Poultry Farmers’ Information needs and Extension advices in Kilosa, Tanzania: Evidence from Mobile-based Extension, Advisory and Learning System (MEALS)

Background: Poultry farmers need different information in order to improve their farming and contribute to the national economy. Information on poultry management is usually obtained from family members, friends, and neighbors with previous experience, extension officers, researchers, Television, radio, web and mobile based agriculture information systems. Promoting utilisation of vetted sources of information is envisaged to support poultry farmers in making informed decisions about management practices. This in turn will result into increased poultry productivity. Objective: Many researches have been done to evaluate various information sources but few have been done to evaluate the mobile based extension, advisory and learning system here referred to “UshauriKilimo”. This study particularly assessed poultry farmers’ information needs and extension advices given through the agro-advisory system among farmers in Kilosa district of Tanzania. The objective was to determine poultry farmers’ information needs submitted through “UshauriKilimo” and resulting advisory responses. Method: ICT based agro-advisory system \u27UshauriKilimo\u27 was deployed and used by poutry famrers for more than two years. The data from it were used to assess poultry farmers information needs. Only questions and advisory responses addressing poultry farming were analysed. These data were imported into the Qualitative Data Analysis Software, MAXQDA Plus 12 (Release 12.2.0) where they were coded, counted and analysed. Frequencies of variables were performed during content analysis. Results: More than 340 farmers used “UshauriKilimo” for the period of two years. There were more than 1500 questions and answers which contained 320 questions related to poultry farming. Most of the poultry farmers who used “UshauriKilimo” sought information on health management aspects (diseases transmission, diagnosis, treatment and control); egg production; chicken feeds and feeding; chicken breeds and housing aspects. Information on markets was the least used

A technique for the evaluation of free and open source e-learning systems

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDEvaluating software is a universal and complex problem. The question is: how should software be selected and adopted, or rather, which of the software packages is the most suitable for a specific environment? Extensive research on the evaluation of software has been done, but only a few researchers have considered evaluation of e-learning systems based on three software quality characteristics (i.e. usability, maintainability and deployability) for implementation in third world countries. In this thesis, it will be considered how to use a mixed research methods for the evaluation of free and open source e-learning systems in a developing country. The scope of this investigation is the evaluation of two free and open source e-learning systems at the Open University of Tanzania using 33 stakeholders (some with more and others with less computer expertise).South Afric

ECAWsoft: A Web based Climate and Weather Data Visualization for Big Data Analysis

Purpose: In Tanzania, data for climate and weather are normally analyzed by Meteorological Agency and then are published through TV, website and radio. Different stakeholders normally obtain the weather and climate data / information in a generalized way. This calls for a need of a system which allows data to be shared openly to different stakeholders so that they can analyze those data as per their specific needs. The paper presents the overview of the developed system, ECAWsoft. Also, it gives some few interfaces showing different outputs from the system. Findings: The goal of this paper has been attained by developing a working data visualization tool for climate and weather called ECAWsoft. The system is current operational and is providing open data for different stakeholders. It is user friendly and interactive with capability of displaying visualization of data as per fine granularity required by user. Development of open data system for data visualization has lead to a transparency system which is helping farmers, researchers, policy makers (etc.) to make informed decision on weather and climate. Practical implications: The system presented in this paper need to be scaled up so that more data from all weather stations in Tanzania can be populated in real time. Originality/value: The development and adoption of open systems for visualizing weather and climate data remains seriously lacking in many countries including Tanzania. This paper provides an overview of some initiative to fill such a research gap

Poultry Farmers’ Information needs and Extension advices in Kilosa, Tanzania: Evidence from Mobile-based Extension, Advisory and Learning System (MEALS)

