1. I N F O R M A T I O N & K N O W L E D G E F O R F O O D S E C U R I T Y I N
A F R I C A ( S I D E E V E N T )
PRESENTED AT THE 6TH AFRICA
AGRICULTURE SCIENCE WEEK
15TH -20TH 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 ,
Email: simonwgreg@gmail.com, Fax: 21012573, Phone: +260 961 079013
Blog: http://wandilasimonkamukwapesdiary.blogspot.com , Twitter: @kamukwape

2. Contents
• Executive Summary
• Findings
• Discussion and Conclusion
• Recommendations
• Reference

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.
Farmers
get more
access and
able to
apply the
knowledge
Telecentr
es offer
services
to the
farmer

10. 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.