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Scholars
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African Journal of Agricultural Marketing ISSN 2375-1061 Vol. 7 (1), pp. 001-010, January, 2019. Available online at 
www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals 

 

Author(s)                                           Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. 
 
 

 

Full Length Research Paper 

 

Monitoring and evaluation report of "the impact of 
information and communication technology service 

(ICTs) among end users in the ministry of 
agriculture and cooperatives in Zambia" 

 
Darlington Kahilu 

 
National Agricultural Information Services, P. O. Box 50698, Lusaka, Zambia. E-mail: dakahilu@yahoo.co.uk 

 
Accepted 21 November 2018 

 
Agriculture constitutes a key livelihood source for over 75% of the rural households in Zambia. A total of 
1,305, 783 households in Zambia are totally dependent on agriculture for their livelihood and are classified as 
agricultural households (CSO, 2000). Most (81.8%) of the population in agricultural households is based in 
rural areas of the country. Of the 1,305,783 agricultural households, 99.2% is engaged in crop production as a 
major agricultural activity. At national level, the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) 
averaged over 18% in the past decade. The real growth rate in the sector has fluctuated significantly mainly 
due to heavy dependence on seasonal rain-fed crops, poor communication network and low farmer access to 
improved technologies that are resilient to some of the natural shocks such as drought, pests and diseases. 
Despite the evidence of the important contribution the sector makes to household food and nutrition security 
and the national economy, the sector faces a number of challenges to increased productivity. Other than the 
natural calamities and socio-economic factors such as access to agricultural inputs, credit facilities and 
markets, poor access to agricultural information remains a decisive challenge to increased agricultural 
productivity at household level. The prevailing low crop and livestock productivity among small-scale 
farmers could greatly be attributed to low farmer access to and utilization of agricultural technologies that 
are meant to enhance productivity. Utilization of such technologies has been poor among the illiterate 
farming community because such information is not available to such target groups in the right formats as 
some of the publications are either presented in a highly technical format which makes them too difficult to 
be understood by illiterate farmers. This situation is further worsened by the poor, inadequate and weak 
communication links between research, extension and farmers. 

 
Key words: Information and communication technology service (ICT), agriculture, Zambia. 

 
 
INTRODUCTION 

 
SAIFADIS (Strengthening the Agricultural Information 
Flow and Dissemination System for the National 
Agricultural Information Services) and INFORNET 
(Information Flow Network for the Zambia Agriculture 
Research Institute) are two sister projects in the Ministry 
of Agriculture and Cooperatives funded by IICD. National 
Agricultural Information Services (NAIS) is a specialized 
information department of the Ministry of Agriculture and 
Cooperatives (MACO). Its main role is that of supporting 
the extension service of the Ministry.  

National Agricultural  Information Services  (NAIS)  has 

 
 
 
 

 
the mandate to promote the adoption of proven 
agricultural technologies and provide information services 
to small scale farmers in order to enhance their 
productivity. Information is gathered from various 
sources, packaged and disseminated to farmers using 
radio, television and various publications.  

NAIS has the responsibility to gather this information 
from various information producers, package it, store and 
disseminate it to the end-users and obtain feedback from 
the farmers.  

The main activity of the  department  is to  disseminate 

file:///C:\Users\user\Documents\REPUBLICATION\AGRICULTURAL%20SCIENCES\AppData\Local\Temp\www.internationalscholarsjournals.org


 
 
 

 

proven agricultural technologies to the farming 
community and other stakeholders through the use of 
mass media.  

The department reaches out to the audiences through 
two (2) sections: 

 

1. Broadcasting: Radio and television (TV) programmes.  
2. Publications and press: News paper articles and 
features, booklets, magazines, pamphlets, etc. 

 

Through this livelihoods project aimed at enhancing 
efficiency and effectiveness in its information collection, 
processing, packaging, storing and dissemination system, 
NAIS has built capacity of selected project staff and other 
members of staff in usage of ICTs, established a LAN at 
headquarter (HQ), create an ICT based link 
(internet/email) between HQ and the satellite station of 
Kasama, and built formal linkages with information 
sources and strategic stakeholders.  

