Drivers of Use of Information and Communication Technologies by Farm Households: The Case of Smallholder Farmers in Kenya
Date
2012Author
Okello, Julius, J.
Kirui, Oliver, K.
Njiraini, Georgina, W
Gitonga, Zachary, M.
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Smallholder farmers’ access to markets has traditionally been constrained by lack of market information. The
desire to strengthen farmer access to market has seen the emergence of a number of projects that employ ICT
tools in the provision of market information. This study assesses the conditioners of the use of ICT tools in
general and mobile phones in particular by smallholder farmers for agricultural transactions. The study finds that
several farmer, farm and capital endowment factors affect the use of ICT tools and mobile phones. Specifically,
age, occupation, nearness to output market, number of crop enterprises, farming experience literacy and crop
income explain the use of tools while gender, nearness to output market, household size, owning a phone, level
of literacy, crop income and value of assets explain the intensity of use of the mobile for agricultural transaction
purposes. It discusses the implications of these findings for policy.
Citation
Journal of Agricultural Science Vol. 4, No. 2; 2012Publisher
Department of Agricultural Economics
Description
Journal Article