Social Media Literacy among Oil Palm Smallholders in East Malaysia and Association with Oil Palm Integration Practices

Abdul Hafiz Ab Rahman,Khairul Abidin,Sivapalan Selvadurai,Novel Lyndon,Azlina Abdullah,Sharifah Zarina Syed Zakaria

doi:10.3390/su132413802

Abdul Hafiz Ab Rahman, Khairul Abidin + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413802

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Abstract

With advancements in technology, social media has revolutionised the way farmers communicate, resulting in an increased level of shared agricultural knowledge. Therefore, this study investigates social media literacy among oil palm smallholders in East Malaysia and the association with oil palm integration practices. A survey of 194 respondents was conducted using a random sampling method. The survey questionnaire was adapted from several previous studies on social media literacy. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, involving t-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression were conducted. Social media literacy was significantly higher among oil palm smallholders who were younger, with higher educational levels (p < 0.05). The logistic regression analysis showed that as the level of social media literacy increased, the probability for agricultural integration practices also increased (odds ratio (OR) = 1.052; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.022, 1.083). However, smallholders needed to optimise their use of social media to provide greater benefits to their agriculture. The findings of this study are useful in illustrating that interventions in social media literacy may efficiently facilitate oil palm integration. The results of this study can provide information and recommendations towards policies for the modernising of oil palm farming in Malaysia. Such studies, however, need to be further expanded by involving a larger sample of smallholders nationwide, to represent the geography of smallholders with varying levels of internet accessibility in Malaysia.

Highlights

This study investigates the extent to which oil palm smallholders’ level of social media literacy can assist their oil palm farming, in terms of oil palm integration
Oil palm smallholders who participated in this study were randomly sampled from longhouses located near the town of Bintulu
The findings showed that livestock integration was not implemented because it was not suitable for the early stages of oil palm cultivation, that is, before oil palm reaches the age of three years and five years

Summary

Introduction

The emergence of social media has transformed the way individuals communicate in today’s world. Social media can be referred to as a new form of media that involves interactive participation. It is an online communication channel that allows users to interact with each other in any part of the world, and share and discuss information via a combination of multimedia elements comprising text, images, video, and audio. Most modern-day activities need people to connect via social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and WeChat. The advancement in smartphone technology, affordability, and ease of use has resulted in a surge in social media use [1]

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