Use of ICTS in sharing agricultural information among fish farmers in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania

This paper assesses the use of ICTs in sharing agricultural information among fish farmers in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The main objective of the study was to assess the use of ICTs among fish farmers in sharing agricultural information. Specifically, the study focused on: assessing types of ICTs preferred by fish farmers in sharing agricultural information; determining the degree of ICTs usage among fish farmers in sharing agricultural information; and examining the influence of socioeconomic characteristics on fish farmer’s ICTs preferences. The study was carried out in twelve purposeful selected divisions in six districts of the three regions of Southern Highland of Tanzania namely Ruvuma, Mbeya and Iringa. It involved 240 fish farmers who were randomly selected. The study employed a cross section research design and used quantitative and qualitative research approaches in collecting data. The employed questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion, observation and key informants interview in data collection. Quantitative data were analyzed by using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of SPSS version 20 while qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The study found that mobile phones, radio and television were most used by the fish farmers in sharing agricultural information while the internet was least used. Likewise, results showed that television was the most preferred ICT tool by fish farmers in information sharing. Further results showed that ownership of television had a positive significant relationship with the farmers’ preferences toward its usage at probability level of 0.005. Moreover, the paper concluded 554and recommended that since ICT tools play an important role in communicating and sharing relevant and current agricultural knowledge and information to farmer’s communities, the Government should support fish farmers by subsidizing some costs that more fish farmers can acquire and use them