Assessment Of Use Of Social Media Among Smallholder Farmers In Kiambu County

Abstract

The economic importance of agriculture in Kenya cannot be overemphasized. Nonetheless, to succeed in agriculture and rural development action of masses of rural families who individually make decisions based on knowledge, facts, and technologies at their disposal is critical. In Kenya, ineffective dissemination approaches, expanding farmer population, low staffing and aging agricultural extension agents are major challenges to delivery of agricultural extension services. Social media provides huge opportunities and incentives that have potential to ease access to agricultural information, facilitate real time service delivery and enable wider farmer coverage. A number of social media initiatives aiming at enhancing access to agricultural technologies have been developed in the country. Despite the potential in social media, lack of awareness and low usage in the rural areas of developing countries have been documented. This study carried out an assessment of social media use in agricultural activities among smallholder farmers. The objectives were to: assess the level of social media familiarity and usage among farmers; analyse the social media platforms being used by farmers and purpose for use; assess the influence of farmers’ demographic characteristics on awareness and usage of social media and assess how farmers’ perception on the usefulness and ease of use of social media in agricultural activities influence their behavioural intention to use. Undertaken in Thika Sub-County of Kiambu County on 140 farmers, the study employed a formal survey. Researcher administered semi-structured questionnaires were employed to collect qualitative data. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 20.0. Descriptive results have been presented in form of tables of frequencies, percentages and bar charts. ANOVA tests helped to establish data relationships and statistical significance while multiple regression analysis predicted the influence of changes in independent variables on the dependent other variables. The study established low familiarity and usage of social media among the farmers which was majorly influenced by their xv education level, age and sex. WhatsApp emerged the most popular platform while socially related activities were the major social media uses. The respondents generally expressed a positive attitude towards use of social media in accessing agricultural information. The study recommends social media awareness initiatives to enhance literacy levels among the farmers, employment of communication or social media officers responsible for managing social media accounts and development of social media specific policies and guiding principles to facilitate utilization in agricultural extension. Key words: agricultural extension, smallholder farmers, information dissemination, social media, usage