Influence of Perception and Quality of ICT‐Based Agricultural Input Information on Use of ICTs by Farmers in Developing Countries: Case of Sikasso in Mali

Abstract

Small-scale cereal farmers dominate agricultural activities in developing countries. These agricultural activities are characterized by low productivity due to lack of agricultural input information. This lack is restrained by the low use of ICTs caused by some factors such as the farmers' perception of ICTs and the ICTs' delivered information quality. We investigated these factors and their effects on ICTs' use by small-scale cereal farmers in developing countries. Sikasso region in Mali was selected as a case. A convenient sample size of 300 cereal farmers was selected. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling technique was used to analyse the data. The results suggested that the perception i.e. relative advantage, compatibility and simplicity and the delivered information quality were able to explain 77.9% of the variance in the Use of ICTs to access and use agricultural input information. From these results, it is important to take the Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Simplicity and Information Quality as the main factors determining the use of ICTs in developing countries in the cereal production context. A further line of inquiry could be to gather data from other developing countries to validate or find out more factors in such settings.

Adoption of mobile phone for marketing of cereals by smallholder farmers in Quang Dien District of Vietnam

“…In addition, no known study has investigated factors influencing the adoption of mobile phones for marketing by Vietnamese smallholders. Moreover, the findings reported in the existing literature (Alavion et al, 2017;Kante et al, 2017;Mittal & Mehar, 2016;Ogutu et al, 2014;Senthilkumar et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2016) are not consistent across the studies. For example, Mittal and Mehar (2016) investigated factors that influence the farmers' adoption of ICTs for marketing in India and found that Indian farmers with higher education level and large farm size tended to use ICTs for marketing more than those with a lower education level and small farm size.…”

“…The possible reason for this is that CBO members often support each other in terms of human and financial resources, and this can lead to being in a better position to adopt mobile phones for marketing, as well as sharing information between members. In the mainstream literature (Alavion et al, 2017;Kante et al, 2017;Mittal & Mehar, 2016;Ogutu et al, 2014;Senthilkumar et al, 2013), little has been written about the importance and impact of membership of CBOs on smallholders' mobile phone adoption for marketing.…”

“…Existing literatures (Abebe & Mammo Cherinet, 2018;Alavion, Allahyari, Al-Rimawi, & Surujlal, 2017;Kante, Oboko, & Chepken, 2017;Mittal & Mehar, 2016) reveal that the farmers' adoption of ICTs is likely to be connected to either one, or more, of the following factors. a) Demographic factors of farmers such as gender, age and education level (Das, 2014;Mittal & Mehar, 2016;Senthilkumar, Chander, Pandian, & Kumar, 2013); b) Socio-economic factors of farmers and farms such as farm size, income and access to credit (Ogutu, Okello, & Otieno, 2014;Senthilkumar et al, 2013); c) Situational factors of farmers and farms such as distance from farmers' home to local markets (Abebe & Mammo Cherinet, 2018); and d) Institutional factors of farmers such as farmers' participation in training courses and extension contacts by farmers (Abebe & Mammo Cherinet, 2018;Senthilkumar et al, 2013).…”

A resistance to change perspective on nonusers of telecenters

“…A number of studies evaluating the use of ICTs in rural areas, even in cases where access is highly subsidized, have found adoption by the rural community to be low (Dossani, Misra, & Jhaveri, ; Gollakota, ; Kuriyan & Toyama, ; Prasad & Ray, ). Many telecenters are underutilized, and the development potential has not been met (Kante, Oboko, & Chepken, ; Sey & Fellows, ). Thus, it is important to understand why so little use is made of ICTs which have so much potential.…”

Adoption Practice of Climate Change Adaptation Options among Nepalese Rice Farmers: Role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

“…[20] in his study observed that the increasing use of mobile phone for in- ICT adoption and use in agriculture will enable the development of strategies to promote their increased use and effectiveness [24]. On the other side, farmer's perception of the role of ICTs in disseminating agricultural information is important in their adoption and use [34]. In a nutshell, ICT can also play a very important role in bridging the information gap in the agricultural sector.…”