|
| Bridging the Digital Divide Through Affordable Access to Relevant and Timely Information |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
The US Farm Bill signed in May 2002 gives US$45 billion to the US farm industry. With the money US farmers get from the tax payer, they will be able to sell farm goods at lower prices, undercutting more efficient producers in developing countries. This inequitable system is maintained partly by the lobbying of powerful interest groups in OECD countries. The lack of effective and coordinated counter lobbying by developing countries is one of the factors allowing it to persist.
Cost of Ignorance: Models of Worst Practice
Information can help prevent spending money on things that don’t work. Years of development interventions have generated large amounts of information on what works, what doesn’t and why. For example, community-run dips are rarely successful in pastoral areas. Of the 48 cattle dips built in North East Uganda in 1995 for example, only one was functional in 2002 (King and Mugerwa, 2002). Community drug users associations run on a volunteer basis rarely work. In northern Kenya more than three quarters of the community drug shops have failed to deliver profits and been plagued by mismanagement and poor performance. (Grace and Muraguri, Oct 2001).
Understanding the past is essential to avoid an endless cycle of repeating mistakes. But even worse than spending money on things that don’t work, is spending money on mutually destructive strategies. Schizophrenic development is still too commonplace in the East African Livestock Sector.
In Kenya and Uganda some development agents are providing subsidised drugs while others in the same area are supporting privatisation. In one pastoral area, the local government is trying to develop the local economy at the same time as the army is closing livestock markets!
The Role of Regional Information Management in Creating an Enabling Environment:
Regional organisations play a key role in information management. Most important of these is the creation of an enabling environment for the knowledge economy. This entails reducing tariff and non tariff barriers to the information sector, providing public good information incentives for private good information, investment in education and infrastructure, encouraging competition and decreasing entry barriers to the information sector.
Is it Encouraging Information Exchange?
The rules that govern the movement of livestock and livestock products are increasingly evidence based and information needs to flow both between members and from the East African Bloc to external markets. Information does not move where there are no incentives. Indeed for much disease-related information there may be perverse incentives not to exchange information.
Producers are tempted to ignore problems, hoping they will go away rather than inform customers and regulators there is a problem. Certainly this was a factor in the ban on exports from Africa to the Middle East as the result of Rift Valley Fever, which cost exporters in Africa millions of dollars.
Regional organisations can facilitate the setting up of simple, workable, evidence-based systems for information exchange, and perhaps more importantly by building trust between members and markets both internal and external. Only then will the information exchange be deemed viable.
References:
Delgado, L. Hopkins, J. & Kelly V. (1998) ‘Agricultural Growth Linkages in Sub-Saharan Africa’ IPFRI Research Report No 107, Washington, D.C.
Grace, D. & Muraguri, P. (2001) ‘Privatised Animal Health Services in ASAL Areas: Feasibility and Business Planning’, CAPE-OAU-IBAR, Nairobi.
King, A. & Mugerwa, E. (2002) ‘Livestock Marketing in Southern Sudan: With Particular Reference to Cattle Trade between Southern Sudan and Uganda’ CAPE-OAU-IBAR, Nairobi.
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Henry Kimathi
Henry Kimathi began writing poetry at the age of 15 alongside other literary works. He holds a BSc. in Agricultural Economics and is currently finalising his MBA thesis in Management Information Systems. Besides Economics, Henry is also a Web Design Specialist, Computer Programmer and a DeskTop Publishing Specialist. Henry currently works as a Regional Communications Officer with an international not-for-profit organisation and is in charge of systems administration, creative art design and press management. He has written two unpublished novelletes and is working on an African horror novel. He has penned a series of short stories and articles on a variety of topics published in journals and magazines. Henry realises little is known about his country Kenya and has thus developed a passion to right this through a website he has put together which can be accessed at www.enchanted-landscapes.com
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