The project started in 2005, following the Siavonga 
roundtable meeting that was held in 2002. The overall 
objective of this project is to improve information flow 
within NAIS and the flow of agricultural information 
between sources and end users by increasing the 
efficiency of NAIS to gather, process, package, and store 
and disseminate information in order to increase small-
scale farmers’ productivity. 
 

 

Specific objectives of Siavonga roundtable meeting 

 

1. Improve information flow within NAIS;  
2. Strengthen linkages between agricultural research, 
extension, farmers and other stakeholders;  
3. Increase the capacity of NAIS to collect, process; 
package, store and disseminate agricultural information;  
4. Increase the capacity of NAIS to publish in more 
accurate and appropriate formats. 

 

NAIS has over the years been gathering agricultural 
information from different sources for on-ward delivery to 
the farming community. The department has also over 
the years been packaging the information in form of radio 
and TV programmes and print materials.  

These information products have been made available 
to farmers and extension officers in the remote parts of 
the country. NAIS has continued to receive feed-back 
from farmers on the programmes aired.  

Despite its mandate, NAIS was faced with difficulties in 
efficiently collecting and delivering agricultural information 
from sources to the end users, gathering of information is 
done by travelling to the sources by the responsible 
officers or passed on via third party in hard copy.  

NAIS officers have had difficulties in accessing informa-
tion from agricultural researchers, either responsible 
researcher is too busy or the new technology research is 
still on-going. 

 
  

 
 

 

Information products such as audio cassettes, question 
and answer feedback forms, publications etc, have been 
delivered from districts to HQ through ordinary postal 
services and staffs travelling between the two points; 
these methods have proved costly and longer delivery 
periods.  

There has been no systemic storage and retrieval of 
the information NAIS has gathered over these years. 
There has been no centralised information access point 
for farmers and other stakeholders such as extension 
offices in form of information resource centres. These 
short comings in NAIS have led to farmers not receiving 
the information they require at the right time and in the 
right format.  

Through the use of ICTs, NAIS will be able to gather, 
process, package, store and disseminate information 
between research, extension, farmers and other stake-
holders, strengthening linkages. Information products will 
be collected and delivered online from sources to the end 
users, in or on time and in appropriate formats.  

Through this project, NAIS will ensure that information 
products are processed and stored using appropriate 
ICTs (for example, CD-ROM, Database, etc). Using ICTs, 
NAIS members of staff are now able to research for 
agricultural information technologies that are or may not 
be locally available. 
 

 

Achieved results so far 
 

1. Improved information sharing through an operational 
and easily usable local area network at HQ;  
2. Improved NAIS efficiency in gathering of information 
products from Zambia Agricultural Research Institute 
(ZARI), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative (MACO) 
subject matter specialists and other stakeholders;  
3. Strengthened linkages between NAIS, ZARI and 
extension;  
4. NAIS staff trained in ITCs use; 
5. Project incorporated in GRZ budget. 
 

 

Expected results of the project 
 
1. Production of information products and services based 
on a common media plan;  
2. Number of national and international organisations 
with which partnerships are established and information 
materials sourced and shared;  
3. Established formal linkages between NAIS, ZARI, 
extension and farmers;  
4. Efficient ICTs use by staff; 
5. Sustainability of the project. 
 

 

Challenges encountered 
 

Most challenges were encountered  during the initial 



 
 
 

 

implementation stages of the project, where the project 
documents had to move to and from IICD and NAIS 
because of government procedures.  

Making subject matter specialists appreciate, the 
existence of the project is one challenge and bringing all 
NAIS staff on-board and makes them contribute to 
achievement of the project goals and the sustainable 
Internet use among NAIS staff another.  

The other project that was reviewed during this focus 
group meeting is the Information Flow Network for the 
Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (IFORNET), under 
ZARI.  

