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Information and Communication Technologies For Agric Devt - The Role of Youths
Information and Communication Technologies For Agric Devt - The Role of Youths
By
and
ALAKA, Fatai A.
Abstract
Given the fact that information revolution brought about globalisation, information
utilisation or application is believed to hold the solution to the challenges of
globalisation in whatever form they are manifested. According to CTA (2000),
efficient information dissemination remains the key to bridge the gap between the
developed and underdeveloped countries. This is part of the challenge that
confronts the development actors and stakeholders in developing countries.
However, the development specialists are yet to adapt the appropriate
agricultural and rural development strategies to accommodate the changes
brought by globalisation (Antoine, 2000).
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Objectives
The general objective of this write up is to highlight the role of the youths in the
implementation of ICT use for agricultural and rural development. It is also meant
to mention the following sub-objectives
ICT in Nigeria
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Fig. 1.1: Telephone Penetration in Nigeria
However, there has not been optimal deployment of these facilities to various
sectors and hence the benefit has not been optimal. Although “individual access
is scarce, private cyber cafés and public call offices have become a regular
feature of the modern African city” (Bertolini, 2004). Specifically, some of the new
digital communication facilities such as computers, computer networking (Local
Area Network-LAN and Wide Area Network-WAN), CD-ROM technology, GSM
and the Internet have been in use widely in Nigeria. The situation has brought a
significant challenge to the development actors in the country, who have to
contend with the socioeconomic and political dimensions that have altered the
balance between rural and urban economies (Antoine, 2000).
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Hardware Enabling Factors
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2. Government shall encourage the development of Internet content that will
promote the Social, economic and political development of Nigeria.
In the same vein, the Nigerian NITEL owns 7% of the USD$80m SAT3
submarine fibre optic and has commercially activated public access to this
continental telecoms link in May 2003. SAT3 connects several African countries
to each other and terminates at Portugal. Currently NITEL has sold about a
quarter of SAT3 capacity to large oil companies, ISPs and other telecom
operators who are using it for wholesale Internet and international voice traffic.
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Fig. 1.2:
In the third quarter of 2004, the Nigerian Government announced the details of a
National Rural Telephony Programme (NRTP), which proposes to connect
500,000 new lines in 343 local government areas within twelve months. The
programme has an investment of N28 billion (USD200 million) provided as a
concessionary loan from the Chinese government, and a matching grant of N2.8
billion from the Federal Government. The three contractors to the project are:
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The project is already off to a good start, as equipment worth USD$23m ordered
by Alcatel Shanghai Bell (ASB) for NRTP arrived in the Lagos port from China in
February 2005. The equipment included switching systems, transmission
systems and cables ready for installation (NCC, 2005).
Power Supply Situation – the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) has
concluded all arrangements for the privatisation of the incumbent electric power
operator, NEPA. The firm is now Power Holding Company (PHC) out of which 18
companies are expected to emerge. According to Mobolaji (2004), the NEPA
currently uses the SAT3 cable system and has begun a phase-wise national fibre
optics cable system to facilitate effective power distribution in the country. The
figure below illustrates the project plan;
Fig.
1.3:
The power supply status, will no doubt, affect the operation environment of the
private sector in the information technology. Apart from this, regular power supply
is equally a major factor for accessing the ICTs at the audiences’ ends.
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Private Sector Information Technology (IT) Infrastructural Development
Projects
Fig. 1.5:
Source: NCC
According to NCC (2005), the following constitute some of the declared the
private investments in the telecommunication sector within the last four years.
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in October 2004, for network infrastructure. MTN also declared an
expenditure of USD$620m on capital expenses incurred by its Nigerian
operation between March and September 2004. The amount was spent
mainly to build 344 base stations and 6 switches.
The majority of the active operators have awarded contracts for the expansion of
their networks into the hinterland. Operators with aggressive network rollouts
include MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Vmobile, Intercellular, and Starcomms. Internet
companies that are also active in network growth include Accelon, Direct-on-PC,
GS Telecom, Linkserve, Broadband Technologies, and Koochi Communications,
among others (NCC, 2005). At the end of 2004, at least 100 Nigerian towns had
primary coverage from the telephone operators.
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The foregoing shows a serious trend in ICT infrastructure development in Nigeria
and the challenge remains effective deployment of the facility to develop every
sector of the economy – urban or rural.
Considering the idea of holistic rural development, the focus does not have to be
specific to agriculture in order to enhance rural livelihoods or contribute to
improved agricultural production. The concept of rural development implies the
desire to improve the circumstances and position of rural communities through
the recognition that a dichotomous urban-rural relationship exists (CTA, 2006).
This is important to most developing countries where rural population constitute
the majority of the country’s population and especially in Nigeria where about
55% of the population live in rural areas (Microsoft Corporation, 2003). The
importance of rural development cannot be overemphasised to the extent that
the concept is analogous to human development concerns as a whole; they are
deemed identical such that studies on the latter are synonymous with the former
(Sharon, undated).
