Volume 2 No. 11, November 2012 ISSN 2223-4985 International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Research ©2012 ICT Journal. All rights reserved http://www.esjournals.org 838 Understanding Farmers Information Communication Strategies for Managing Climate Risks in Rural Semi-Arid Areas, Tanzania Ayubu J. Churi 1 , Malongo R. S. Mlozi 1 , Siza D. Tumbo 2 , Respickius Casmir 3 1 Department of Agricultural Education and Extension 2 Department of Agricultural Engineering and Land Planning 3 University of Dar es Salaam Computing Centre ABSTRACT Crop production risk caused by climate variability cannot be managed in the absence of climate information. Despite the use of various communication strategies by rural communities in Tanzania, access and use of agricultural information is inadequate to cope with challenges in crop production. This study aims at assessing farmers information needs, examine communication strategies used and hence recommend information and knowledge sharing strategies for improved decision making. In addition, the study examined how modern ICT used together with tradition methods can reduce risks and improve crop productivity of smallholder farmers. A cross-sectional research design and simple random sampling techniques were used for the study. Interviews using structured questionnaires and focus group discussion were conducted to collect primary data from farmers and extension workers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics where Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used. The findings showed that smallholder farmers require climate, market and agricultural inputs information to make strategic and tactical farm-level decisions for managing climate variability and extreme events. Climate information was found to be important factor for making decisions. Radio was found to be an important communication channel by the respondents in the study area, for communicating climate information. In addition, the respondents used extension officers and fellow farmers to access climate, market and agricultural input information. Mobile phones were noted to be preferred by surveyed farmers for communicating agricultural information. The study concluded that, efforts to improve adaptation capacity of smallholder farmers in rural areas should target the extended use of information technology for improved access to climate information and advisories. Furthermore, development initiatives for managing risks of climate variability should focus on improving climate forecasts issued by Tanzania Meteorological Agent (TMA). Keywords: Information Communication, Communication Strategies, Semi-arid Tanzania 1. INTRODUCTION There are several traditional methods used by farmers in rural area to access climate forecasts, market information and agricultural technologies in a realistic time [1, 2]. The methods used include radio, village meetings, extension services and even television to some extent. Traditionally, these have been used in rural areas because of their affordability under environment with limited electrical power and where most of farmers are poor [3]. Limited number of extension workers in relation to number of farmers, lack of funds for supporting farmer fields schools and farmers demonstration plots constrain flow of information reaching farmers. For example, the extension service is inadequate especially in remote rural areas whereby the records indicates that the ratio of farmers to extension workers was about 10,000-20,000:1. [4] Communication and sharing of knowledge from farmer to farmer has remained to be the main methods despite of the inadequate reliability of information and experience shared among them. Information communication with fellow farmers is made easy through meetings in the village such as local beers places, market places, churches, mosques and funeral gatherings. Farmer to farmer communication is also enhanced by information delivery through formal village and district meetings. In supporting the tradition methods, the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) has inadequately given farmers ability to access information for improved crop productivity despite the increased benefit [5]. It should be noted that, the use of ICT should not be done in isolation from traditional communication methods in enhancing farmers’ access to information [1]. Other studies have shown that the use of ICT including internet, mobile phones, emails, community radio, TV, telecenters, computers are not full utilized by farmers, especially in rural areas. This has been as a result of high cost of ICT services, low literacy level, low income and limited number of service providers in rural areas [2]. However, use of ICT, such as mobile phone, that are of low cost and hence affordable to rural farmers has not been assessed for accessing agricultural information for informed farm-level decisions [3]. The popularity on the use of mobile phones in rural areas has tremendously increased very fast despite of their low level of income. This increase has been contributed by falling costs and prices of mobile services, increased network coverage in rural areas and facilitations from national policies on information and communication technologies [6]. In addition, despite low level of literacy of smallholder farmers, the use of mobile phone has increased in audio and textual communications. It is important to establish communication framework that optimize utilization of ICT and existing tradition communication methods that support rural farmers’ environments.