Evaluating Use of Icts in Accessing E-Extensionservices Among Smallholder Farmers in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

Smallholder farmers in Kenya are faced with low agricultural productivity which has been attributed toa number of factors among them being lack of access to agricultural information. This has been further exacerbated by shrinking number of public extension staff and underfunding of the extension system in the country. ICTs can play a crucial role in bridging this gap. This study determined ICTs accessed, and the extent of use of the ICTs to access e-Extension services among smallholder farmers in Nakuru county, Kenya. Data was collected from randomly selected sample of 130 smallholder farmers in a descriptive survey, using structured questionnaires and focus group discussions. Over 70 percent of the respondents had access to mobile phones, radio and TV while only 27.7 percent had access to the internet. The respondents that had access to YouTube, twitter and computers however, were less than 20 percent. The findings of the study revealed that mobile phones, radio and TV were the most accessed and utilized ICT tools in accessing e-Extension services among smallholder farmers.Social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook were on average used by the farmers to access e-Extension services while computers and twitter were the least used.The findings further revealed that e-Extension services that were most sought for by the farmers included production, market, pest and disease information.The major constraints in the use of ICTs tools in accessing e-Extension services were reported to include lack of ICTs such as computers and the internet, lack of awareness of availability of e-Extension services, lack of relevant information and lack of infrastructure such as electricity. The study concludes that accessible ICTs could be used to supplement other extension methods. There is need for improving access to ICTs particularly the internet and computers and creating awareness on use of platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Farmer Call Centres in accessing agricultultural information among farmers.

Determinants of climate information service access and use among smallholder farmers in Bereh woreda, Ethiopia

“…This indicates that older farmers are less likely to access CIS, which is a crucial element tied to agricultural experience (Muema et al, 2018). This result agrees with the findings of Yong (2014), Kirui et al (2014), Onyeneke et al (2023), and Muema et al (2018), proving that older farmers have improved their climate observation and risk dissemination skills Indigenously, resulting in a lower demand for CIS. Although older household heads manage several adaptation strategies in the active workforce, young household heads apply various climate adaptation techniques more frequently than older household heads (Megabia et al, 2022).…”

Sources, Nature and Characteristics of Agricultural Digital Content Accessed by Smallholder Farmers in Nakuru County, Kenya

“…This suggests that a large majority of the respondents were smallholders. Group membership as depicted by the results indicated that 63 percent of respondents were members of a farmer group organization while 37 percent were not affiliated to any farmer group organization" [8].…”

“…The distribution of respondents by education level indicates that 66 percent had attained primary level of education, 45 percent having attained secondary level and only 9 percent reaching the tertiary and university level". [8] "However, 5 percent of the respondents had no education at all. The overall findings therefore, shows that majority of the respondents had attained primary level of education and are able to read and write which could influence their ability to use ICT tools to access agricultural information.…”

“…The County has also initiated a farmer call center which is serving farmers in the entire county by providing e-Extension services majorly through their mobile phones and social media platforms. Three sub counties namely; Molo, Subukia and Gilgil were selected to represent the three agro-ecological zones of high, medium and low potential in the county [8].…”