Factors underlying farmers’ choice of market information system in Lilongwe, Malawi
Subject Areas : Extension and Economic
Fredy
Kilima
1
(Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU), P.O. Box 474, Sokoine Road, Moshi, Tanzania.)
Thokozani
Chikuni
2
(Center for the Study of African Economies, Lilongwe, Malawi)
Keywords: ICT, Smallholder farmers, AMIS, MIS,
Abstract :
The paper sought to investigate the effect of simultaneous use of radio- and mobile phone- based agricultural market information systems on smallholder farmers’ access to information focusing on prices of agricultural inputs and commodities. A multivariate probit model was estimated to gauge potential use of each information system by farmers to access information on prices of agricultural inputs and commodities. Results reveals limited use of mobile phones to jointly access input and commodity prices as the devices were mainly for accessing information on commodity prices. The cost of using mobile phones was the dominant factor underlying the low use of mobile phones to access information on commodity prices. The cost of use along with farmers’ access to extension and group membership were the major factors underlying the use of radio to access price information. Results predicted higher prospect for smallholder farmers to use radio- than mobile phone-based information system to access information on agricultural inputs and commodities. Endeavors to promote farmers access to markets information should focus on creating synergies with extension services and local initiatives linking farmers through groups. Future research on the subject matter should attempt to accommodate more means of acquiring market information including extension agents and explanatory variables to enhance robustness of the adopted model or its variants.
- Asingwire, N. & Okello, J. J. (2011). Challenges Facing Smallholder Farmers' ICT-Based Market Information Service (MIS) Projects: The Case of Brosdi and Wougnet in Uganda. International Journal of Economics and Research, 2(4), 142-152.
- Assa, M. M., Maonga, B. B., & Mapemba, L. D. (2014). Determinants of keeping small ruminants and non-ruminant livestock in Malawi: a simulated maximum likelihood multivariate probit. Agrekon, 53(4), 123-135.
- Blumenstock, J., & Eagle, N. (2010). