ARABLE CROP FARMERS’ CHARACTERISTICS AFFECTING THE UTILISATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY FOR AGRICULTURAL MARKETING INFORMATION IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Marketing information research is a key supportive service to commercialisation of agricultural enterprises for current prices of agricultural produce in the market. The utilisation of ICT-based agricultural marketing information (AMI) by arable crop farmers are functions of some farmers’ attributes. This study assessed the respondents’ socioeconomic and farm enterprise characteristics affecting the use of AMI by arable crop farmers in Oyo state. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 143 respondents for the study. Data collected with interview schedule were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as Chi square and PPMC at p=0.05. Results show that majority of the farmers were male (83.2%), with mean household size of 7 persons, 45.7 years of age and 9.5 years of formal education. Most (82.5%) respondents had farming as their primary occupation and earned mean monthly income of ₦98,087.9 with the mean year of farming experience of 32.8 years. Mostly used ICT tools for the AMI were radio (274.1), mobile phone (232.8) and television (140). More of the farmers had low level of use (55.2%) of the use of ICT-based AMI. There were significant relationships between respondents’ use of ICT-based AMI and primary (χ 2 =19.51) and secondary occupation (χ 2 = 34.77) while years of formal education (r=0.261, p=0.000) and farming experience (r=0.44, p= 0.000) were equally positively correlated with their use of ICT based AMI. Formal education and farming experience of farmers were among factors responsible for the effective use of ICT-based AMI among the agricultural entrepreneurs. Due to the nature of ICTs, adult literacy is a prerequisite in order to improve their skills and attitude towards the use of ICT-based AMI. Keywords: Agricultural information research, ICT-based information and agricultural entrepreneurs’ characteristics