The world is in the midst of a ‘knowledge revolution’ that is being spearheaded by the rapid advancement in Information Technology. This has significantly changed the way people communicate, live, and conduct their business. The revolution in communication has provided efficient ways for developing countries to grow economically, socially as well as increase productivity.
The past decade has witnessed a rapid expansion of the Internet which has proved to be invaluable resources for obtaining information and providing new dimensions to existing areas of business and non-business activities.
There is an interactive nature to the Internet. It allows for dialogue based on question and answer mode. Online interaction between producers and users of knowledge enable diverse forms of complementary and localized information to be put together and integrated. Instead of knowledge produced by one particular group of professionals or experts, knowledge is generated from a variety of sources, including the users themselves.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural information and extension have been largely confined to the public domain, only obtainable through the Ministries of Agriculture. These structures are greatly centralized. Moreover, technical messages communicated to farmers were often of an extremely general type.
The problems associated with these type of arrangements are that farmers are treated as ignorant recipients of information, rather than knowledgeable partners in technology transfer. Management systems are poor, so that there is little pressure on the staff or their managers to seek new knowledge or to serve farmers. The extension staff are poorly trained and know little more than the farmers. In some cases, operating facilities, vehicles and bicycles are so rare that the few motivated and knowledgeable extension staff cannot systematically visits farmers even if they wanted to. The result is typically a large information and agricultural bureaucracy that has no impact on agriculture.
There had been a great need to provide agricultural and other relevant information related to farmers’ needs in rural areas. This especially so of women, due to their multiple roles in rural production and household maintenance and the consequent heavy demands on their time. Their immediate needs are agricultural technologies that they can afford and use in their farms.
In emerging markets such as Africa, it is the rural area that should be the target for the transmission of knowledge for the economic and social good, because it constitutes the bulk of the population and agriculture is the main industry there.
It is against this backdrop that a free broadband service Knowledge Center for creating and disseminating agricultural knowledge was established by Primus Igboaka, Louisa Ha, Ph.D. and Raphael Nnajiofor Okigbo, Ph.D., in Ihiala, a village in Southeastern Nigeria with volunteer college students aiding the farmers in using the Internet.
Ihiala, a village with 20,000 people, located in Anambra State, has over 500 recorded erosion sites in Nigeria. The town was devastated by the 1967 – 70 Civil War, whose effects are still being felt in different ways today. The people there are marginalized because they were defeated in the civil war and lack access to important government resources.
The knowledge center comprised of both a customized web site and four computers with high speed Internet access and a full-time on-site staff operated for three months in a convenient location in the village. Unlike a library, this knowledge center, named “SI May Knowledge Center” in memory of the couple whose house was offered as the venue for the center, was positioned as a social hot spot for people to exchange ideas, obtain information, and assistance from one another.
Prior to the creation of the center, field research was conducted in Ihiala village, in partnership with African Diasporas in the United States and Europe, to examine the effects of using broadband Internet technology for creating and disseminating agricultural knowledge in Nigeria.
The African collaborator and his research team conducted face-to-face interviews with village farmers on specific areas of agricultural knowledge that are of greatest need to them, in particular to the women farmers who are most disadvantaged by the current political and social system.
Personal interviews were administered to a panel of 12 women farmers in two waves. They were asked to state the top three problems that they need to solve; what ways they use the knowledge center if the center is given to them; what they would like to see as features in the knowledge center and how would they like to participate in the knowledge creation and transmission process such as providing rating on the information given or topic suggestions; Finally they were tested on knowledge about agricultural technology and soil erosion hazards.
The local farmers were asked to post their lessons, comments and ratings from the knowledge learned from the knowledge center on the knowledge center web site using interactive Internet features such as discussion boards and ratings of the posted topics at http://www.nigeriaknowledgecenter.net. A call to contribute to the knowledge center was sent to the various Nigeria Diaspora network sources and six US experts in African agriculture and organizations.
About three months after the knowledge center was opened, another round of personal interviews was administered to the same 12 women farmers on their improvement in knowledge areas, their utilization of the center’s resources, and participation in contributing their knowledge to the knowledge center.
Thirty per cent of the farmers interviewed visited the Knowledge Center during its 3 months of service. Among those who visited the Knowledge Center, 61% found the Nigeria Knowledge Center Web site useful. The others did not use the website when they used the Knowledge Center. The number of page views were 10 times higher than the number of postings. All of those who visited the Knowledge Center said it was a great place to socialize with and learn from other farmers.
The study shows the potential of the website for knowledge dissemination. It shows that at broadband technology can be successful in the dissemination of knowledge among users, and to a lesser extent, creation of knowledge.
A new value-added knowledge center offering various agricultural and scientific techniques was created. In addition to agricultural technology, health information would also be provided by showing farmers that good health is ‘good productivity’. Through the collaborative process, knowledge will be created, modified, and transmitted to the rural farmers (and also the partners – the Nigerian Diaspora).
The activities of the farmers in the center show that the participatory community action approach can be effective in a high-technology setting. The request for more knowledge centers to be built shows the interest of the farmers in the service. The multiple use of the center shows that the concept of a knowledge center equipped with technology for knowledge acquisition can be successful in an emerging market and in rural communities.
In conclusion, the participatory community action approach toward knowledge dissemination can work when the technology integrates with the social culture of the community and responds to their interests. It will reduce the knowledge gap between the industrialized countries and Africa.
