ICTs as Tools for Poverty Reduction

This chapter attempts to enhance the understanding and knowledge of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in relation to the Tanzania National ICT Policy as a case study. The authors extensively explore these pervading technologies as they impact on the education, commerce, social, cultural, and economic life of the poor Tanzanian people. The chapter looks at how Tanzania is coping with the issue of poverty eradication as one of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It addresses the issue of digital divide and the role that ICTs can play in poverty reduction. Tanzania’s efforts in embracing ICTs and the challenges facing the country in its efforts are also addressed. Overall, the chapter demonstrates that ICTs are a set of tools for knowledge sharing, which is a powerful means for poverty reduction. Furthermore, it is advisable to focus on information literacy rather than just focusing on computer literacy.

Impact of E-Government Implementation on Poverty Reduction in Rural India

ICTs in general and e-governance in particular offer tremendous opportunities for improving demanddriven transparent and accountable service delivery targeting the underprivileged. The objective of this chapter is to examine the effects of E-government implementation in the context of widespread poverty in India through an extensive secondary data analysis on selected pro-poor initiatives in reducing poverty and improving rural livelihoods. Analysis also includes various contexts in which these ICT based interventions operate. Specific recommendations are made to involve the socially excluded groups in the design, implementation and access to e-government services. Governments to design appropriate public policies in implementing socially inclusive e-government strategies in the emerging information society draw the conclusion.

World Wide Weber

Many of African States are focusing on ICTs and developing e-government infrastructures in order to fasten and improve their “formalisation strategy”. This philosophy drives the South African State in its impressive efforts to deploy an efficient and pervasive e-government architecture for its citizens to enjoy accurate public services and for this young democracy to be “useful” to them. By focusing on the South African case, people will be able to understand the role of ICTs as tools to register, formalise and normalise, supporting the final objective of Weberian rationalisation. The author will consider the historical process of this strategy, across different political regimes (from Apartheid to democracy). He will see how it is deployed within a young democracy, aiming at producing a balance between two poles: a formal existence of citizens for them to enjoy a “delivery democracy” in which they are to be transparent; an informal existence of citizens for them to live freely in their private and intimate sphere. In this tension, South Africa, given its history, is paradigmatic and can shed light on many other countries, beyond Africa.

The Development of an Organic Agriculture Model

This article describes the problem state of organic farming development and procedures for modeling by the means of system dynamics, with emphasis on the organic products market. The modeling principles are described in the following steps: problem state formulation, development of causal loop diagrams, model development, scenario analysis and formulation of acceptable strategies. Basic structures developed by the system dynamics principle are presented. The concept of archetypes in the field of organic agriculture modeling is described. The simulation scenarios are formulated as a case study for the Slovenian organic agriculture. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]

Role of Telecommunications in Precision Agriculture

Precision agriculture has been made possible by the confluence of several technologies: geographic positioning systems, geographic information systems, image analysis software, low-cost microcomputerbased variable rate controller/recorders, and precision tractor guidance systems. While these technologies have made precision agriculture possible, there are still major obstacles which must be overcome to make this new technology accepted and usable. Most growers will not do image processing and development of prescription maps themselves but will rely upon commercial sources. There still remains the challenge of storage and retrieval of multi-megabytes of data files for each field, and this problem will only continue to grow year by year. This chapter will discuss the various wireless technologies which are currently being used on three proof-of-concept farms or areas in Mississippi, the various data/ information intensive precision agriculture applications which use wireless local area networking and Internet access, and the next generation technologies which can immensely propel precision agriculture to widespread use in all of agriculture.

Globalized Workforce Development and Responsible Global Citizenship through e-Literacy Capacity Building Programs for Low Income African Countries

The skewed global workforce interactions during the agricultural and industrial revolutions which still bother the antagonists of globalization could be straightened by progressive workforce development policies that will mutually benefit high and low income countries. In addition, the e- literacy and information technology boom have further narrowed spatial perception of geographic distance thus providing low-income countries insights on policy dynamics of high income countries and its impact on the rest of the world. Thus in order to attain equity and balanced global workforce development, this chapter explores the rational and different paradigms for capacity building on e-literacy in low income African countries so that their workforce would contribute to the globalized economy and civic responsibility. The chapter contends that e-literacy empowerment should be regarded as a human right issue and that through other ethical globalization efforts every person on earth should form part of the workforce for sustaining the global village.

Diffusion and Dissemination of Agricultural Knowledge

Almost sixty five percent of Indian population is engaged in agriculture that contributes to food security of the world’s second largest populated country. Though agriculture sector shares 26 percent of GDP, this sector is very crucial for the sustainable growth and development of India. The emerging agricultural challenges demand information intensive agriculture work and applications of state of the art knowledge to enhance agricultural productivity, but non-accessibility of information and subsequently awareness and knowledge gaps that exist in this sector, enormously affect agricultural productivity. Efforts are being made for e-communication of information in rural India. This chapter portrays such efforts of public and private sectors, pinpoints the problem areas for accessibility of latest agricultural knowledge and suggests an e-communication model suitable for transfer of agricultural knowledge in the rural areas of India.

Connected Government for a Developing Country Context

An information society begins with a connected government and ICTs are the bedrock and founding pillars of such societies. To assist public administrators think beyond traditional e-government, this study describes a concept of connected government, whose philosophy rests on the integration of back-end processes that facilitate collaboration among government agencies. This article describes a case study of five government-owned organizations in a developing country environment where even the basic egovernment services are barely available. This study was carried out to determine the extent of integration within and across government agencies, with the aim of stimulating some thinking within and among government managers and administrators, around the possibility that a connected government can indeed be established in a developing country setting. The study exposes shortcomings to inter-departmental integration not only of the organizations under investigation, but also of other similar enterprises in developing countries within the same context. The paper concludes by proposing a set of recommendations toward diffusing connected government applications for inter-organizational collaboration.

Newly Emerging e-Commerce Initiatives on the Agricultural Market in Poland

Establishment of the new institutions that could improve Polish agricultural market was one of the main goals of the Polish government agricultural policy in the period of economy transformation. The project of creating agricultural markets was successful. Several regional wholesale markets and commodity exchanges were established and most of them still function with good performance. These markets are the key important marketing channels for market-oriented farmers in Poland. They can also be seen as a source of electronic commerce innovations on the Polish agricultural market. The aim of the chapter is to present the process of establishment and first experiences of electronic market of agricultural products as one of the new e-commerce initiatives on the Polish agricultural market. The chapter also discusses conditions of the electronic exchange development and its impact on the Polish agricultural market.

Awareness and the Use of Mobile Phones for Market Linkage by Smallholder Farmers in Kenya

In many developing countries smallholder farmer participation in agricultural input and output markets continues to be constrained by lack of market information. Actors in most developing country markets operate under conditions of information asymmetry which increases the costs of doing business and locks out smallholder farmers. Attempts to address this problem are currently focusing on the use of ICT technologies to provide market information and link farmers to markets. This study examines the awareness and use of one such technology – mobile phones. It finds for male and female smallholder farmers in Kenya a high level of awareness and widespread use of mobile phones, mainly for social purposes. This study further finds that a low level of education, the cost of mobile phone airtime recharge vouchers and the lack of electricity for recharging phone batteries are the major impediments to the ownership and use of mobile phones, with female farmers more constrained than males. A high awareness of mobile phones among smallholder farmers presents an opportunity to strengthen smallholder farmers’ market linkage. However constraints to the usage of mobile phones will need to be addressed. The study findings indicate priorities for policymakers dealing with the specifics of ICT adoption as a tool to promote rural viability via rationalization of Kenyan agricultural markets.