The project “Development of an effective information 
flow network for the Zambia Agriculture Research 
Institute” is a collaborative project between the Zambia 
Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) and the 
International Institute for Communication and 
Development (IICD). ZARI is one of the eleven 
departments in the Ministry of Agriculture and 
Cooperatives (MACO). There are three core functions of 
ZARI namely development of agricultural technologies, 
crop germplasm resource base management, and 
provision of regulatory and advisory services. While ZARI 
has generated a lot of technologies through soils and 
crops research over the years, the agricultural sector 
continues to experience low levels of productivity at small 
scale farmer level. One of the recurring reasons for this 
has been attributed to the agricultural technologies 
developed by ZARI not being easily accessible to 
farmers. This project was introduced mainly to increase 
farmers' uptake of agricultural technologies generated by 
ZARI through use of information and communication 
technologies (ICTs). Through this greater uptake of 
agricultural technologies, farmers would increase their 
food production resulting in improved livelihoods. In the 
second place, the project was developed to improve 
communication among agricultural research scientists 
and with external stakeholders. 
 

 

Specific objectives of ZARI and IICD project 

 

1. Improving the accessibility of agricultural technologies 
developed by ZARI to farmers directly and also through 
extension agents such as the National Agricultural 
Information Services (NAIS), Agricultural Support Project 
(ASP) and Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), 
collaborating institutions such Agriculture Consultative 
Forum (ACF), Organic Producers Association of Zambia 
(OPAZ) and Food Security Research Project (FSRP) and 
NGO’s including PLAN and World Vision International;  
2. Enhancing the relevance of ZARI's research results 
and information products to the needs of extension 
agents such as the National Agricultural Information 
Services (NAIS), Agricultural Support Project (ASP) and 
Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), collaborating 
institutions such Agriculture Consultative Forum (ACF), 

 
 
 
 

 

Organic Producers Association of Zambia (OPAZ) and 
Food Security Research Project (FSRP) and NGO’s 
including PLAN and World Vision International;  
3. Catalyzing internal knowledge creation and 
management through the networking and sharing of 
specialist information among ZARI researchers;  
4. Upgrading appropriate skills of researchers required 
for ICT-based information management. 
 

 

Services offered by the project through ZARI 

 

The major service being offered by the project is the 
provision of internet facility to the Zambia Agriculture  
Research Institute (ZARI) thereby, making 
communication between ZARI and its collaborators and 
stakeholders easy. The provision of information products 
is another service anticipated to have a lot of impact on 
the extension service providers, farmers and other 
stakeholders. The project has provided valuable training 
to ZARI staff to enable them manage information and 
knowledge for development of information products. 
 

 

Constraints 

 

Although, the project has made good progress towards 
the achievement of project objectives, there are 
constraints that have slowed down the implementation of 
the project to achieve all the desired objectives. The 
constraints include the following: 

 

1. The project experienced delays in procuring project 
equipment through the government system;  
2. Malfunction and subsequent replacement of some 
project equipment delayed implementation;  
3. The training programme for the project implementation 
team (PIT) took a lot of time to implement, thereby 
constraining implementation of other equally important 
project activities;  
4. Omission of a budget line for needs assessment 
during formulation brought about variation in the budget 
and caused delay in the implementation of this and other 
related activities;  
5. Time limitations of staff at the peak of experimental 
work during the rainy season also made it difficult to 
devote sufficient time to developing information products; 
the period following the harvest from experimental fields 
is also focused on data entry, analysis and interpretation 
of results;  
6. Difficulties faced by ZARI in recruitment and retention 
of the content manager who is the main player in 
development of information products adversely affected 
implementation of the project;  
7. Lack of experience within ZARI in development of 
information products for end-users slowed down 
production of information products by researchers. 



 
 
 

 

The vision of ZARI is to be a centre of excellence 
providing scientific leadership in generation and transfer 
of improved and appropriate agriculture technologies 
through partnership involving stakeholders and 
beneficiaries.  

ZARI’s mission statement is to contribute to the 
improvement of the welfare of the Zambian people 
through the provision of technologies and services that 
enhance household food security and equitable income 
generating opportunities for the farming community and 
agricultural enterprises.  

The overall objective of the ZARI is to generate and 
adapt crop and soil technologies in order to increase 
agricultural productivity and diversify production. This 
includes the development of low cost sustainable farming 
systems for all major agro-ecological zones and farm 
sizes through participation of both the public and private 
sectors in research activities.  

This would ensure the provision of a high quality, 
appropriate and cost effective service to farmers. The 
following are the specific objectives of the Institute: 

 

1. To breed for stable and high yielding varieties of both 
food and cash crops;  
2. To breed food crops for high nutritional value, 
storability and acceptability;  
3. To breed for resistance and/or tolerance to pests, 
diseases and adverse soil conditions such as soil acidity 
and salinity;  
4. To develop appropriate agronomic packages and 
technologies for sustained agricultural production;  
5. To develop and maintain an inventory of soil and 
agricultural land that can be used for planning purposes.  
6. To develop and adapt disease and pest control 
technologies and provide specialist advisory services;  
7. To develop post harvest technologies that minimizes 
crop losses in storage and enhance utilization;  
8. To develop strategies and provide services that 
prevents the introduction of pests and diseases into the 
country and facilitates trade;  
9. To strengthen research/extension/farmer linkages in 
order to have more farmer participation in research;  
10. To ensure that the specific constraints of small scale 
and resource poor farmers are addressed by agricultural 
research. 

 

The implementation strategy of the ZARI follows the agro-
ecological approach, which divides the country into three 
regions mainly based on rainfall. The broad 
implementation strategies, in order to achieve the above 
objectives, are as follows: 

 

1. Devise mechanisms for cost sharing of research by, for 
example, contracting project financing and management 
to relevant commercial agricultural and international 
institutions.  
2. Improve  the  management  of  the national  research 

 
 
 
 

 

programme through appropriate planning, priority setting, 
programming and budgeting;  
3. Encourage farmer participation in research planning, 
implementation, monitoring and evaluation;  
4. Enhance the use of a computer based management 
information system which leads to more efficient 
utilization of available resources and facilitates greater 
responsiveness to the needs of farmers;  
5. Strengthen and integrate economic and other 
sociological and nutritional input into agricultural research 
both at national and regional levels;  
6. Improve the quality of research through the provision 
of adequate facilities and training;  
7. Strengthen linkages with extension providers to 
effectively transfer research results to farmers, 
particularly smallholders;  
8. Adapt technologies from regional and international 
research institutions;  
9. Improve linkages with regional research institutions 
and data banks. 
 
Since the establishment of the two sister projects, 
members of staff who are the end-users have not fully 
embraced the projects into their day to day operations to 
improve their performance as expected.  

It was therefore necessary that a rigorous monitoring 
and evaluation (M and E) exercise be carried out to 
develop frameworks or guidelines for measuring impact 
of the two projects at institutional level.  

It is important to stress that the impact of ICTs will not 
be understood through peoples’ access to technology 
alone but on the impact of ICTs on the social, political 
and economic structures of communities, that is, on 
peoples’ livelihoods and on their perceptions of the role 
that technology can play in their lives. 
 
 
Objectives of the survey 
 
The objective of this undertaking was to assess whether 
NAIS and ZARI have moved significantly towards 
institutional appreciation of ICTs and find grey areas that 
need to be worked on to improve the flow of agricultural 
information to the farming community. This focus group 
meeting for the two projects was undertaken to: 

 

1. Monitor and evaluate the projects and develop 
frameworks for measuring impact;  
2. To make the end-users understand that the M and E 
process is vital when developing interventions;  
3. To make the two institutions see the need to focus on 
the benefits of the new technologies rather than the 
quantity of the technologies available;  
4. Find out problems faced by the two projects and find 
solutions;  
5. The need for strategic content development to ensure 
that ICTs can be locally appropriated and affect 
development. 



  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Figure 1. Gender distribution in NAIS and ZARI projects.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Figure 2. Participation by position. 

 
 

 
METHODOLOGY 

 
Before the focus group meeting for the two projects was held, IICD, 
M and E end-user questionnaires were filled online by the members 
of staff in the two institutions at Headquarters and Kasama offices. 
Thereafter, the M and E contact persons in the two projects with the 
help of Travaillant Vers Une Economie Liberale Limited (TEL), the 
M and E partner in Zambia analyzed the data. The online 
questionnaires were used to get quantitative data. The FGM was 
then held to add qualitative data to the study. 
 

