ICT ADVANCEMENT SHOULD HELP FARMERS PRESS AHEAD

ICT use has enabled farmers and businesspeople across the country to diversify their production and get markets. PHOTO | FILE 

As the world continues to embrace information and communication technology (ICT), farmers should not be left behind. They need knowledge and skills that will help them keep abreast with the speed at which these technological changes are taking place.

Currently, the social media, which is driving ways people, governments, organisations and institutions communicate and interact is also seen as the best way farmers in Africa can use to tap opportunities brought about by technological advancement and innovation.

Ongoing interaction in these social media platforms is what has been termed as Web 2.0 –a term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web (www) that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online.

The features and applications contained in Web 2.0 enable people to collaborate, create, share and publish information online. It also gives users the freedom of choosing which type of content should be published and shared and provide feedback.

 Farmers, being part of these communities, need to be trained on how to use Web 2.0 to improve their agricultural production, especially by using improved Web 2.0 like open communication with an emphasis on web-based communities of users and more open sharing of information.

Substantively, Tanzanian farmers still lag behind in the use of ICT in agriculture. This is attributed to slow Internet penetration and adaptability in the country. However, with time things have been changing.

Recently, 30 farmers from different parts of the country underwent intensive Web 2.0 and social media training at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Morogoro.

It was the training programme aimed at equipping them with skills on how to conduct advanced multilingual online search by using search magic, select information via alerts and RSS feeds, develop contents remotely using Wikis and Google and how to organize references using online software such as mendeley.

This is in a bid to solve some critical ICT savvy challenges that the majority of farming communities are facing in agriculture. Recently, researchers have begun to test for the effectiveness of different ICTs at reaching and benefiting farmers, focusing primarily on the transmission of price information.

 The training programme was organised by the Tanzania Graduate Farmers Association (TGFA) in collaboration with Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation and Microphas Investment Limited as part of incorporating traditional farming and technologies.

Tanzania was selected as training place due to its improved Internet access spearheaded by the accomplished National Information Communication Technology Broadband Backbone (NICTBB). Dr Dino Woiso, one of the founder members of TGFA, at the opening of the training session said since the world was changing fast, ability to create, access, use and share information among members of the community became a very powerful tool.

“Practitioners like us often have difficulties in sourcing, publishing as well as communicating our work however simple; open source applications and services designed to enhance online collaboration are available to the wider public at little or no cost at all,” said Dr Woiso.

He noted that expectations on Web 2.0 training were that farmers would be able to use the knowledge and skills acquired to create a network to keep each other informed of what was going on in the sector.

“Training on Web 2.0 has enabled us to smoothly cross the bridge from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, and, it is important that we impart this acquired knowledge and skills to colleagues we are working with,” said Ntirankiza Misibo, one of the participants.

Mr Misibo admitted that, although there had been a large number of people in the social media, the majority of them didn’t know hidden opportunities for professional and business advancement.

The training took participants through Skype, Google Maps and Docs and highlighted the importance of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Dgroups for professional purposes.

Source: http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/Business/ICT-advancement-should-help-farmers-press-ahead/-/1840414/2150642/-/ll8dprz/-/index.html