IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v14y2024i3p475-d1357843.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS)

Author

Listed:
  • Gilbert Exaud Mushi

    (Centre Universitaire D’Informatique (CUI), University of Geneva, 1227 Geneva, Switzerland
    Department of Informatics and Information Technology (DIIT), Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro 3038, Tanzania)

  • Pierre-Yves Burgi

    (Division Sytéme et Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland)

  • Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo

    (Centre Universitaire D’Informatique (CUI), University of Geneva, 1227 Geneva, Switzerland)

Abstract

The projected population increase and drastic climate changes are a great setback to food security through sustainable agriculture. However, governments need to play key roles in supporting the agriculture sector, which creates considerable employment and contributions to most countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) outcomes. In many countries, the governments already support the agriculture sector with services based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to reach many stakeholders, including smallholder farmers. This paper investigated the status of e-Government services in the agriculture sector for farmers in order to understand the functions and scope of e-services, the challenges faced by farmers, both addressed and unaddressed, and the challenges of ICT-based services for farmers and other stakeholders in Tanzania. We used a qualitative research approach to interview the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, extension workers, and agriculture processing industries. The main finding reveals that e-government services play a major role in the agriculture sector in Tanzania. Our results show that the pre-existing ICT services identified for farmers cannot meet the needs of farmers in a complete farming cycle. Moreover, lack of awareness, digital illiteracy, and poor infrastructure are the major challenges faced by farmers and other stakeholders when it comes to ICT-based services. These results justify the need for a comprehensive digital platform, particularly the proposed Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) to enable farmers and other stakeholders to access essential services in a complete farming cycle for a more sustainable agriculture.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilbert Exaud Mushi & Pierre-Yves Burgi & Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo, 2024. "State of Agricultural E-Government Services to Farmers in Tanzania: Toward the Participatory Design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS)," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:3:p:475-:d:1357843
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/3/475/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/3/475/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaowen Dai & Yi Chen & Chunyan Zhang & Yanqiu He & Jiajia Li, 2023. "Technological Revolution in the Field: Green Development of Chinese Agriculture Driven by Digital Information Technology (DIT)," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Johansen, Elias, 2023. "A Study of the Impacts of E-Governance on the Economy, Trends, and Perspective," MPRA Paper 116884, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Bethuel Kinyanjui Kinuthia, 2020. "Agricultural input subsidy and farmers outcomes in Tanzania," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-149, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Guancheng Guo & Qiyu Wen & Jingjuan Zhu, 2015. "The Impact of Aging Agricultural Labor Population on Farmland Output: From the Perspective of Farmer Preferences," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2015, pages 1-7, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mengjie Tian & Mingyong Hong & Ji Wang, 2023. "Land resources, market-oriented reform and high-quality agricultural development," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4165-4197, December.
    2. Mr. Emmanuel Momolu Pope & Prof. Wilson Opile & Dr. Lucas Ngode & Dr. Chepkoech Emmy, 2023. "Assessment of Upland Rice Production Constraints and Farmers’ Preferred Varieties in Liberia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(2), pages 1307-1322, February.
    3. Perelli, Chiara & Cacchiarelli, Luca & Peveri, Valentina & Branca, Giacomo, 2024. "Gender equality and sustainable development: A cross-country study on women's contribution to the adoption of the climate-smart agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    4. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Yan, Jingyang & Wang, Fuhao, 2024. "Impact of population aging on food security in the context of artificial intelligence: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    5. Odemero, Achoja Felix & Miebi, Gbigbi Theophilus & Aramide, Ikpoza Eguono & Ebidenere, Denghan Janet, 2020. "Upgrading Rural Youths' Capacity for Driving Shrimp-Based Agribusiness Value Chain in Nigeria," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society (AESS), vol. 10(01), January.
    6. Roosa Lambin & Milla Nyyssölä, 2022. "Employment policy in Mainland Tanzania: what's in it for women?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-67, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Joohun Han & Chanjin Chung, 2021. "Impact of Aging and Underemployment on Income Disparity between Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-15, October.
    8. Hui Zhang & Jing Li & Tianshu Quan, 2023. "Strengthening or Weakening: The Impact of an Aging Rural Workforce on Agricultural Economic Resilience in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-16, July.
    9. Ziqi Zhang & Jingyi Ding & Kuan Zhang & Xin Deng, 2025. "Impact of Aging on Farmland Abandonment: Evidence from Rural China," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-27, February.
    10. Heng Wang & Yuting Tang, 2023. "Spatiotemporal Distribution and Influencing Factors of Coupling Coordination between Digital Village and Green and High-Quality Agricultural Development—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    11. Felician Andrew Kitole & Justine N. Mbukwa & Felister Y. Tibamanya & Jennifer Kasanda Sesabo, 2024. "Climate change, food security, and diarrhoea prevalence nexus in Tanzania," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Wang, Jintao & Dong, Xinliang & Qiu, Rangjian & Lou, Boyuan & Tian, Liu & Chen, Pei & Zhang, Xuejia & Liu, Xiaojing & Sun, Hongyong, 2023. "Optimization of sowing date and irrigation schedule of maize in different cropping systems by APSIM for realizing grain mechanical harvesting in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    13. Yan Liu & Ya Deng & Binyao Peng, 2023. "The Impact of Digital Financial Inclusion on Green and Low-Carbon Agricultural Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, September.
    14. Francisca Ndinda Muteti & Irine Akite & Taddias Prince Mpofu & Basil Mugonola, 2024. "Determinants of technical efficiency among smallholder upland rice farmers in northern Uganda—a Cobb–Douglas stochastic frontier approach," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-20, January.
    15. Gilbert E. Mushi & Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo & Pierre-Yves Burgi, 2022. "Digital Technology and Services for Sustainable Agriculture in Tanzania: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    16. Quanhua Hou & Shihan Chen & Yitong Miao & Yahui Zhang & Su Chen & Xiaoyang Fan & Yaqiong Duan & Lingda Zhang, 2023. "Management and Control of Agricultural Production Space in the Yanhe River Basin Based on Peasant Household Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, May.
    17. Zhe Chen & Apurbo Sarkar & Md. Shakhawat Hossain & Xiaojing Li & Xianli Xia, 2021. "Household Labour Migration and Farmers’ Access to Productive Agricultural Services: A Case Study from Chinese Provinces," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.
    18. Wenfeng Zhou & Yan Yang & Jia He & Dingde Xu, 2023. "Does Labor Aging Inhibit Farmers’ Straw-Returning Behavior? Evidence from Rural Rice Farmers in Southwest China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, September.
    19. Banicod Riza Jane S. & Montojo Ulysses M. & Tadifa Gezelle C. & Ramos Charlotte Ann M. & Peralta Deserie M., 2024. "Demographic patterns and socio-economic drivers of salt production in the Philippines," Environmental & Socio-economic Studies, Sciendo, vol. 12(4), pages 15-29.
    20. Pingping Fang & Yiwen Wang & David Abler & Guanghua Lin, 2023. "Effects of Aging on Labor-Intensive Crop Production from the Perspectives of Landform and Life Cycle Labor Supply: Evidence from Chinese Apple Growers," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:3:p:475-:d:1357843. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.