 

RESULTS 

 

A total 100 end-user questionnaires were expected to 
have been filled, 50 from NAIS and the other 50 from 
ZARI. Unfortunately, out of the total expected 
questionnaires, only 41 questionnaires were filled. 22 
questionnaires were filled online by NAIS while 19 were 
filled online by ZARI. This number of questionnaires was 
found to be too little to give us good statistical data. 

 
 
 
 

 

However, despite the poor response by members of staff 
in filling the questionnaires online, the 41 questionnaires 
were analyzed and the following were the results. 
 
 

Gender distribution 

 

From the 41 questionnaires collected, very few women 
participated in the filling of the questionnaires (Figure 1). 
This showed that few women participated in the two 
projects.  

This low women participation in the two projects is a 
concern. What people do not know is whether women are 
deliberately left out of the projects or it is negative 
attitude of women towards ICTs or it is caused by the 
organizational structures in the two institutions. 
 
 
Positions in the institution 

 

This study showed that most participants in both projects 
were actually technical members of staff. 64% of 
respondents in NAIS were technical members of staff, 
while ZARI had 58% of its respondents as technical staff 
(Figure 2). No director from ZARI participated in this 
survey. 
 
 
Participation by age 
 

The survey revealed that most members of staff in both 
NAIS and ZARI are between 31 and 50 years of age. 
21% of respondents in ZARI indicated that they were in 
other positions (Figure 3). This could be attributed to the 
fact most of the officers in ZARI are agricultural research 
officers, a position which was not indicated in the 
questionnaire. 
 

 

Frequency of use 

 

The study also found out how often members of staff in 
the two institutions use the project facilities. All members 
of staff indicated that they use the facilities on daily basis. 
Usage was even very high in ZARI as all of the 
respondents indicated that they use the facilities daily. 
However, there was a great variation in the frequency of 
usage for NAIS where 5% of the respondents indicated 
that they use the facility monthly ((Figure 4). This could 
be attributed to poor access to computers or lack of 
interest in ICTs. 
 

 

Overall satisfaction 

 

Overall, the satisfaction rate for both projects was high 
but higher for ZARI. 84% of the respondents in ZARI 
indicated that they were satisfied with the project while 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Years 
 
Figure 3. Participation in the project by age.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Figure 4. Frequency of facility usage. 

 
 

 

73% of the respondents were satisfied with the project in 
NAIS (Figure 5). This slightly lower satisfaction rate 
among members of staff in NAIS could be attributed to 
less frequent use of the project facilities by members of 
staff. 
 

 

Satisfaction with various factors 

 

The survey also wanted to measure the levels of 
satisfaction among members of staff in NAIS and ZARI 
towards various factors in the projects. Among other 
factors, the study measured satisfaction in training and 
seminars, quality of the service, cost of information and 
services, quality of information, technical support, and 
access to information by women and suitability of the 
facilities for women. Results showed that more 
respondents were least satisfied with indicators attributed 
to women. More so, for ZARI, 36% of the respondents 
were satisfied with access to information by women with 
42% being dissatisfied with suitability of the facility for 
women. There was also a big disparity between NAIS 

 
 
 
 

 

and ZARI on the cost of the information and services (63 
and 91%, respectively) . However, all the members of 
staff at ZARI are satisfied with the quality of information, 
100% satisfaction was recorded compared to 77% 
satisfaction at NAIS (Figure 6). All directors, managers 
and administrative staff were generally satisfied at both 
NAIS and ZARI. However, technical members of staff 
were dissatisfied (2 officers from Kasama and 4 officers 
at NAIS headquarters; 2 officers at Kasama and 1 officer 
at ZARI headquarters). 
 
 
Reasons for joining the project - NAIS 
 

There were several reasons that were given by members 
of staff for joining the projects. Most of the respondents in 
NAIS indicated that they joined the project to improve the 
extension system of the ministry of agriculture (36%). 
The same number of respondents joined the project for 
the sake of improving their personal lives.  

