Impact of ICT and use of social media on supply chain of horticultural crops in India: structural equation and predictive modelling approach

Abstract

The objective of this research is to identify the impact of the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT), accesses of the information, availability, awareness, perceived usefulness, challenges, willingness to pay, reliability of the information available on the ICT and social media sites used by the farmers in India. The primary data collected from the three districts of Maharashtra, viz. Kolhapur, Nagpur, and Amaravati. Structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was used to understand the impact of all the factors of the supply chain of horticulture crops in India with the usage of ICT and social media sites and the further predictive model is also used to forecast the probability of the farmers to use the ICT and social media sites in the future. The study reveals that there is positive impact of availability, challenges and reliability and negative impact of adoption and awareness on the usage of ICT by the farmers.