Abstract
Information and communication technologies are a ready tool for all strata of society and are indeed redefining the way almost everything is done. Mobile phone technology, in particular, plays a vital role in expediting improvement in the efficiency of the household resource through access to information on various available technologies. Can mobile phones improve the cost efficiency of agricultural production? Comprehension of such effect is critical, especially in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. We addressed this topic using cross-sectional data from smallholder maize producers in Zambia. The Stochastic Frontier Analysis was applied to estimate cost efficiency. The results indicate that mobile phone use improves the cost efficiency of maize production significantly and as such, adopters have made a rational decision to adopt mobile phone use for information access. Precisely, we found a 10.2% efficiency gap in favor of users. Nevertheless, if non-users were to adopt mobile phones for agricultural information access, maize production per hectare would increase by 21.38%. Eventually, food production would be increased in an environmentally friendly manner and the price of maize would be set at a competitive price within the region because agricultural inputs would be allocated cost efficiently. Therefore, in an attempt to minimize production cost in food production, this study strongly endorses the use of mobile phones for agricultural information access.
Highlights
Sub-Saharan African governments have made various efforts to improve agricultural practices, seed quality, production cost minimization strategies, and resource allocation among other farming pursuits
If non-users were to adopt mobile phones for agricultural information access, maize production per hectare would increase by 21.38%
In an attempt to minimize production cost in food production, this study strongly endorses the use of mobile phones for agricultural information access
Summary
Sub-Saharan African governments have made various efforts to improve agricultural practices, seed quality, production cost minimization strategies, and resource allocation among other farming pursuits. The results of the study provide policymakers with appropriate information to understand how to make maize production competitive and derive potential alternative policy options to promote cost efficiency. This paper attempts to link mobile phone use in accessing agricultural information to production cost efficiency This is very important because the measurement of efficiency is essential especially since it is a productivity growth factor that is highly useful in gauging the potential of farmers in meeting the rising global food demand. We include predictions of potential cost reduction per hectare if non-user households adopted MP use—presenting farm level evidence of what the performance of farmers would be This has important policy implication because lower costs of production are strongly correlated with maize becoming more competitive and profitable. The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the data and the empirical strategy employed; Section 3 presents the empirical results, discussion and policy implication; and the last section provides the conclusion
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