About the RUFORUM 2010 Biennal Conference
"The 2010 RUFORUM Biennial Conference was the second in the series. The main objective of the Biennial conferences is to provide a platform for agricultural research for development stakeholders in Africa and beyond to actively exchange findings and experiences, while at the same time learning lessons towards improving performance of the agricultural sector and ultimately people’s livelihoods. The biennial conference is RUFORUM’s most comprehensive meeting for the diversity of stakeholders in agriculture. It is especially dedicated to graduate students and their supervisors, grantees in RUFORUM member universities and alumni. It is a platform for peer review, quality control, mentorship, networking and shared learning. This record contains an extended abstract accepted under the theme of Information Systems"
Challenges facing research institutions in using information and communication technologies to disseminate agricultural information to farmers in Gezira State, Sudan
Abstract:
In this study the challenges of effective use of ICTs to
disseminate agricultural information were investigated. The
study also sought to determine whether the extent of ICTs usage
influenced the quality, timeliness and usefulness of disseminated
agricultural information. The research additionally sought to
identify socio-economic factors as well as cultural and technical
constraints affecting the use of ICTs in the dissemination of
agricultural information. The study generated information that
can be used by stakeholders to make appropriate policy
decisions involving the use of ICTs. The results indicated that
socio-economic factors that influenced the use of ICTs included
gender, educational level, income and farm size. The findings
further indicated that technical factors such as software
packages, limited skilled staff and technicians, few ICTs centres
and methods of dissemination also influenced the use of ICTs.
In addition cultural factors such as beliefs, moral values and
religion also influenced the use of ICTs. Among researchers,
the most popular methods of dissemination of agricultural
information was print media (30%) followed by radio (20%)
and TV (15%) while for farmers the most popular methods to
access to agricultural information was radio (21.9%) followed
by print media (15.33%) and TV (14.6%).
Dans cette étude, les défis de l’utilisation efficace des TIC
pour diffuser l’information agricole ont été étudiés. L’étude a
également cherché à déterminer si l’ampleur de l’utilisation des
TIC influence la qualité, la rapidité et l’utilité de l’information
agricole diffusée. La recherche en outre a cherché à identifier
les facteurs socio-économiques ainsi que les contraintes
culturelles et techniques qui affectent l’utilisation des TIC dans
la diffusion de l’information agricole. L’étude a généré des
informations qui peuvent être utilisées par les intervenants pour prendre des décisions appropriées concernant l’utilisation des
TIC. Les résultats ont indiqué que les facteurs socioéconomiques
qui ont influé sur l’utilisation des TIC comprennent
le genre, le niveau d’instruction, le revenu et la taille des
exploitations. Les conclusions en outre ont indiqué que des
facteurs techniques tels que les logiciels, le personnel et des
techniciens qualifiés limités, peu de centres de TIC et les
méthodes de diffusion aussi ont influencé l’utilisation des TIC.
En plus des facteurs culturels tels que les croyances, les valeurs
morales et la religion ont aussi influencé l’utilisation des TIC.
Parmi les chercheurs, la méthode la plus populaire de diffusion
de l’information agricole a été la presse écrite (30%), suivie
par la radio (20%) et la télévision (15%), tandis que pour les
agriculteurs la méthode la plus populaire pour accéder à
l’information agricole a été la radio (21,9%) suivie par la presse
écrite (15,33%) et la télévision (14,6%).
Language:
English
Date of publication:
2010
Country:
Region Focus:
East Africa
Collection:
RUFORUM Conferences and Workshops
Agris Subject Categories:
Agrovoc terms:
Additional keywords:
Licence conditions:
Open Access
Access restriction:
Form:
Printed resource
Publisher:
ISSN:
E_ISSN:
Edition:
Extent:
1735-1743
Notes:
