Provision of agricultural information for development: a case study on crossing communication boundaries

HWJ Meyer; JA Boon

doi:10.1515/LIBR.2003.174

Article

Provision of agricultural information for development: a case study on crossing communication boundaries

HWJ Meyer and JA Boon

Published/Copyright: December 4, 2007

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From the journal Volume 53 Issue 3

Information provision appears to play a significant role in development projects in rural communities, despite the fact that it is not the sole concern of development agencies. Investigation of a successful training programme on maize production proved that integrating knowledge of the target group's information behaviour and their use of communication mechanisms into development strategies can help to effectively cross the boundaries between the modern information resource system and that of the indigenous knowledge system. It is argued that field workers operative at the interface between the developed world and the target groups in rural communities are ideally suited to the direct provision of information in a situation-specific context. However, field workers should be made aware of the value of information, as well as of the information behaviour of rural people used to handling information within an oral culture. The Merger Model depicts the way in which information from both the modern information resource system and the indigenous knowledge system can be harnessed for the transfer of information through development projects.

Dr HWJ Meyer, Dept of Information Science, University of South Africa, PO Box 392, PRETORIA, 0003, E-mail: meyerhwj@unisa.ac.za

Received: 2002-05-22

Received: 2002-10-30

Accepted: 2002-11-07

Published Online: 2007-12-04

Published in Print: 2003-September

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https://doi.org/10.1515/LIBR.2003.174