An Analysis of Mobile Phone Use in Nigerian Agricultural Development

Abstract

This study used 328 smallholder farmer respondents to investigate its objectives of how farmers use mobile phone technology, what benefits they have gained from the use, and the constraints encountered during the process. The quantitative data collected through a process of questionnaire administration were analysed using Stata 12 software. The results indicate that mobile phone usage for farm and other social purposes has increased with farmers. The farmers also spend almost 40% of their phone bills on farm-related activities and that seeking market information represented 17.32% of the total phone bill in a month. Increased efficiency in input delivery, market access, and output distribution were reported as some of the advantages of using mobile phones. This study was conducted in a region where its general characteristics may not reflect that of the entire country thus generalisation of the study may be limited, so the data should be cautiously use.

A Systematic Analysis of Mobile Phone Use by Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria

“…We present the findings based on the three research questions and the outcomes of data analysis. Starting with agricultural uses of mobile phone, the studies reviewed indicated that mobile phones serve as a special conduit to all forms of agricultural information [16,17,18,19]. These range from information on farm inputs to marketing activities.…”

“…Level of education: Possessing a formal education has been noted as a contributory factor to mobile phone use [20,21,16,17,22,19]. This is because educated farmers are able to read and most mobile phone features are written in English.…”

“…Having the knowledge and ability to use mobile phone functionalities increase usage [16,17]. Farmers acquire more skills of using phone features through interactions with family and friends.…”

“…The younger generation of farmers are more inclined to the use of mobile telephony than their older counterparts [21,16,17,19]. Most of these young farmers who were born in the technology age had the opportunity of growing up with the device.…”

Harnessing the Potentials of Mobile Phone for Adoption and Promotion of Organic Farming Practices in Nigeria

“…The growth in ICT creates avenues for African farmers to upgrade their knowledge and livelihoods [14], [15]. According to the work carried out by [16], the level of usage of mobile phone, its usefulness and challenges was examined among the farmers in some rural part of Africa: At the end of this study, it was found out that 40% of farmers' phone bills were spent on farm activities while 17. 32% were spent on gaining more knowledge and marketing farm produce.…”