Influence of Perception and Quality of ICT‐Based Agricultural Input Information on Use of ICTs by Farmers in Developing Countries: Case of Sikasso in Mali

Abstract

AbstractSmall‐scale cereal farmers dominate agricultural activities in developing countries. These agricultural activities are characterized by low productivity due to lack of agricultural input information. This lack is restrained by the low use of ICTs caused by some factors such as the farmers' perception of ICTs and the ICTs' delivered information quality. We investigated these factors and their effects on ICTs' use by small‐scale cereal farmers in developing countries. Sikasso region in Mali was selected as a case. A convenient sample size of 300 cereal farmers was selected. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling technique was used to analyse the data. The results suggested that the perception i.e. relative advantage, compatibility and simplicity and the delivered information quality were able to explain 77.9% of the variance in the Use of ICTs to access and use agricultural input information. From these results, it is important to take the Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Simplicity and Information Quality as the main factors determining the use of ICTs in developing countries in the cereal production context. A further line of inquiry could be to gather data from other developing countries to validate or find out more factors in such settings.