Examining the perception of farmers on mobile expert system forecasting for poultry farming in Abia State

Abstract

Poultry farmers have a strong reliance on information exchange among farmers and other stake holders. This because poultry farmers operate in a highly complex and volatile business environment, which equally makes decision making complex. Unfortunately, the network of farmers upon which this information circulates may not be credible because of their general lack of agricultural information from experts. Information on inaccurate data among farmers has been evidenced in literature. Hosting an expert system to cater for this challenges among farmers becomes imperative. This study sought to examine the perception of farmers on mobile expert system for poultry farming forecasting. Descriptive survey study design was used to identify the farmer’s perception on the mobile system for poultry forecasting in Abia State. Participants comprised 160 male and female farmers randomly selected from the three education zones in Abia State. The participants completed the Questionnaire designed by the researcher to indicate their opinion. Mean, standard Deviation and t-test were used for data analysis. The results revealed the interventional strategies for mobile expert system forecasting among poultry farmers although every items has a mean of 2.50 and above and they are thus accepted minus item 15 (encourages an extensive farming system), with a mean of 2.38 which is rejected.. Furthermore, the result shows that there is a significant difference between the opinion of male and female farmers on the intervention strategies of mobile expert system forecasting among poultry farmers’.