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and members of rural communities have needs for information and appropriate
learning methods that are not being met (Greenridge, 2003; Lightfoot, 2003). The
emerging issue is how ICT can be integrated into local knowledge and
information networks to address locally identified knowledge gaps. With the
emphasis on ‘Information and Communications’, the importance of context-driven
and indigenous approaches such as projects that meet local needs, demand-
driven content and local language media become obvious challenges.
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significant development in agriculture and rural sector because agro
entrepreneurs will be better rewarded and agricultural enterprises will be
enhanced. Such programme providing information on improved
methods/practices in agricultural production, which will enhance farmers’
productivity. The information exchange process will be buttressed through Online
Content Management System to entrench feedback into the communication
process.
The problem is that of mutual irrelevance. Because adult skills have remained
static, they have become irrelevant to the youth, and the youth have acquired
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some new and dynamic skills that their communities have not internalised, hence
these skills have remained in the youth sectors of society. This mutual
irrelevance has widened the divide between the modern sectors and the
indigenous sectors and slowed the processes of mutual enrichment. For this
reason, education has continued to benefit more and more people in the modern
sectors while the so-called traditional sectors have fallen further and further
behind.
In the past two decades, however, the myth of adult monopoly over knowledge
and the mechanisms of its transfer have been shattered. Youth-to-youth schools
have sprung up in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the
Congo (Kinshasa), Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe (Paschal et al, 2000).
Youth volunteers, working with the help of teachers and other specialists, have
become very effective in the areas of health, nutrition, safety, sanitation, and
environmental management. In Zambia, for example, the youth have helped to
popularise immunisation for polio, measles, diphtheria, TB, etc. Using songs and
poems composed by young people, the youth have easily changed other youths’
and the community’s attitudes toward immunisation (Otaala, 1986). In Botswana,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe, youth have spearheaded community programmes on
clean water and sanitation, good diets and nutrition, and the prevention of
diarrhoea. They use songs and demonstrations, plays, dramas, paintings,
drawings, games, etc. In Botswana, one also sees youth-to-youth programs on
safety and survival, covering, for example, road signs, road crossing, and first-aid
techniques.
A typical poor person in Africa may not be devoid of resources, such as land or
assets for use in production and distribution; rather most of the poor individuals
and communities lack knowledge of how to better use their natural resources,
add value to their primary products, create commodities out of their resources,
attract consumers from within and outside the community, among other economic
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activities. Most African communities, whether rural or urban, have a distance
problem. Some industrial estates located in big cities are unreachable because of
bad roads, personal security problems, etc. In some cases, industry operators
have had to build roads and small bridges to make their estates reachable. Most
rural areas are mainly accessible by footpath and sometimes by canoe. Transfer
of commodities and products to and from such areas depends on human, animal,
and bicycle portage. This creates a distance penalty. Any development
programme to help reduce poverty in such areas must have a clear
understanding of the role of communication infrastructure and the potential for
telecommunication and information systems to reduce this distance penalty.
On the need to pursue holistic rural development goal, it is important to see how
the use of existing telecommunication infrastructure can improve access to
information on health, social services, environmental management, and industrial
production and services. Whether in the urban or rural areas, in the majority of
cases, people still make only social use of telephones, where these are available.
More often than not, they use telephones to reduce their need to physically go
and see someone, rather than for accessing information on social services,
production, distribution, or governance.
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1. That youth have been critical to the propagation of community knowledge
and have a big influence on their parents and other adults in their
communities;
4. That the youth have shown leadership in acquiring the skills needed to
use ICTs and that most adults are already learning these skills from young
members of the community;
5. That the youth, as agents of ICTs, would have a unique opportunity to give
back to society a bit of what society has given them in terms of their care
and education;
6. That most youth in Africa have been systematically alienated from their
communities through education and that through such community-based
programmes they can be reintegrated into their communities and be given
an opportunity to engage in community development;
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methodologies to transfer such skills to adults involved in production and
services can go a long way toward spearheading Africa’s entry into the
global information society.
Conclusion
Given the discussions x-rayed in this write-up, it can be safely concluded that;
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Recommendations
Basic education must be provided for young people so that they will be
made ready for civic responsibilities expected of them
Adopting ICTs for rural development should not be seen as utopian but a
sure way to bridge the gap between the developing and developed nations
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References
Antoine, P.A. (2000): Global economic change and the relevance of information
and communication management for stakeholders in rural
development, with special reference to the Caribbean region. CTA
Annual report 2000. CTA, the Netherlands.
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IDRC (undated): Electronic delivery of Agricultural information to rural
communities in Uganda. URL http://www.agricinfo.or.ug/
background.htm
Paschal, B., Mihyo and O. Ogbu (2000): A Youth Leadership Program for Africa.
African Youth on the Information Highway: Participation and
Leadership in Community Development. IDRC, Canada
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