INFORMATION & KNOWLEDGE FOR FOOD SECURITY IN AFRICA (SIDE EVENT) PRESENTED AT THE 6 TH AFRICA AGRICULTURE SCIENCE WEEK 15 TH -20 TH JULY, 2013 ACCRA, GHANA CASE STUDY: IMPROVING ACCESS AND APPLICATION OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE FOR AGRICULTURE BY TRANSFORMING TELECENTRES INTO AGRICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE HUBS Simon Wandila, Youth Skills for Development, C/O Musenge Tradings Building,Along Lufunsa Avenue, Chimwemwe Township, Kitwe, Zambia, Fax: , Phone: Blog:

Contents Executive Summary Findings Discussion and Conclusion Recommendations Reference

Executive Summary Purpose: Pivotal role which Telecentres play in enabling access to and application of information and knowledge for small holder farmers in Southern Africa Transforming telecentres to operate as Agricultural Knowledge Hubs ICT Strategies in agriculture The power of Public Private Partnerships in creating linkages between ICT and agriculture to improve access to and application of information and knowledge

Findings Lack of adopted ICT strategy and practice in ministries in charge of agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forestry; i.Lack of capacity of farmers and extension officers in the use of modern ways of communication and information dissemination (ICTs) ii.Lack of access to adequate ICT tools and services by farmers, extension enterprises and extension service officers With an inclusively designed and adopted ICT strategy, an effective framework of integrating ICT into agriculture can be arrived at.

Findings cont’… The absence of effective Public Private Partnerships in linking ICTs to agricultural development: i.Supporting each other through well- structured and modelled partnerships can improve service delivery, sustainability and impact; ii.None of the partners can work in isolation and expect to create impact iii.Networks of telecentres exist and other stakeholders and they struggle to join efforts with other sectors so as to fully utilise telecentres

Findings Cont’… Learning from Botswana’s success through PPP Botswana government has deployed telecentres in rural areas country wide through a PPP initiative Different telecomms companies are sponsoring the telecentres Rural people use them to access information and government disseminates information through these telecentres Due to lack of adequate capacity in content development, these telecentres do not meet the info & knowledge needs of local people who mainly depend on agriculture

Discussion and Conclusion Lack of ICT strategies in ministries of agriculture and the absence or ineffectiveness of public private partnerships are the major problems identified

Proposed Interventions include: Conducting comprehensive research to understand the information, knowledge and communication needs of farmers & extension service providers across the agriculture value chain Develop an agricultural information and knowledge content management model for telecentres where various key projects participate in content development and capacity building for telecentres. Establish Comprehensive PPP for enhanced, effective linkages between ICT and agriculture

Recommendations PPPs build a collaborative Business Model for Telecentres to operate as AgriKnowledge Hubs Ministries of Agriculture develop and adopt ICT strategies with budget allocation Agricultural Research and Development, and Extension & Advisory Institutions locally and at regional level, establish collaborative partnerships with telecentre networks in capacity building and content development and repackaging with a particular focus on agriculture. Content & Capacity Governm ent’s input Farmers get more access and able to apply the knowledge Telecentr es offer services to the farmer

Reference Simon Wandila (2012). Diversify to Survive; Public Private Partnerships revives Botswana’s telecentre programme. The Future of Telecentres, ICT Update,( June, 2012), CTA. The Netherlands. Darlington Kahilu (2012). Application of ICT in the Agriculture Sector in Zambia. National Agriculture Information Services. Lusaka, Zambia. Marcel Werner (2005). ICT in Agriculture Extension and Marketing in Malawi and Mozambique. Research Report. CTA. The Netherlands.