Implementation of policies and strategies for agricultural information access and use in Tanzania
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Date
2001
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal
Abstract
Agriculture is an important enterprise in Africa and indeed in Tanzania where it is one
of the major economic sectors, embracing all its population. Agriculture contributes
about 60% to the Gross Domestic Product, generates about 75% of the total export
earnings and employs 84% of the Tanzanian active labour force.
Information plays a critical role in agricultural development in most countries.
However, one of the most serious reasons adduced for the low agricultural production
in Africa is the limited access to adequate information support to all stakeholders in
agricultural production. This affects all sectors of research, extension and training.
Inadequate access to and use of agricultural information by research scientists
undermines the potential to fulfil their information needs. They often lack access to
current, relevant and timely information. This results in duplication of research efforts.
Lack of access to scientific literature in the agricultural field in Tanzania has been
attributed to the ineffectiveness of the various information providers in the country,
among which the key ones are agricultural libraries and documentation centres.
Studies by agricultural information specialists and international organizations have
established that agricultural libraries and documentation centres in Less Developed
Countries have not excelled in providing agricultural information to users. This has
been attributed to several reasons. The major one being the non-implementation of
policies, strategies and recommendations advanced
by scholars, international
organizations and consultants for more availability, accessibility and use of agricultural
libraries’ services and facilities.
The main objectives of this study were to establish the extent to which Tanzania has
implemented
the key policies, strategies and recommendations for enhancing
accessibility and use of agricultural libraries and documentation centres’ services and
facilities. Some of the key policies and strategies recommended by scholars include;
increasing the libraries capacity in human, financial and material resources. Such
policies and strategies
include, among many others: library staff development,
(iii)cooperation and networking among agricultural libraries and documentation centres at
national regional and international levels and formulation of national information
policies to give guidance to agricultural information acquisition, organization,
management and provision. They also include formulation of Information and
Communication Technologies’ policies for standardization in operating systems and
data formats.
Two main data collection instruments were used in the study namely; a self
administered questionnaire and an interview schedule. The instruments were
supplemented by on site observations of the libraries’ operational activities. The
sample size comprised 34 agricultural libraries and documentation centres located in
all seven agricultural zones and 18 interviewees from the Ministry of agriculture,
agricultural institutions and research stations. The Statistical Product and Service
Solution (SPSS) for Windows version 9.0 was used to analyze the quantitative and
qualitative data.
The problems facing agricultural libraries and documentation centres in Less
Developed Countries today are many and varied, and differ from one country to
another. In Tanzania, the study findings established that these problems can be
classified into six major categories: lack of adequate resources/materials; inadequate
number of qualified personnel at managerial, professional and technical levels; lack
of cooperation and coordination among existing libraries and documentation centres;
limited financial resources; lack of explicit and operational training programmes for
library personnel and lack of a national information policy per se. Tanzania has a
number of sectoral policies in place, related to information, technology and research.
These “little sectoral policies” are fragmented and need a policy framework to provide
the missing coordination.
The study established that the number of skilled information staff in the national
agricultural library system was small. Libraries and documentation centres in many
agricultural institutions and research stations were poorly equipped and lacked
professional trained staff. Furthermore, operational budgets were limited and hence
lack of current and relevant library materials including subscriptions to scientific
(iv)journals. Contacts of agricultural information personnel with regional and international
circuits on development were found limited.
The study findings also revealed that the agricultural library information system in
Tanzania was lacking in efficiency and effectiveness in meeting the diversified
information needs of agriculturalists, particularly the research scientists. To this effect,
where information was abundantly available, it was often inaccessible due to lack of
technical know-how in documentation, organization and management for awareness
of its availability to users.
The study assumed that the global Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) and current technological developments in the publishing industry could
facilitate effective agricultural information organization and management, including
repackaging of information for extension personnel and farmers, and resource sharing
via electronic networking. However, the poor economic growth of Tanzania, as in other
Less Developed Countries, has posed limitations to the full utilization of ICTs
through lack of resources, policy guidelines and frameworks for the implementation
of such policies.
The study concluded that there has not been an effective and efficient implementation
of policies, strategies and recommendations for access and use of agricultural
information in Tanzania due to a number of problems, the main ones being: lack of
awareness of the policies and strategies among the libraries, parent organizations and
policy makers and lack of capacity of the libraries and documentation centres to
implement the policies, strategies and recommendations. The study recommended
that agricultural libraries and documentation centres in Tanzania be given priority in
budget allocation for acquisition of basic equipment, such as photocopiers and micro
computers and for training library personnel at all levels. The more affluent libraries,
such as the Sokoine National Agricultural Library and the Division of Research and
Development library of the Ministry of agriculture, should audit their resources to
determine the best ways to assist the documentation centres in remote research stations
to organize and adequately present the required information to users. Agricultural
libraries’ managers and information specialists
(V)
should become more assertive,focused, and committed in finding out about the policies and recommendations and
eventually working out the requirements for their implementation and monitoring.
Description
PhD-Thesis
Keywords
Tanzania, Policies, Agricultural information