Using ICT in Making Peasant Farmers More Knowledgeable

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• Using ICT in Making Peasant Farmers More
  Knowledgeable
• By
• Theophilus E. Mlaki
• Former Director of Information
• Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology
• TMlaki_at_costech.or.tz
• tmlaki_at_gmail.com

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CONTENTS

• 1.0 INTRODUCTION AND PHILOSOPHY
• 2.0 KNOWLEDGE
• 3.0 POVERTY AND KNOWLEDGE
• 4.0 KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION
• 5.0 ICT AS TOOLS OF KNOWLEDGE ACCESS
• 6.0 KNOWLEDGE ACCESS FOR RURAL
  COMMUNITIES
• 7.0 CONCLUSION

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1.0 INTRODUCTION AND PHILOSOPHY

• Tanzania a rich country where poor people
  live
• Maendeleo ni ya Watu siyo ya vitu (Julius
  Nyerere)
• The concept of human development has become the
  leading alternative to the view of development
  equated exclusively with economic growth. Human
  development focuses on people (UNDP).

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• Human development implies that peoples
  capabilities are
• enhanced and their lives enriched. It is a
  process of enlarging
• peoples choices, which is achieved by expanding
  human
• capabilities and functioning.
• Essential capabilities for human development are
• people to lead long and healthy lives
• to be knowledgeable
•  to have access to resources for decent living
• participation
• Making people knowledgeable is the only way of
  developing
• people

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2.0 KNOWLEDGE

• 2.1 Knowledge and Human Needs
• Maslow Pyramid
• http//www.ruralhealth.utas.edu.au/comm-lead/lead
  ership/maslow-diagram.htm

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2.2 MDGs and Knowledge
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2.3 Social transformations
Half a hectare of land and one year of
labour were required to feed one person in 1900
whereas that same half-hectare now feeds 10
persons on the basis of just one and a half days
of labour.
Agricultural Society
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2.4 UNESCOs concept of Knowledge Societies
Knowledge
Societies
Knowledge
Societies
Knowledge
Societies
Freedom Inclusiveness Diversity Empowerment
Pluralism
Pluralism
Pluralism
Human
Needs
and
Rights
Human
Needs
and
Rights
Human
Needs
and
Rights
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3.0 POVERTY AND KNOWLEDGE

• 3.1 What is Poverty
• Poverty is more than lack of material well
• being. It also reflects poor health and
  education,
• deprivation in knowledge and communication,
  inability to exercise human and political rights
  and the absence of dignity, confidence and self
  respects.
• 3.2 Stories on poverty and knowledge
• Half of the number of children born in Sengerema
  District
• in Western Tanzania are not vaccinated even
  though this
• service is offered free.

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• Crop yields from ordinary farmers in Tanzania is
• 25 of what is produced in a research
  environment
• - Maize per hectare - 1.5 Tons vs. 8 tons
• - Sweet Potatoes - 5 -10 tons vs. 30 40
  tons
• - Beans per hectare - 0.4 tons vs. 2.5 tons
• - Coffee - 400 Kgs vs. 2 tons
• 43 out of every 100 patients receiving treatment
  at
• Sengerema District Hospital in Tanzania suffer
  from
• worms/hookworm.
• 54 Women patients being treated of cervical
• carcinoma at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in
• Dar es Salaam had no knowledge of the disease.
  It is first time they learn about this cancer.
  (Sr. Avelina Temba MD)

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• Announcements prepared and broadcasted by the
• Community Radio in Sengerema in Tanzania
• remanding mothers to send their children for
• vaccination, has increased the number of
  vaccinated
• children from 50 to 100. (Evaluation of
  Sengerema
• Telecentre, IDRC, 2004).
• A carpenter, Alphonse Chayi of Sengerama District
• in Tanzania was able to make differently
  designed
• furniture and earn more money after visiting the
  IKEA
• website using Internet facilities at the
  Sengerema
• Community Telecentre.
• (http//www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,259319273
  3,00.html)

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• Mbonea Msuya who sells green bananas in Tanzania
• uses his mobile phone to communicate with his
  agents at
• Kariakoo Dar es Salaam Moshi Town Rombo Hai
• District Marangu Moshi Mwika Moshi mainly
  on
• issues related to prices. (http//quote.bloomberg.
  com/apps/news?)
• Uzito wa mtu akili siyo mwili
• Mtabakia labda labda

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Peasant farmers at Lugoba village in Tanzania
are able to follow the contents of Knowledge CD
Rom produced by CABI International containing
information on crop pests and diseases.
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• Demand for mobile phone connection in the rural
  area
• of Kaliua in Mpanda Tanzania jumped from the
• researched 1000 lines to 5000 lines.

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4.0 KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION

• Poverty is incorrectly and heavily associated
  with
• physiological needs. To get out of poverty we
  need to be
• Innovative (Give a person a fish or teach him
  how to fish?)
• Innovation is the key to the production and
• processing of knowledge. An individual,
  organization, or a
• nations ability to convert knowledge into
  wealth and social good through innovation
  determines its future.
• Is Maslows pyramid still valid?
• Can we change it? Try the pyramid upside down.

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5.0 ICT AS TOOLS OF KNOWLEDGE ACCESS

• Major advances towards convergence of computer,
• broadcasting and telecommunication technologies
  is now
• referred as Information and Communication
  Technologies
• (ICT).
• ICT are used to facilitate the processing,
  transmission
• and management of information and knowledge. As
  an
• intermediate good or product, the value of
  information and
• knowledge in use varies dramatically depending
  upon the
• context.
• It would seem logical to conclude that better
  access to
• a resource as basic as information and knowledge
  would
• greatly improve standards of living of the
  people. However
• it is very difficult to provide solid empirical
  evidence to
• support this conclusion.

