| Summary: | Access and use of information facilitate the improvement of agriculture in rural areas. It is
therefore important to ensure that adequate and appropriate information flows to the rural areas,
and that farmers are able to utilise it. This study investigated the access and use of poultry
management information in three rural districts of Tanzania, namely Iringa Rural, Morogoro
Rural and Mvomero. The survey method, supplemented by methodological triangulation, was
used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. A semi-structured questionnaire was used
to collect data from 360 poultry farmers in the selected rural communities. Sixteen focus group
discussions were conducted, in which 160 farmers participated. Twenty-two information
providers were interviewed. The SPSS® software was used to analyse quantitative data, while
qualitative data was analysed using content analysis.
The findings indicated that poultry farmers needed information on poultry disease control,
poultry protection, shelter for poultry and poultry production. There was very low identification
and prioritisation of farmers’ information needs by the information providers. Farmers accessed
information that had a direct impact and was deemed relevant to their farming activities. It was
revealed that farmers accessed information mainly from interpersonal sources. Likewise, farmers
preferred interpersonal and informal sources to formal sources of information. The extension
officers were considered to be the most effective information source, followed by family, friends,
and neighbours. Various factors, such as lack of awareness, unavailability of extension officers
and poor infrastructure, influenced access and use of poultry management information.
It was concluded that most of the information providers were not aware of the farmers’
information needs, and as a result they were not in a position to disseminate relevant
information. In addition, farmers were used to an oral culture, which means that they would
probably continue to depend on interpersonal sources of information, regardless of the
availability of formal channels and modern sources. The study recommended several measures,
including the use of multiple sources of information and delivery of information in a variety of
formats, in order to accommodate various categories of farmers. The study also suggested some
areas for further research. Furthermore, a model for effective dissemination of poultry
management information in rural areas was proposed. === Information Science === D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)
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