The Role of Information Professionals in Fostering Adoption of Agricultural Innovations by Farmers in Embu,Kenya.

This paper is part of a study carried out to investigate the accessibility and use of agricultural information by farmers in Embu, Kenya. 13 Librarians (information professionals) were among the key informants and were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study was informed by Roger’s Diffusion Of Innovations (DOI) theory, Rural Knowledge Centre model, Telecentres model and Wilson’s information seeking behavior model. SPSS data analysis software was used for data analysis. The results reveal that information infrastructure in Embu County is not well interlinked while information resources as well as Librarians’ qualifications are inadequate leading to poor information services particularly for the farmers. Recommendations include recruitment of agricultural subject information professionals for each library and creation and Interlinking of agricultural telecentres, tapping into the free service offered by Agricultural Information Resource Centre (AIRC), co-ordination and strong linkage of all library and information services within Embu County with a clear and purposive aim of playing their part in the agricultural information, knowledge and technology transfer. The County government to financially support linkage between research, education, extension, farmers and other stakeholders so as to improve the performance of the agricultural system. Indigenous agricultural knowledge need to be recorded for posterity and further research.

Keywords: Agricultural Librarians, Agricultural Information, Telecentres, Farmers kenya Agriculture.