Agricultural information systems and services in Uganda

An agricultural information system can defined as system where agricultural information is generated ,transformed , transferred,consolidated received and fed back in such a way that all these processes function to synergistic-ally to underpin knowledge utilisation by agricultural producers.

 

 IN Uganda there are many players in the agricultural field that is mainly researchers.agricultural scientists , farmers ,policy makers, Agribusiness and factories,the middle men ,and finally the the consumers of that agricultural produce.From the above mentioned players in the field there is a lot of information which is being generated in the various activities carried out by such players and there is need for that information that is being generated by them to be disseminated to the rightful people so that their is better planning is made to address the problems agriculturalists in this country are suffering from.

Information generators in the agricultural sector in Uganda are the researchers, Agricultural Scientists ,these specialize in finding out solutions to old problems about the productivity of agricultural crops and improving their quality and on top of they identify which are the best soils for the crops but all the information which they produce is recorded in books or agricultural journals which is good for the educated but here in Uganda most farmers are information illiterates that is to say they are not aware of that information existence so they can utilise it and to make matters worse the extension workers  who used to bridge that gap are no where to be seen in the grass roots to share the research information with the local farmers and the policy makers in this country only identify with only successful farmers to say that the projects the set out in their project plans are going on successfully.


So there is need to revive the extensions workers to share this information which has been created from various information sources like the commodity associations,policy makers ,the researchers, agricultural scientists ,agro-business industries to the farmers who are really producing the core of the agriculture sector that is their produce.