Agricultural and indigenous agro-biodiversity information and knowledge sources, channels and sharing strategies among local community farmers in selected districts in Tanzania

Description

This book summarizes the findings of two researches. The first part of this book reports the agricultural information sources and strategies for disseminating agricultural research findings to farmers in Iringa District, Tanzania. The second part reports on management aspects related to indigenous agro-biodiversity practices, focusing on sources, acquisitions, sharing and constraints in managing indigenous knowledge related to agro-biodiversity practices among local communities in Masasi and Nachingwea districts in Tanzania. The paper suggests that, there is a need to use other disseminators such as influential people, religious leaders, political leaders, primary school teachers and pupils to disseminate such information in addition to repackaging of agricultural research findings to tailor it to the farmers’ needs. Results from the second part of the study indicates that farmers rely heavily on tacit knowledge as opposed to recorded knowledge. The study concluded that farmers create new knowledge through face-to-face and group interactions, folklore, carvings and initiation rites and that IK is largely transferred through oral tradition and demonstrations and is preserved in human minds. The book recommends that KM practices on management of agro-biodiversity should be the responsibility of communities, village authorities, public and private sectors and that the government and private agro-biodiversity actors should foster KM practices on management of agro-biodiversity by engaging communities in the identification, mapping, dissemination and preservation of IK and should conduct user studies to determine areas for intervention. These will help local communities to sustain their farming systems and hence ensure their livelihoods.