Digital technology has the potential to eradicate extreme poverty and food insecurity to the majority of smallholder farmers in the world. This paper aims to identify knowledge gaps on digital technology for sustainable agriculture and assess their availability to smallholder farmers worldwide. The particular case of Tanzania receives special attention. We conducted an extensive literature search from relevant databases for review. The advanced digital technology in agriculture, mostly used by large scale farmers, significantly contributes to sustainable agriculture. However, the existing digital services for smallholder farmers lack sustainability in the agriculture context and hardly meet the needs for a comprehensive set of services in a complete farming cycle. In most developing countries, Tanzania case included, digital technology and services respond to a challenge at a particular stage of the farming process or to a specific value chain. Based on this literature review, we identify inequalities among large and small farmers, as well as environmental challenges caused by ICT itself. To conclude we provide suggestions for improvements for smallholder farmers: developing a digital platform that addresses smallholder farmers’ challenges in a complete farming cycle, bringing together the stakeholders at a country level, in order to achieve sustainable agriculture and support adoption of cutting-edge digital technology. These suggestions will be the starting point for future research.

Data Management (RDM) services are increasingly becoming a subject of interest for academic and research libraries globally-this is also the case in developing countries. The interest is motivated by a need to support research activities through data sharing and collaboration both locally and internationally. Many institutions, especially in the developed countries, have implemented RDM services to accelerate research and innovation through e-Research but extensive RDM is not so common in developing countries. In reality many African universities and research institutions are yet to implement the most basic of data management services. We believe that the absence of political will and national government mandates on data management often hold back the development and implementation of RDM services. Similarly, research funding agencies are not yet applying sufficient pressure to ensure that Africa complies with the requirement to deposit research data in trusted repositories. While the context was acknowledged the University of Dodoma library staff realized that it is urgent to prepare for the inevitable-the time when RDM will be a

This paper is part of a broader study that aims to design and develop a digital platform that addresses the common challenges of smallholder farmers. More specifically, we analyzed stakeholders' opinions on the farmers' digital information system (FDIS) designed for sustainable agriculture in Tanzania. We used a qualitative research approach to interview 74 key agricultural stakeholders, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the government subsidy office, agricultural insurance companies, financial institutions, farmers, extension agents and agro‐dealers in 13 regions of Tanzania. The study findings reveal that most stakeholders could adhere to the FDIS design for sustainable agriculture, as it potentially solves common challenges by enabling access to quality farm inputs, credit and insurance services, subsidies, advisory services, and markets for their products. However, the study identified certain factors that could hinder the full potential of the envisaged system, such as digital illiteracy and poor ICT infrastructures in rural areas. By interviewing key agricultural stakeholders, we confirm the potential of FDIS to make agriculture more sustainable in low‐ and middle‐income countries. The FDIS should therefore contribute to food security, environmental protection, job creation and higher incomes, as the agriculture sector becomes more dynamic once it is localized and adapted to the needs of all agricultural stakeholders. In addition, the government is expected to play a key role in setting up the agricultural stakeholders at a national level to help them overcome the challenges involved in exploiting the full potential of the FDIS.

The projected population increase and drastic climate changes are a great setback to food security through sustainable agriculture. However, governments need to play key roles in supporting the agriculture sector, which creates considerable employment and contributions to most countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) outcomes. In many countries, the governments already support the agriculture sector with services based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to reach many stakeholders, including smallholder farmers. This paper investigated the status of e-Government services in the agriculture sector for farmers in order to understand the functions and scope of e-services, the challenges faced by farmers, both addressed and unaddressed, and the challenges of ICT-based services for farmers and other stakeholders in Tanzania. We used a qualitative research approach to interview the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, extension workers, and agriculture processing industries. The main finding reveals that e-government services play a major role in the agriculture sector in Tanzania. Our results show that the pre-existing ICT services identified for farmers cannot meet the needs of farmers in a complete farming cycle. Moreover, lack of awareness, digital illiteracy, and poor infrastructure are the major challenges faced by farmers and other stakeholders when it comes to ICT-based services. These results justify the need for a comprehensive digital platform, particularly the proposed Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) to enable farmers and other stakeholders to access essential services in a complete farming cycle for a more sustainable agriculture.

Digital technologies are promising tools for sustainable agriculture; however, the cutting-edge digital solutions in agriculture are impractical for smallholder farmers in developing countries. Smallholder farmers need access to credit and insurance services, quality farm inputs, advisory services, subsidies, and market services to be able participate in sustainable agriculture. This paper is part of an extensive study conducted using the design science research (DSR) methodology. As part of our previous research, we conducted a thorough survey of the various stakeholders in Tanzania to assess their needs. Thereafter, we designed a conceptual digital framework called Farmers’ Digital Information System (FDIS), which provides all the necessary services to smallholder farmers and other stakeholders and addresses the identified needs. This paper presents a technical implementation of FDIS that aims to deliver essential services to smallholder farmers for sustainable agriculture within a comprehensive single mobile application. We used Android Studio Iguana and a Flutter framework to develop four service modules that include farmer and farm data, advisory services, and financial and marketing services as part of the FDIS platform. The system reflects the services offered in a real-world environment, as farmers can directly request advice from experts, apply for credit services from financial institutions, and market farm products to meet potential customers. It solves problems of access to farm advisory services and credit services for farm investment and helps farmers to find reliable markets for their products without going through intermediaries (middlemen). The completion of the FDIS development presented here will be followed by a test of the platform with real users for evaluation and improvement. Future research will focus on the scalability of FDIS for different regions, the embedding of more advanced technologies, and the adaptability of FDIS to different agricultural ecosystems. The FDIS solution has the potential to improve sustainable farming and empower smallholder farmers in Tanzania and beyond.