Libri, Vol. 61, pp. 226–238, September 2011  Copyright © by Walter de Gruyter  Berlin  Boston. DOI 10.1515/libr.2011.019 Challenges of Managing Indigenous Knowledge with other Knowledge Systems for Agricultural Growth in sub-Saharan Africa Edda Tandi Lwoga, Patrick Ngulube, and Christine Stilwell Dr. Edda Tandi Lwoga, Librarian and Acting Director, Directorate of Library Services, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Email: tlwoga@muhas.ac.tz; tlwoga@gmail.com Dr. Patrick Ngulube, Professor, School of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa Email: ngulup@unisa.ac.za Dr. Christine Stilwell, Professor, Information Studies Programme, School of Sociology and Social Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Scottsville, South Africa Email: Stilwell@ukzn.ac.za Abstract This article provides a systematic analysis of the challenges of managing agricultural indigenous knowledge (IK), and accessing external knowledge in the rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, with a spe- cific focus on Tanzania. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect primary data from 181 small- scale farmers in the six districts of Tanzania. The findings indicated that farmers faced various chal- lenges in managing their IK, and accessing external knowledge, which ranged from personal and social barriers, to factors in the external environment such as infrastructure, policy, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and weak linkages between research, exten- sion services and farmers. Farmers also faced chal- lenges when using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to manage their knowledge, such as personal, socio-cultural, infrastructural, tech- nical, and economic factors. It is thus important for the government to improve access to extension ser- vices, review the IPR system, enhance rural electrifi- cation, telecommunications and roads infrastructure. Further, the knowledge providers (i.e. agricultural extension officers, researchers, educators, libraries, non governmental organisations, civil society, and other agricultural actors) should nurture a knowl- edge sharing culture. Farmers need to be assisted and trained to document their knowledge, map com- munities’ IK bearers and innovators, use multiple formats (print and ICTs) with traditional communica- tion channels (for instance, folklore and apprentice- ships) specific to a local context to disseminate knowledge. Participatory approaches should be em- ployed in knowledge production and dissemination in order to include farmers’ needs and expressing knowledge in the resulting technologies, practices and new knowledge. In this way linkages between indigenous and external knowledge would be en- hanced for improved farming activities in the local communities. Background and context Indigenous knowledge (IK) is an important asset with regard to the social capital of local people and constitutes the main resource for their livelihoods. The term, indigenous knowledge is often used inter- changeably to refer to local knowledge. However, local knowledge refers to the knowledge possessed by any group living off the land in a particular area for a long period of time (Langill 1999). IK on the other hand, while embracing exogenous knowledge which entered the local community over time (van Vlaenderen 2000) differs from local knowledge as the emphasis tends towards knowledge internal to a particular setting. In this context, it is not important whether the people in the local communities are the original inhabitants of an area or not. The aim of the study was to learn how people interact with the en- vironment to improve their knowledge base and farming activities. Thus, this study used the two terms (indigenous and local knowledge) interchange- ably to encompass all the above-mentioned terms. IK is mainly tacit, unique, non-systematic, derived from local experiments, innovations, creativity, skills