There were fewer members of staff who joined the 
project to abreast themselves with new technical 
information to help farmers use improved methods of 
production to improve their livelihoods (5%). The same 
percentage of respondents says they joined the project 
because of their positions in the institution. Some of the 
respondents in NAIS say they joined the project to built 
capacity to perform their daily duties through the use of 
ICTs and exchange information (27 and 5%) (Table 1). 
 

 

Reasons for joining the project- ZARI 

 

Results of this study showed that most researchers at 
ZARI did not join the project with the farmers’ interests at 
heart as most respondents had less focus at farmer level. 
Only 16% of the researchers joined the project to 
research for activities that would help generate 
information for farmers. Most of them joined for the 
purpose of communicating with their colleagues and 
access information for research purposes (47 and 42%). 
Others say they joined the project in order to get 
opportunities to learn more important global issues and 
be exposed to the outside world in terms of training (5%), 
while the same number said they wanted to benefit from 
the IICD supported project. 26% of the respondents say 
they joined the project to improve their IT skills (Table 2). 
 

 

Development impact 

 

The study revealed that the project had low economic 
impact on NAIS (5%), although, there was no negative 
impact in the same institution. There was very high sector 
and gender impact in ZARI (83 and 60%, respectively). 
Awareness was very high in the two projects (81 and 
83%) (Figure 7). Generally, there was lower development 
impact in NAIS as compared to ZARI. 



      
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Figure 5. Staff satisfaction rate.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Figure 6. Satisfaction for various factors. 

 
 

 

Conclusion 

 

Before undertaking any development intervention, good 
practice suggest that the projects should first access what 
had already worked, or not worked, and why. This is of 
course difficult to do when undertaking pilot projects in an 
emerging area such as ICTs, however it is precisely for 
this reason that pilot projects in NAIS and ZARI had to 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

monitor and evaluate the changes brought about by the 
pilot interventions.  

One of the key observations made during the FGM was 
that the study paid attention to monitoring and evaluation 
of ICT outcomes, with the result that there was little data 
to assess the actual impact of these technologies on the 
rural poor and that there was need to undertake more 
rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the projects and 



 
 
 

 
Table 1. Reasons for joining NAIS project.  
 

Main reasons to participate in this project? NAIS % Respondent   
Liase with researchers on the field information  
Facilitate flow of information between farmers, extension and MACO  
To broaden my knowledge in agriculture and related fields  
Because of position held in NAIS  
Communication, research and study  
Improve capacity to perform my duties using ICTs  
Exchange data  
Keep abreast with new technologies  
To facilitate farmers access information on improved farming techniques, marketing and 
other related information to enhance productivity  
To improve the livelihood of the rural population through the dissemination of proven 
technology to ensure food security and economic empowerment  

  
14  
36  
5  
5  

36  
27  
5  
5 

 
5 

 

5 

 

 

Table 2. Reasons for joining ZARI project.  
 

Main reasons to participate in this project - ZARI % Respondents   
Accessing information for research purposes 

 
For communicating with colleagues and networking 

 
To access tolls or information that I can use in my work like analytical tools I 

use this tool in research for activities that help generate data for farmers 

The internet system facilitates the work that am involved in. I am abreast in the latest 
technology 

 
Get opportunity to learn more important global issues and be exposed to outside world in 
terms training 

 
Improve on my IT skills 

 
It is due to the fact that ZARI Headquarters and our research station is one of the 
beneficiaries of the project 

 
Benefit from the IICD project  

  
42 
 
47 
 
5 

 
16 

 

5 
 

 
5 

 

26 

 

5 

 

5 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

%
 r

e
s
p

o
n

d
e

n
ts

 

 
 

 
Figure 7. Development impact. 



 
 
 

 

develop frameworks and guidelines for measuring impact. 
Since applications of ICTs in community-based 

development projects are still relatively new and 
experimental, future initiatives should build on “what 
works and what does not work” and “why.”  

There is also need for the two projects to engage in 
ongoing dialogue with members of staff within NAIS and 
ZARI and the local people in Kasama district, where the 
pilot projects are located, about the role and impact of 
ICTs and the context in which ICTs should be introduced, 
especially in terms of their information needs, attitudes 
towards the technologies themselves, applications and 
products, and possible impacts, both positive and 
negative.  

