ICT for agriculture extension: actor network theory for understanding the establishment of agricultural knowledge centers in South Wollo, Ethiopia
Fanos Mekonnen Birke, Andrea Knierim
Abstract
This study aims at understanding how various actors interacted in establishing and managing an Information Communication Technology (ICT)- based initiative called Agricultural Knowledge Centers (AKCs) in Ethiopia. Additionally, it explores the diverging and shared interests of the actors in the benefits of the AKCs. We gathered and analyzed data from in-depth interviews in five extension offices in the South Wollo zone, Ethiopia, and supplemented it with project documents and observations. We used the Actor Network Theory (ANT), particularly the four moments of translation, to analyze the results. The findings show how people and technology came together to establish the AKCs and to provide extension experts access to digital knowledge. Factors that contributed to creating and stabilizing the AKC actor network included the presence of an actor to facilitate the process, alignment of interests among actors in the network, building the capacities and motivation of the various actors to execute their roles, and availability of computers with strong internet connections. These findings contribute to practical and policy debates on harnessing ICT’s potential for facilitating socioeconomic development in the Global South; and to the theoretical discussions on the merits of the ANT perspective in analyzing the adoption of technological innovations.