Abstract:
This article addresses the management of agricultural indigenous knowledge (IK) in developing
countries, with a specific focus on Tanzania. It provides background details on IK and its
importance for agricultural development. It introduces various knowledge management (KM)
concepts and discusses their application in managing IK in the developing world by placing
Nonaka’s knowledge creation theory (Nonaka 1991; Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995; Nonaka, Toyama
& Konno 2000) in the context of the local communities. Data from focus groups were used to
triangulate with data from interviews in order to validate, confirm and corroborate quantitative
results with qualitative findings. The study findings showed that knowledge creation theory can
be used to manage IK in the local communities, however, adequate and appropriate resources need
to be allocated for capturing and preserving IK before it disappears altogether. For sustainable
agricultural development, the communities have to be placed within a knowledge-creating setting
that continuously creates, distributes and shares knowledge within and beyond the communities’
boundaries and integrates it with new agricultural technologies, innovations and knowledge
