Browsing by Author "Sanga, C. A."

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System design and ICT adoption in agricultural extension services delivery in Tanzania
(IGI Global, 2014) Sanga, C. A.; Tumbo, S. D.; Mlozi, M. R. S.
The major purpose of this chapter is to explore the options of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to complement conventional agricultural extension services in Tanzania. Group discussions and meetings were conducted to investigate the role of ICTs in extension services delivery using CATWOE framework of Soft Systems Methodology. The findings of the study reveal that the use of SSM helped the researchers to understand easily the problematic areas of the current situation of agricultural extension services. In addition, it was easy to plan feasible actions to be taken to improve the situation. The framework for the conceptual model towards improving the agricultural extension services in Kilosa District of Tanzania was developed. These results have been used in the development of an ICT-based system (Web- and Mobile-Based Farmers’ Advisory Information Systems) to supplement the conventional agricultural extension system. The roadmap developed as the implementation plan for this research can be used in any e-Government project. The need to improve the way agricultural extension is done in Tanzania through integration of relevant and affordable ICTs is well researched. This book chapter presents how this can be done using SSM approach in an action and participatory research. This is the first presentation of SSM intervention in agricultural informatics in Tanzania. The approach used in this study can be adopted by researchers doing any e-Government research.
Urban expansion: a geo-spatial approach for temporal monitoring of loss of agricultural land
(International Archives for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 2017-09-14) Sumari, N. S.; Shao, Z; Huang, M; Sanga, C. A.; Van Genderen, J. L.
This paper presents some preliminary results from research on monitoring the urban growth of Shenzhen in China. Agriculture is still the pillar of national economies in many countries including China. Thus, agriculture contributes to population growth. Population growth follows either exponential or logistic growth models. These models can be examined using a time-series of geospatial data, mainly historical earth observation imagery from satellites such as LANDSAT. Such multitemporal data may provide insights into settlement analysis as well as on population dynamics and hence, quantify the loss of agricultural land. In this study, LANDSAT data of ten dates, at approximately five yearly intervals from 1977 to 2017 were used. The remote sensing techniques used for analysis of data for 40 years were image selection, then followed by geometric and radiometric corrections and mosaicking. Also, classification, remote sensing image fusion, and change detection methods were used. This research extracted the information on the amount, direction, and speed of urbanization, and hence, the number of hectares of agricultural land lost due to urban expansion. Several specific elements were used in the descriptive model of landscape changes and population dynamics of the city of Shenzhen in China. These elements are: i) quantify the urban changes, from a small town (37.000 people in the early 1970’s) to the megalopolis of around 20 million habitants today. ii) Examining the rate of urban extension on the loss of agricultural landscape and population growth. iii) The loss of food production was analysed against the economic growth in the region. iv) The aspects of loss of agricultural land, area of built-up urban land, and increase in population are studied quantitatively, by the temporal analysis of earth observation geospatial data. The experimental results from this study show that the proposed method is effective in determining loss of agricultural land in any city due to urbanization. It can be used by town planner and other stakeholders such as land surveyors and agriculture experts to mitigate the mushrooming of unplanned settlements in many town / villages and loss of land for agriculture which might cause problems in food security.