Assessment of Smallholder Poultry Farmers’ Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Kwali Area Council of Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

ICT can be regarded as the combination of "informatics communication" and other technologies, especially communications technology. Informatics refers to the study of information, computation, and communication. This can apply to artificial systems such as computers or natural systems such as brains, genes, and living cells. Informatics technology refers to the technological application of informatics in society and is the study of the behaviour and structure of any system that generates, stores, processes, and presents information. A simple random sampling technique was used. The total sample size was 100. The questionnaire method of data collection was adopted to elicit information on the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, their perceptions of ICT, the accessibility of ICT, and factors that affect the use of ICT technology by poultry farmers. The collected data was subjected to descriptive statistics (such as frequency tables and percentages) for analysis. The result showed that 61% of the farmers are actively participating in poultry farming; it also showed that extension service delivery made it easier for the farmers to get ICT information; and it also showed that high costs (71% of the time) were the major constraint to the adoption of ICT by the smallholder poultry farmers in the study area.