Feaibility Study

The rapid developments in the area of farm management information systems include the increasing interest and requirements for better information on farms coupled with the necessity for improved record keeping. The requirement for improved information increases further in a more open and competitive world of agriculture and farming. Changes continue to take place in an array of regulations governing the way food is produced and in future in the environment within which it will be produced.

As information technology continues to develop at an ever increasing rate, access to IT technology by farmers becomes easier and for some products and services, a little cheaper. However, there are new technologies interfacing with the sector in influencing the control of many aspects of the farm such as the Internet, developing Intranets, mapping, robotics and more sophisticated communication systems. Electronics in agriculture in all its forms will change the control and management systems in very significant ways if we adopt the technologies.

The structure of Agriculture and farming is changing radically. The role of this feasibility study is to look at the adoption of a computer based management system in the university farm.The specific objectives of this paper is to examine the adoption of computer technology and software systems on the farm.

Why should the Information System be Changed?

Adoption of computer technology to assist in the management of the farm is driven by many reasons of which some are:

Changes in technology and access to information technology continues to grow causing demands for its use in all types of work.

To meet the increasing need and interest to keep better records on farm.

Computers have become less expensive and better understood as to capability and the benefits of access to the technology have become better known.

The range of software systems suited and appropriate to farm enterprises continues to increase and are competitively priced.

Computer-generated information leads to better farm management practice.

To increase productivity, quality and efficiency.

Need to expand the business to carter for expected increse in market demand.

The Problem with the Existing System

Manual record systems, as found on the university farm, only provides data which conversion to information only occurs after tedious calculations and analysis. Where computer technology is available, this data is easily processed into the required information. Therefore serious gains in terms of time and in timeliness of information will be made. Manual records for data capture purposes on the farm will still be required but they require more attention and involve more time and effort.