KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN AGRIBUSINESS FIRMS

Abstract

Purpose: Rice farming has immense scope in sustaining the livelihood of millions of farmers. Being a diverse ecological and socially background country, Kenya is lagging behind the developed countries in agriculture sectors. To manage all the knowledge available in public, as well as private domain, it needs to integrate and make it accessible to all the stakeholders of agriculture, especially farmers.

Methodology: Research carried out in 2011 in Kirinyaga district, Kenya, shows how sense-making theory and methodology can be used to assess the use of local agricultural and external knowledge by small-scale farmers and its effects on small-scale agriculture. Two knowledge systems, the local knowledge system and the external or scientific knowledge system, are considered dominant. The two systems can be synergistic and small-scale farmers have mixed them in their farming activities. Blending systems improve communication, livelihoods, and economies within local communities, and increases their participation in development. Data were collected in focus group discussions with farmers' groups and interviews with individual farmers.

Results: Results show that most farmers in Kirinyaga use external agricultural information in their farming practices. A significant number use combined external agricultural information and local knowledge, which forms a third knowledge system. This third system requires the validation of the farmers' innovations and documentation of the knowledge for wider dissemination.

Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Information providers should adopt policies that promote the use of the three knowledge systems by small-scale farmers. The study was conducted in a single agribusiness chain. Future studies may look at another method of knowledge management assessment to see if the results will be similar. The results can contribute to the development of programs and policies, incorporating knowledge management into agribusiness as a competitive strategy.