department, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan

Abstract: This study proposed a concept of university social responsibility (USR) to develop agriculture literacy by involving students in actual procedure of agricultural production and sales. Through this study, students, teachers, and farmers' associations were connected in a course. Blockchain technology was used for a complete and accurate record. This study was held at National Chung Hsing University Taiwan during the first semester of the 2019 academic year. Questionnaires were given to students to analyse their agricultural literacy. Descriptive analysis showed that the mean of students' agricultural cognition, agricultural attitude, and agricultural behaviour were 3.3737, 3.7495, and 3.3912, respectively. The semantic analysis showed that students understood that they had cooperation and knowledge exchange with farmers' association by the blockchain technology. It was concluded that the students tended to have a better agricultural attitude after participating in the course and this USR concept had a subtle effect on developing students' agricultural literacy.

Keywords: agricultural literacy; university social responsibility; USR; blockchain technology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2025.143071

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2025 Vol.18 No.1, pp.17 - 31

Received: 09 Feb 2022
Accepted: 05 Nov 2022
Published online: 03 Dec 2024 *

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