Abstract
The success of agricultural development programs in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is subject to the extent and nature of information communication technology (ICT) usage, particularly mobile phones. In comparison to other ICTs, the mobile phone is less demanding in terms of user capabilities, infrastructure requirements, and affordability. Mobile phone technology plays a vital role in facilitating the realization of benefits for farmers through access to useful agricultural information. However, up till now farmers' behavioral intention towards mobile phone use has hardly been evaluated yet it is a critical issue that policymakers and development partners need to comprehend. Is mobile phone use in agriculture dependent upon farmers’ behavioral intention? We address this topic using cross-sectional data from Zambia obtained through a two-stage sampling procedure. Our results establish that a strong association consistent with the theory of planned behavior (TPB) exists. This suggests that positive behavioral intention has a substantial likelihood to elicit auspicious agricultural informatization and consequently, household economic development. We further find that mobile phone ownership, family size, wealth, and marital status can significantly influence smallholders’ behavioral change towards mobile phone use in agriculture. Therefore, in an effort to promote sustainable agricultural information access in rural settings, our study strongly demonstrates the relevance of farmers’ behavioral intent towards mobile phone use, and also enriches the discussion on the implementation of mobile phone use for collecting agricultural information.
Highlights
The use of mobile telephony continues to grow swiftly in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) achieving 39% (347 million subscribers) penetration rate in 2014 [1]
Farmers have only owned the device for about three years which is sufficient for impact if adopted for use in agriculture but highly unlikely to influence attitudes which have been formed by long held beliefs and perceptions [57]
Despite the vital role played by mobile phone technology in facilitating the realization of benefits for farmers through access to useful agricultural information, the progress in rural agricultural communities has been slow
Summary
The use of mobile telephony continues to grow swiftly in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) achieving 39% (347 million subscribers) penetration rate in 2014 [1]. It is anticipated that the mobile phone will reduce the information asymmetry existing between rural and urban areas and bridge the information gap between large and smallholder farmers This is because in response to the low mobile subscription in rural Africa [2,3], the mobile telephone operators are ubiquitous. James and Versteeg [2] assert that the rapid growth of mobile phones in SSA plays a crucial role in driving employment and economic growth. The underlying reason for this achievement is that in comparison to other information communication technologies (ICTs), the mobile phone is less demanding in terms of user capabilities, infrastructure requirements, and affordability [6,7]. These ICTs include mobile phones, television, radio, personal computers and the internet
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