A MOBILE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR POULTRY FARMS

A MOBILE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR POULTRY FARMS

ABSTRACT

This report document about a mobile knowledge management system for poultry farms contains various sections which explains the processes that were taken from the very beginning of the project from data collection process to the testing and implementation of the mobile application.

The document also explains the problem which is, the lack of access to the appropriate information about poultry farming to which we came up with a mobile knowledge management system to provide the relevant information to these poultry farmers.

It addresses all the functionalities performed by this application and these include; enabling farmers have access to relevant information based on the poultry farmers’ needs, providing notifications about different tasks that are to be done based on a particular period of time, providing the major poultry farming guidelines required to be known by every farmer so as to achieve in this practice of rearing poultry birds and enabling poultry farmers have access to appropriate online knowledge sources to acquire more information and solutions. It continues to elaborate on how the designs were made, the implementation of the mobile application, the tests that were done and the schedule that was followed during the execution of this project.

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

The dynamic growth of mobile communications technology has increased and created more opportunities for economic growth, social empowerment, and grassroots innovation in developing countries. One of the areas with the greatest potential impact is in the contribution that mobile applications can make to agricultural and rural development (ARD), by providing access to information, markets, and services to millions of rural inhabitants. ICTs are not effectively communicated to farmers especially in rural areas although access to modern information technology is largely available. This study examined the relevance of using ICT in poultry farming in Uganda.

BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM

In most developing countries, Agriculture is the main economic activity accounting for large shares of employment and output. In Uganda over 80 percent of the households and 85 percent of the people live in rural areas and most of these largely depend on Agriculture as their main source of income (Gollin & Rogerson, 2010). The main focus in this study was on the need of poultry farming information and the use of ICTs to enhance access to information by the poultry farmers in Uganda.

Information and communication have always mattered in agriculture, ever since people started growing crops, rearing animals, and fishing. However, Farmers have always sought information from each other such as information to answer questions relating to; sources of good quality poultry feeds and drugs, how to effectively manage the poultry farm records, current market information about poultry products among other issues. Farmers do not usually get appropriate answers to questions arising from their concerns, even though the same issues arise season after season and year after year (The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development & The World Bank, 2011).

According to Maidu (2012) mobile communications technology has rapidly become the world’s most common way of transmitting voice, data, and services in the developing world. Given this dramatic change, mobile applications in particular hold significant potential for advancing development. They could provide the most affordable ways for millions of people to access information, markets, finance, and governance systems previously unavailable to them.

The main focus in this study was on the need of poultry farming information and the use of ICTs to enhance access to this information by the poultry farmers in Uganda.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

In Poultry farming, many people today who engage in this practice of rearing poultry birds always face different challenges which usually arise inform of questions that need solutions and this is as a result of lack of access to the appropriate information about poultry farming. Many of these poultry farmers usually find difficulty in finding solutions to their problems. This means that many of them end up not solving their problems and some acquire knowledge and get solutions that are not relevant to their questions and as a result, this has left many poultry farmers helpless.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

 MAIN OBJECTIVE

To develop a mobile knowledge management system for poultry farms which enables poultry farmers have access to appropriate information based on their questions, provide notifications about certain tasks that need to be done and also provide appropriate poultry farming guidelines.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

Below are the specific objectives that guided in achieving the main objective.

  1. To Identify the sources of agricultural information and Investigate agricultural information needs of poultry farmers in Uganda.
  2. To perform an analysis of the collected data in order to clean, transform and visualize the available data.
  3. To develop the data collection tools used during the process of collection of data in the field.
  4. To design the different models used during the development of the mobile application system.
  5. To develop the mobile application and test it so as to check for any existing errors and remove them.

THE SCOPE

The study focused on how different poultry farmers in the different parts of the central region of Uganda manage their farm records, how they access poultry farming information and even solutions to their questions and also the way they determine the strategy to use while rearing different types of poultry birds. The study didn’t focus on the farmers who deal in crop production, fish farming and livestock rearing.

 RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE

With Improved access to appropriate poultry farming information, poultry farmers are able to make timely decision makings and ignore disastrous decisions which could have reduced on their produce and increased on the costs incurred. In the long run, this increases on the government revenue through taxation on the produce as well as improving on the welfare of poultry farmers.

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