Application of information technology for research in Tanzania: feedback from agricultural researchers

This paper reports results of a study aimed at assessing agricultural researchers’ access to information technology facilities. It also examines to what extent such facilities are used in facilitating researchers’ access to scientific information. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey to 321 agricultural researchers selected randomly at 13 research centres throughout the country. The response rate obtained was 76.3%. Out of 244 respondents, 170 (69.7%) reported having access to internet or e-mail facilities. While 79.3% of the respondents having access to the internet reported using the facility frequently for information search, the e-mail facility was not popularly used by the respondents for information requests to sources outside respondents’ institutions. CD-ROM technology was found not to be readily available to many respondents because of the unavailability of such facilities at their research centres and minimal use of e-mail facilities for resource sharing with other centres’ CD-ROM databases. It is concluded that, along with a low level of information technology development in the country, the available information technology facilities have not been fully exploited to facilitate agricultural researchers’ access to information. Some measures to improve information technology infrastructure and its use for improvement of research productivity are recommended.