Mobile Phone-Assisted Agricultural Extension Services: User Competency And Usage Frequency In Eastern Ghana
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Date
2021
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Publisher
African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
Abstract
Adoption studies have mainly focused on econometric and quantitative modeling that
usually assume smallholder farmers competently adopt agricultural technologies. This
study provides novel insights on user competency and frequency of usage of mobile
telephony for agricultural extension services among smallholder farmers and
agricultural extension agents (AEAs) and key factors that impede the adoption process.
The study examined users’ competencies and mobile phone usage frequency for access
and delivery of agricultural extension services in Eastern Ghana. A multi-stage
sampling procedure was used to select 95 AEAs and 330 smallholder farmers in five
districts of the Eastern region of Ghana and data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analyses
were performed to analyze the data. Results showed substantial differences between
AEAs and smallholder farmers’ competency in the use of mobile phones for
agricultural extension services. Socio-demographic characteristics of smallholder
farmers and AEAs correlated with the usage frequency of mobile phones for access to
extension services and delivery. Educational level, amount of weekly expenditure of
money on mobile phone use, mobile phone network quality, income level, and age of
both AEAs and smallholder farmers had positive and significant correlations with
the frequency of usage of mobile phones. User competency differentially impacts the
frequency of mobile phone use in agricultural extension services between AEAs and
smallholders. High call tariffs and access to recharge cards are major challenges in
using mobile phones for agricultural extension in the study areas. The study shows
components of the adoption theory of compatibility, and complexity where an
innovation fits within the socio-cultural framework and perceived difficulty of use.
Thus, the frequent use of voice calls is indicative of the early stages of the diffusion
process and may diversify into other applications in the future. Farmer-based
organizations should be resourced to support the training of farmers to use mobile phones
to improve access to agricultural information dissemination. Integrating voice-based
agricultural information services (IVRs) into the current SMS-based agricultural
extension services in Ghana could potentially boost extension service delivery to
smallholder farmers in the Eastern region and across the country. The Ministry of Food
and Agriculture may partner with key stakeholders and mobile service providers to
offer hands-on capacity building to smallholder farmers and AEAs in video
calling/conferencing, multimedia service, and social media to enhance their
competencies for improved agricultural extension services.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Agricultural extension agents, agritech, e-extension, mobile phone application, smallholder farmers, Ghana