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Assessment Of The Use Of Information And Communication Technologies (icts) Among Staff Of Agricultural Institutions
[A CASE STUDY OF IBADAN MUNICIPAL AREA, OYO STATE, NIGERIA]
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1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The ICTs involve the use of many
electronic based communication systems such as computers, radios,
televisions, Global System of Mobile communication (GSM). It is obvious
that it is new in agricultural extension and rural development (Omotayo,
2005). Agricultural professionals use ICTs for data processing, access
of agricultural related information for (experimentation) and
dissemination to farmers. The agricultural professionals in different
types of institutions no doubt have need and have been using ICTs, for
various activities. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
(IITA), for instance as an international institution, in order to
achieve her mandates of generating proven technologies across African
countries require ICTs to enhance performance of staff. This also
applies to National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) and Oyo
State Agricultural Development Programme (OYSADEP) which have national
and state mandates respectively. Considering the importance of ICTs to
agricultural research and extension, this study therefore assessed the
access and use of ICTs by the agricultural professionals in Ibadan, Oyo
State. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are
increasingly seen as essential tools in development projects that can
create new sources of income, make governments more transparent and
accessible, improve education and health care, and overcome social
exclusion and discrimination. To harness these potentials, multinational
hi-tech corporations are forming public-private partnerships with
governments, development institutions and civil society organization in
the delivery, of ICTs to the rural masses.
Kiplangat (2003) affirms
that ICTs have become a driving force in development, providing a means
of narrowing the information gap between developed and developing
countries and among their communities. The accessibility to information
which is made readily available by ICTs has helped in molding our
altitudes towards life as there is more information about certain
aspects of life including the agricultural sector (Spore, 2004).
Agriculture
in Africa if revitalized properly can drive the wheels of rural economy
and to some extent even the urban economy as the urban dwellers depend
on rural farmers for food. Rural farmers whom the majority is
small-scale farmers contribute about 80% to the region’s food basket.
However, these farmers are faced with constrained market access, which
includes physical access to markets and lack of information. It is
difficult for the farmers to market and achieve commodity exchanges if
communication is encumbered. Limited access to market due to lack of
information on available markets is retarding development in rural
areas. Therefore, it becomes very difficult for small-scale farmers on
developing countries to penetrate the international markets. In short,
the big markets determine the prices without considering the high
production costs incurred by the less advantaged subsistence farmers in
developing countries.
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