Designing mAgriculture applications for rural smallholder farmers

Abstract

CT has been widely accepted and adopted as a key driver for various secto rs of the economy for both the developing and developed nations. In developing countries, there have been multiple interventions to employ the available technology such as mobile, wireless, radio and TV technologies in key areas that concern human developm ent such as health, agriculture, education and finance. The design and development practices, are mostly borrowed from established markets with different user profiles, and do not always consider the profile of the target users such as their level of educa tion, language and culture. In this research, we explore the design and development of ICT4D innovations, specifically in mAgriculture among medium to low - literate communities in developing countries. The aim of this research was to evaluate the design pri nciples used in ICT4D for mAgriculture applications, and how they attempt to accommodate smallholder farmers of different literacy and technology exposure backgrounds. The study made proposals of consideration to be made by researchers, developers and cont ent providers, when designing ICT4D innovations targeting smallholder farmers and users of low to medium literacy levels .