For the NAIS project, the FGM also identified the need 
to have farmers and extension camp officers fill in the 
end-user questionnaires so that we engage local people 
in the validation of the various communication tools and 
let them identify the most useful medium to meet their 
needs. This requires acknowledging that people should 
be active creators and not just passive users of the new 
ICTs.  

Generally, there was low women participation in the two 
projects. Was this a reflection of the establishment of the 
two institutions? To tackle this problem, there is need 

 
 
 
 

 

to hold a workshop for women in all IICD supported 
projects to in Zambia to establish why there is low 
women participation in the projects as this would help 
reshape the gender imbalances in the projects. The two 
projects should provide needs-sensitive ICTs skills 
training at all levels, especially to youths, women and 
marginalized groups. Individual, group and organizational 
ICT capacities need to be strengthened to ensure 
effective use of ICTs for exchange of information, in 
particular knowledge building for productive activities that 
lead to wealth generation and improved livelihoods. 
 

 
REFERENCES 
 
IICD, project proposal (2006). Strengthening the agricultural information 

flow and dissemination system of the national Agricultural Information 
Services in Zambia: The Hague.  

Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (April 2004). Agriculture and 
Cooperatives final draft policy, Lusaka: Zambia.  

Rural information services, (1986). Annual report, Ministry of and Water 
Development, Lusaka, Zambia.  

INFORNET (2006). Information Needs Assessment Survey for Kasama 
and Kafue districts, February, Lusaka, Zambia.  

Welcome to Zambia Agriculture Research Institute, Researching Soils, 
Crops and Water in Zambia. http://www.zari.gov.zm  

Millennium Development Goals 
http://www.developmentgoals.org/index.html 



  
 
 

 
APPENDIX 

 
Appendix 1. List of participants.  

 
 Name Designation Department Station 

 M. Mwale Deputy director ZARI HQ 

 A. B. Mvula PARO ZARI Kasama 

 Samuel Phiri (Dr.) PARO-Programmes ZARI Kasama 

 Jonathan Mwamba Ag/DAIO NAIS Kasama 

 Jones Malama TRA ZARI Kasama 

 Mwenge Yamanda Ag/DACO AGRIC. Kasama 

 Machona Kasambala Video Editor NAIS HQ 

 Muki M. B. Phiri Ag/SAIO - publications NAIS HQ 

 Tina Jere Ag/Senior producer – TV NAIS HQ 

 Patricia Kahongo Secretary NAIS HQ 

 Elizabeth Ntumwa Secretary NAIS HQ 

 Lukwesa Musonda Graphic artist NAIS HQ 

 Malikopo A. C. ARO ZARI HQ 

 Andrew Phiri ARO ZARI HQ 

 Songolo Akakandelwa Producer NAIS HQ 

 Milimo Chibola Sakala SARO ZARI HQ 

 Tembo Harward SARO ZARI HQ 

 Kayama Hamainda Translator NAIS HQ 

 Susan Musukuma Ag/Senior reporter NAIS HQ 

 Stubb Malambo Ag/CAIO - Broadcasting NAIS HQ 

 Joseph Sianyeuka Technician NAIS HQ 

 Judith Lembela Producer NAIS HQ 

 Peggy M. Kamelu Producer NAIS HQ 

 Margret Sondashi Sound technician NAIS HQ 

 Modester Nkhoma Sound technician NAIS HQ 

 Nicholas Mwale Reporter NAIS HQ 

 Christopher Chingobe Translator NAIS HQ 

 Lillian Mumba Producer NAIS HQ 

 Ms J. Namangala Librarian ZARI HQ 

 Juliet C. Mataa ARO ZARI HQ 

 Chanda Mulenga Office orderly NAIS HQ 

 Mukolo Taguma PARO ZARI HQ 

 John Musanya CARO ZARI HQ 

 Christopher Mbewe Ag/SAIO - Broadcasting NAIS HQ 

 Chikoti Patrick PARO ZARI HQ 

 David Chilufya Graphic artist NAIS HQ 

 Patience Siambele Accountant MACO HQ 

 Darlington Kahilu Producer NAIS HQ  


