Awareness of ICT-Based Projects and the Intensity of Use of Mobile Phones Among Smallholder Farmers in Uganda

Abstract

As the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is embraced in Uganda, determinants of awareness of ICT based projects remain unknown. The intensity of use of mobile phones among smallholder farmers in the areas where such projects operate is unclear. To address this knowledge gap, 346 smallholder farmers in two ICT project sites in Mayuge and Apac districts were subjected to econometric analysis using bi-variate logistic and zero-inflated negative binomial regression models to ascertain determinants of projects’ awareness and intensity of use of mobile phones. The authors find that education, distance to input markets, and membership in a group positively influence awareness. The decision to use a mobile phone for agricultural purposes is affected by distance to electricity and land cultivated and negatively influenced by being a member of any farmer group. Lastly, intensity of mobile phone use is affected by age, farming as the major occupation, and distance to an internet facility, being a member of a project, having participated in an agricultural project before, value of assets, size of land cultivated, possession of a mobile phone, and proximity to agricultural offices. The paper discusses policy implications of these findings.

Determinants of consumers’ frugal innovation acceptance in a developed country

“…Lin and Lu (2015) confirmed that social influence has an impact on users' intention to use mobile social networking sites. However, other studies have found that social influence is not a significant factor in terms of predicting consumers' intention to use, as was true, for example, in the case of mobile phones connected to farmers' agricultural activities in Uganda (Lwasa et al, 2013). The present study, nevertheless, tested the following hypothesis:…”