ICT Adoption and Its’ Implications for Agriculture in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Agriculture is the backbone of the Sri Lankan economy and it constantly experiences with advances in technology. Because of the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the world, each organization or person has to concern their products and services more towards modernized and ICT related manner. This research contribute to understand the adoption & use of ICT, identify the constraints associated with ICT use and propose recommendations with managerial implications towards the improvement of present ICT system in agriculture sector of Sri Lanka. Tea producers and poultry farmers in Kurunegala District were served for the survey. A scoring system was used to develop continuous dependent variables which were used in regression models to identify the variables most significantly influencing ICT use. Least significant difference technique was used to identify comparisons of constraints in ICT adoption and use. There were 60.6% of the participants who used ICT related equipments or facilities for their business and 76.1% of the participants having ICT uptake problems, where telecommunication and internet reported higher impact on agriculture sector. The participants stressed the cost of technology, lack of training, trust level in the ICT system, lack of ICT proficiency and lack of technological infrastructure are thresholds for ICT adoption and use. Managers can use these results to promote ICT adoption that can lead to more efficient communication and increased demand for the firm's products and services. The usage of different ICT applications was comparatively high in tea sector and in general the usage of mobile communication was common among all participants. This survey results provide insights which suggest corrective steps to expedite ICT adoption and prioritize the necessary research.

Use of information and communication technology (ICT) by extension officers of the tea small holdings development authority of Sri Lanka

“…This proves the potential of ICT to reduce the cost of production of small-growers in Sri Lanka. Jayathilake et al (2008) reported that the use of ICT applications in the corporate tea sector in Sri Lanka was comparatively high and mobile communication was common among all plantations managers.…”

“…Moreover, the factors such as lack of ICT proficiency, lack of ICT benefit awareness, too hard to use, lack of technological infrastructure, cost of technology, trust level in the ICT system, lack of training, system integration and software availability could also limit the use of ICT by horticultural farmers in Belgium (Taragola and Lierde, 2005). Warren et al (2000) reported that, the adoption of ICT is positively associated with the farm size, education level of the farmer and negatively associated with the age of the farmers.Tea producers and poultry farmers in Kurunagala district have stressed that the cost of technology, lack of training, trust level on the ICT system, lack of ICT proficiency and lack of technological infrastructure are thresholds for ICT adoption and use (Jayathilake et al,2008). A study conducted by Aker (2010) recommended that the training of the extension workers should include computer literacy to enable them access to internet and other electronic information technologies.…”

Institutional factors influencing utilisation of Research4Life databases by National Agricultural Research Institutes scientists in Nigeria

“…In the area of infrastructure, Jayathilake, Jayaweera and Waidyasekera (2008) identified lack of technological infrastructure as one threshold for ICT adoption and use in Sri Lanka agriculture. Also, Bwalya (2009) found that lack of adequate ICT infrastructure contributes much to the delay in appropriate e-government adoption and utilisation in Zambia.…”

Factors Affecting the Utilization of Information & Communication Technology (ICT): A Case of Badulla & Nuwara Eliya Potato Farming Community, Sri Lanka

“…Since, information acts as a key player, farmer awareness, availability, accessibility and usability of different ICT appliances may decide the overall productivity in the agriculture sector. At present, there have been many ICT tools which introduced to farmers, traders and other actors within the agricultural value chain by both private and public entities in Sri Lanka [10]. Those tools provide information related to production and marketing.…”