Abstract:
This article provides a systematic analysis of the
challenges of managing agricultural indigenous
knowledge (IK), and accessing external knowledge
in the rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, with a spe-
cific focus on Tanzania. Semi-structured interviews
were used to collect primary data from 181 small-
scale farmers in the six districts of Tanzania. The
findings indicated that farmers faced various chal-
lenges in managing their IK, and accessing external
knowledge, which ranged from personal and social
barriers, to factors in the external environment such
as infrastructure, policy, Intellectual Property Rights
(IPR), and weak linkages between research, exten-
sion services and farmers. Farmers also faced chal-
lenges when using information and communication
technologies (ICTs) to manage their knowledge,
such as personal, socio-cultural, infrastructural, tech-
nical, and economic factors. It is thus important for
the government to improve access to extension ser-
vices, review the IPR system, enhance rural electrifi-
cation, telecommunications and roads infrastructure.
Further, the knowledge providers (i.e. agricultural extension officers, researchers, educators, libraries,
non governmental organisations, civil society, and
other agricultural actors) should nurture a knowl-
edge sharing culture. Farmers need to be assisted
and trained to document their knowledge, map com-
munities’ IK bearers and innovators, use multiple
formats (print and ICTs) with traditional communica-
tion channels (for instance, folklore and apprentice-
ships) specific to a local context to disseminate
knowledge. Participatory approaches should be em-
ployed in knowledge production and dissemination
in order to include farmers’ needs and expressing
knowledge in the resulting technologies, practices
and new knowledge. In this way linkages between
indigenous and external knowledge would be en-
hanced for improved farming activities in the local
communities.
