Analyzing usage of crowdsourcing platform Ushaurikilimo' by pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Tanzania

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dc.creatorFue, Kadeghe
dc.creatorGeoffrey, Anna
dc.creatorMlozi, M.R.S.
dc.creatorTumbo, Siza, D.
dc.creatorHaug, Ruth
dc.creatorSanga, Camilius, A.
dc.date2017-02-24T08:04:26Z
dc.date2017-02-24T08:04:26Z
dc.date2016-12
dc.date.accessioned2022-10-25T08:51:19Z
dc.date.available2022-10-25T08:51:19Z
dc.descriptionEarlier studies report that agricultural extension service for livestock keepers in Tanzania is not effectively offered. ‘Ushaurikilimo’ which is a crowdsourcing platform consisting of a Web and Mobile based agro-advisory system. It is a system which complements the traditional agricultural extension provided to pastoralists and agro-pastoralists. Mobile crowdsourcing for agricultural extension service is an emerging approach to address some of the problems experiencing in traditional agricultural extension service. This study explored the information seeking pattern of livestock keepers who are using ‘Ushaurikilimo’. In total 1739 questions are in ‘Ushaurikilimo’. Out of 1739 questions and answers, the study concentrated on 1312 questions since 427 questions related to forestry. Out of 1312 questions submitted to ‘Ushaurikilimo’ via livestock keepers’ mobile phones, 605 (47%) questions relate to livestock and 53% relate to crops. Most livestock keepers asked questions with keywords related to chicken, pigs and milk from ‘Ushaurikilimo’ knowledge base. Further data mining analysis showed that the following keywords are the most queried information by livestock keepers: poultry management, poultry equipment and accessories, hatching equipment, feed equipment, feed storage, feed manufacturing machinery, product handling/transport equipment, quality testing equipment and energy saving equipment, milk processing, housing and environment, building materials and equipment, feeds and feeding, food preservation, feed additives and dairy products. In this study, the pattern of information seeking behavior of livestock keepers matched the pattern which has been reported earlier by other researchers who explored the information seeking behavior of livestock keepers who are using other sources of information such as newspapers, television, radio, farmers’ friends and extension agents. One peculiar result from this study is that the average response time after the question had been assigned to an expert to answer was 32.49 hours. Thus, the crowdsourcing platform, web and mobile based agro-advisory system proved to be effective compared to conventional agricultural extension methods. This calls for a need to scale up ‘Ushaurikilimo’ to complement the traditional agricultural extension service in Tanzania.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifierDecember 2016 Volume 13 Number 12
dc.identifier1550-6908
dc.identifierhttps://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/1280
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/91251
dc.languageen
dc.publisherInternational Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning
dc.subjectinformation needs
dc.subjectinformation seeking behavior
dc.subjectlivestock keepers
dc.subjectpattern
dc.subjectagro-pastoral
dc.subjectpastoral
dc.subjectagro-advisory systems
dc.subjectdata mining
dc.titleAnalyzing usage of crowdsourcing platform Ushaurikilimo' by pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Tanzania
dc.typeArticle

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