Farmers Perception of Access and Use of Modern Information Communication Technologies in Enhancing Smallholder Tea Production in Kakamega County, Kenya

Abstract

The smallholder tea sector in Kenya forms the second-largest agricultural exporter after horticulture, contributing 4 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Modern communication technologies (MCTS) are key in supporting production, processing and marketing across the tea sector value chain. Despite the availability of all these technologies, their access and use by smallholder tea farmers for production and tea auction price monitoring are still minimal. Further, farmers’ perception of access and use of modern communication technologies is not well known. The objective of this study was to evaluate smallholder farmers’ perceptions on access and use of modern communication technologies in enhancing tea production in Shinyalu subcounty.The study was anchored on diffusion of innovation that emphasizes on the five attributes of an innovation. The study evaluated the farmers’ perception of access and use of MCTs. The study adopted a descriptive research design where fisher’s formula was used to get 162 out of 1,600 smallholder tea farmers who were systematically sampled and interviewed. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires. Likert perception test scale was also used test perception statements. The data was cleaned and analyzed in form of frequencies and percentages and chi-square The results established that majority of the tea farmers (36%) had acquired basic literacy levels of education to use modern technologies in tea production. It also established that modern technologies such as smartcard technology 78%, mobile phone text messages 62% and personal digital assistants 61% were the most essential tools for enhancing access to farm inputs, market information and tea management information. However, extension agents 61% played a complementary role in unpacking and linking modern tea technologies from the source to farmers. A positive association was revealed between farmers’ literacy level and the use of MCTs, which influenced access to MCT. The study, recommended re-tooling agricultural information dissemination agents and farmers on the existing MCT to enhance effective communication, promoting tea production yields and accessing market information.