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• ICT play a prominent role in the broader
  conception of
• poverty and food production. They offer new
  channels for the
• diffusion of knowledge and create physical and
  virtual spaces
• for social communication thus empowering people.
• To try and prove that ICT can play a role in
  poverty
• reduction, IDRC is supporting a three year
  research project
• (Project No. 103876) titled Poverty and ICT
  System in Urban
• and Rural Eastern Africa (PICTURE Africa) in
  four
• countries including Tanzania (www.idrc.ca.)
• All sectors and areas related to human activity
  and
• development (education, health, agriculture,
  governance,
• environment etc.) benefit a lot in the use and
  application of
• ICT.

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6.0 KNOWLEDGE ACCESS FOR RURAL
COMMUNITIES

• To transform rural communities of which majority
• are peasant farmers in Africa, we must ensure
• that knowledge reaches the remote villages.
• Availability of ICT is making this possible
  despite
• numerous challenges.
• Telecenters now act as knowledge access points
  for
• rural communities.
• Building Village ICT Infrastructure is also being
• tried in Tanzania.

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Rural Telecentre matrix
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6.1 Sengerema Community Telecentre

• Supported by COSTECH, TTCL, TCRA, Unesco,
• ITU, IDRC and Sengerema Community.
• Pilot Project from 2001 2004 More than 3000
  people ICT trained of which 40 are women Full
  Community participation Locally owned
  Cooperative Society.
• Women managed Community Radio with relevant
  content on health, agriculture, fishing and
  culture.
• Local content (www.sengerema.or.tz) and Local
  Video produced including agriculture
• Distributed 400 refurbished computers in the last
  two years
• Local Internet Service Provider for the area and
  District ICT base.

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• Self Financing - US 50,000 per year.
• Researching on District Television, District
  Telephony, and District Knowledge Center.
• Every District a Telecentre Private and Public
  Partnership

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6.2 Lugoba Village ICT Project

• Conceived and supported by COSTECH, COMNET.IT and
  Unesco
• At first was aimed at Village governance
  information processing and data management at
  village level in the sectors of health,
  education, agriculture and commerce. Some
  processed and analysed data, helped in decision
  making (Malaria data). Later became knowledge
  and communication centre of the village
• Started with ICT training for 35 village
  officials. Later trained other villagers but not
  yet exhaustive.
• Hardware, Software, and Applications provided
• Internet access via VSAT provided.

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• Website www.lungalugoba.go.tz created as
  local content. More needs to be done to create
  an Information and Knowledge Society.
• 100 Email users. Though users are paying for
  such services, sustainability is a major issue.
• Beside being a village ICT and Knowledge Centre,
  this telecentre is now the ICT base for 9 other
  village centres where a bigger ICT for Rural
  Development Project (ICT4RD) funded by SIDA
  Sweden, is scaling up the present model using the
  90 km Optic Fibre cable of the Chalinze/Wami
  Water Project. The cable has been split,
  wireless access towers have been constructed to
  create a rural communication and knowledge access
  network.

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6.3 ICT 4 RD Project.

• The ICT for Rural Development Project in
  Tanzania is a research project funded by SIDA
  Sweden. (www.ict4rd.ne.tz)
• 6.3.1 Objectives
• - To design an approach to
  ICT-based rural development in Tanzania to be the
  basis for a development program
• - To identify end-users needs and
  ability to pay for their services
• - To identify and test different
  business models for sustainability
• - To propose and test methods that
  can be scaled up on a national level

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• 6.3.2 Expected Results
• - Improved Broadband Service delivery to
  district offices, schools, farmers centers,
  health institutions and public access centers
• - To make knowledge available over the
  internet accessible to rural communities in
  Tanzania.
• - Existence of broadband pilot sites
• - A proposal for national broadband
  connectivity plan for the rural area.

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• 6.3.3 Milestones
• - Network infrastructure is completed and now
• in use
• - Health, Education, Local government as well
• as private people connected.
• - ICT awareness workshops conducted
• - Local ownership in place
• - Running Services includes file
  transfer and
• knowledge sharing, Emails, Voice, Local
  content production and Telemedicine.

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• 6.3.4 Challenges
• - Understanding knowledge and innovation as key
  to success
• - Getting agreement with infrastructure owners
• - Government involvement
• - Strong Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP)?
• - Trying new types of businesses
• - Availability and reliability of power supply
• - Purchasing power, computer literacy and
  business motivation are very low in rural areas.
• - Moving from Digital Immigrants to Digital
  Citizens

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SERENGETI AND WAMI PILOT AREAS

• Population (2002- census)
• Mara1,369,000
• Bunda260,000
• Serengeti177,000
• Coast 900,000
• Bmoyo230,000

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Map Wami
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Map Serengeti
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• The Boxes are for Active Passive Equipments

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7.0 CONCLUSION

• What should we do-
• be advocates and crusaders of knowledge access
• think more and explore new areas and methods of
  creating knowledge societies especially among
  rural farmers
• love the poor and help fight poverty in an
  appropriate way
• be realistic and look at issues from grassroot
  level.
• promote bottom up approaches
• In the years to come, the difference will not be
  rich
• and poor nations, but rather nations with high or
  low
• levels of knowledge (Smartest Nations).

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• In the continent of Africa, our focus should be
  to make
• people more knowledgeable through the use of ICT.
• More food production requires more knowledge.
• Innovation and change is necessary
• Do not go where the path may
  lead. Go instead
• where there is no path and leave a trail
  (Ralph Waldo
• Emerson)
• Society participation and involvement absolutely
• essential

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• THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
• TMlaki_at_costech.or.tz
• tmlaki_at_gmail.com