Towards improving farmers? livelihoods through exchange of local agricultural content in rural Uganda.

Authors

  • Ednah Karamagi Akiiki

Keywords:

knowledge management, agriculture, Uganda

Abstract

For years, conventional wisdom among government and civil society has been that in order to have higher and better farm output, use of modern farming techniques is paramount. This is true provided the farm inputs like hybrid seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and machinery are readily available. This is not the case for rural farmers in Uganda, who are mainly women. The Collecting and Exchange of Local Agricultural Content (CELAC) Project works in close partnership with government and civil society to promote knowledge sharing and information management of local agricultural content using various ICTs. The information collected is disseminated back to the farmers and members of civil society locally and internationally using the project website; weekly SMS; the annual Knowledge Fair; radio; information brochures and newsletters; and DVDs. The project has a number of challenges, including information hoarding. To overcome this, the project staff explains the challenges during the opening remarks and also through mobilization at the initial district Knowledge Sharing Forum. Information overflow is yet another challenge. To address this, the CELAC Knowledge Brokers periodically hold mini Knowledge Sharing Forums. Information derived then is sent to the CELAC Team which then disseminates it through the weekly SMS or the website. People have differing susceptibility to change, which is another challenge. To address this, the project involves the community in planning and implementation, and also engages them in peer-to-peer learning.

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Published

2006-05-09