Background: Poultry farmers need different information in order to improve their farming and contribute to the national economy. Information on poultry management is usually obtained from family members, friends, and neighbors with previous experience, extension officers, researchers, Television, radio, web and mobile based agriculture information systems. Promoting utilisation of vetted sources of information is envisaged to support poultry farmers in making informed decisions about management practices. This in turn will result into increased poultry productivity. Objective: Many researches have been done to evaluate various information sources but few have been done to evaluate the mobile based extension, advisory and learning system here referred to “UshauriKilimo”. This study particularly assessed poultry farmers’ information needs and extension advices given through the agro-advisory system among farmers in Kilosa district of Tanzania. The objective was to determine poultry farmers’ information needs submitted through “UshauriKilimo” and resulting advisory responses. Method: ICT based agro-advisory system \u27UshauriKilimo\u27 was deployed and used by poutry famrers for more than two years. The data from it were used to assess poultry farmers information needs. Only questions and advisory responses addressing poultry farming were analysed. These data were imported into the Qualitative Data Analysis Software, MAXQDA Plus 12 (Release 12.2.0) where they were coded, counted and analysed. Frequencies of variables were performed during content analysis. Results: More than 340 farmers used “UshauriKilimo” for the period of two years. There were more than 1500 questions and answers which contained 320 questions related to poultry farming. Most of the poultry farmers who used “UshauriKilimo” sought information on health management aspects (diseases transmission, diagnosis, treatment and control); egg production; chicken feeds and feeding; chicken breeds and housing aspects. Information on markets was the least used

ICT for e-learning in three higher education institutions in Tanzania

The advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has brought new opportunities for learning. Tanzania is adopting the new technologies in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through e-learning and m-learning. However, delivery of learning contents is becoming a challenge for HEIs due to the constraints in resources and network bandwidth. This study discussed learners’ perceptions on using e-learning applications and mobile devices for learning in three HEIs in Tanzania. Findings show that majority of the students own more than one mobile devices which can be used as a tool for facilitating the learning process. It is suggested that in order to improve e-learning content delivery and accessibility under limited resource settings, HEIs in developing countries should make an effective use of emerging mobile computing technologies which are relevant to their respective environments

On the development of climate data visualization tool for interpretation of empirical results from climate model : does it add value to different stakeholders?

Tools for visualization of climate data have been developed specifically for scientists and professionals in climatology but more recently, there is need for interpretation of results from simulated and modeled climate data useful for different stakeholders. Various experts (climate scientist, water resources engineer, agricultural engineer, hydrologist, gender specialist, economics experts and computer scientist) worked together in understanding and solving problems pertaining to climate, crop, and economic modeling. In this paper, we present a climate data visualization tool developed to allow interactive display of maps as per multi-dimensional data sets from multiple parameters of climate data as per needs of different stakeholders

Designing secure web and mobile-based information system for dissemination of students’ examination results: the suitability of soft design science methodology

The trend of organizations offering services through integrated applications using web- and mobile- based information systems has raised security concerns on how to ensure security goals are attained. The foundation of many systems’ security problems is the lack of integrating secure aspects throughout the processes of architecture design of information systems. This problem is contributed by lack of systematic research methodology and standard security guidelines and principles in many organizations dealing with development of systems in Tanzania. In order to address the weakness of previous studies in the research design, this study employed soft design science methodology (integration of Soft Systems Methodology and Design Science Research); this enabled triangulation of research methodology to take place. The security goals for the proposed secure information system design architecture were explored and incorporated in all stages of the design of system architecture. The proposed secure architecture design of information system for dissemination of students’ examinations results can be replicated to schools, colleges or universities in developing countries. The study contributes to body of knowledge by developing secure information systems architecture using a system thinking engineering approach (Soft System Methodology) compounded by Design Science Research principles. The application of the system engineering approach and design principles resulted to a new strategy, secure software development life cycle (secure-SDLC), in solving real world problematic situation and filling the identified research gap in terms of knowledge in the field of information systems’ security research

Mobile learning bridging the gap in agricultural extension service delivery: Experiences from Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania

International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 2016, Vol. 12, Issue 3, pp. 108-127.The ubiquitous nature of mobile phones offers a noble environment where farmers can learn informally anywhere, anytime and at any location. This is an innovative way to address some of the weakness of conventional agricultural extension service. Few empirical studies have reported on the development of mobile phone application to support blended learning for smallholder farming communities in developing countries. This study adopted a participatory action research method to develop innovative communication pathways in dissemination of agricultural information, agricultural knowledge and proven agricultural technologies from either extension agents or agricultural research centres or universities to farmers. The respondents who tested the system were selected random from 19 villages in Kilosa District, Tanzania. The developed systems support blended learning using mobile learning (m-learning) and electronic learning (e-learning). The findings from this study show that the systems can provide innovative mobile agricultural extension service to more than 380 smallholder farmers via web- and mobile-phone-based farmers’ advisory information systems