Abstract
Women farmers constitute the vast majority of agricultural producers in Tanzania; however, it is not clear where they obtain information on modern farming innovations. Knowing these sources will enable the government and international aid organizations to more effectively channel information for increased productivity, leading to national food security, increased incomes for farm families and promoting gender parity in Tanzania. This study, which was carried out among 300 women farmers in Hai and Kilosa districts of Kilimanjaro and Morogoro regions respectively, aimed at identifying their sources of agricultural information. The theory that guided this study was Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations, especially Rogers and Shoemaker’s Source-Message-Channel-Receiver-Effect (SMCRE) model. The study, which yielded a high response rate of 96%, found that radio and agricultural extension workers were the primary sources of agricultural information for women farmers. Therefore, the researchers recommend that the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives (MAFC) should focus on community radio as the primary source of information dissemination to farmers and supply rural households with solar-powered radios free of charge or at subsidized cost. The finding that extension workers are women farmers’ second main source of information on farming innovations also defeats the general contention that male extension workers are inaccessible to female farmers. A peculiar finding was that even though women farmers have access to mobile phones they do not use them to obtain agricultural information, perhaps, because the MAFC does not have a system for farmers to call in for information.
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