State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS)
The projected population increase and drastic climate changes are a great setback to food security through sustainable agriculture. However, governments need to play key roles in supporting the agriculture sector, which creates considerable employment and contributions to most countries’ Gross Domes...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Agriculture |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/3/475 |
| _version_ | 1797242498858352640 |
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| author | Gilbert Exaud Mushi Pierre-Yves Burgi Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo |
| author_facet | Gilbert Exaud Mushi Pierre-Yves Burgi Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo |
| author_sort | Gilbert Exaud Mushi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The projected population increase and drastic climate changes are a great setback to food security through sustainable agriculture. However, governments need to play key roles in supporting the agriculture sector, which creates considerable employment and contributions to most countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) outcomes. In many countries, the governments already support the agriculture sector with services based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to reach many stakeholders, including smallholder farmers. This paper investigated the status of e-Government services in the agriculture sector for farmers in order to understand the functions and scope of e-services, the challenges faced by farmers, both addressed and unaddressed, and the challenges of ICT-based services for farmers and other stakeholders in Tanzania. We used a qualitative research approach to interview the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, extension workers, and agriculture processing industries. The main finding reveals that e-government services play a major role in the agriculture sector in Tanzania. Our results show that the pre-existing ICT services identified for farmers cannot meet the needs of farmers in a complete farming cycle. Moreover, lack of awareness, digital illiteracy, and poor infrastructure are the major challenges faced by farmers and other stakeholders when it comes to ICT-based services. These results justify the need for a comprehensive digital platform, particularly the proposed Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) to enable farmers and other stakeholders to access essential services in a complete farming cycle for a more sustainable agriculture. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:40:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b4aa2bdfaf8e4d81b1a58854641fd7e5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0472 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:40:11Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agriculture |
| spelling | doaj.art-b4aa2bdfaf8e4d81b1a58854641fd7e52024-03-27T13:16:09ZengMDPI AGAgriculture2077-04722024-03-0114347510.3390/agriculture14030475State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS)Gilbert Exaud Mushi0Pierre-Yves Burgi1Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo2Centre Universitaire D’Informatique (CUI), University of Geneva, 1227 Geneva, SwitzerlandDivision Sytéme et Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, SwitzerlandCentre Universitaire D’Informatique (CUI), University of Geneva, 1227 Geneva, SwitzerlandThe projected population increase and drastic climate changes are a great setback to food security through sustainable agriculture. However, governments need to play key roles in supporting the agriculture sector, which creates considerable employment and contributions to most countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) outcomes. In many countries, the governments already support the agriculture sector with services based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to reach many stakeholders, including smallholder farmers. This paper investigated the status of e-Government services in the agriculture sector for farmers in order to understand the functions and scope of e-services, the challenges faced by farmers, both addressed and unaddressed, and the challenges of ICT-based services for farmers and other stakeholders in Tanzania. We used a qualitative research approach to interview the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, extension workers, and agriculture processing industries. The main finding reveals that e-government services play a major role in the agriculture sector in Tanzania. Our results show that the pre-existing ICT services identified for farmers cannot meet the needs of farmers in a complete farming cycle. Moreover, lack of awareness, digital illiteracy, and poor infrastructure are the major challenges faced by farmers and other stakeholders when it comes to ICT-based services. These results justify the need for a comprehensive digital platform, particularly the proposed Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) to enable farmers and other stakeholders to access essential services in a complete farming cycle for a more sustainable agriculture.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/3/475agriculturee-Government servicesICT servicessustainable agricultureFarmers Digital Information System (FDIS)Tanzania |
| spellingShingle | Gilbert Exaud Mushi Pierre-Yves Burgi Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) Agriculture agriculture e-Government services ICT services sustainable agriculture Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) Tanzania |
| title | State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) |
| title_full | State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) |
| title_fullStr | State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) |
| title_full_unstemmed | State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) |
| title_short | State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) |
| title_sort | state of agricultural e government services to farmers in tanzania toward the participatory design of a farmers digital information system fdis |
| topic | agriculture e-Government services ICT services sustainable agriculture Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) Tanzania |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/3/475 |
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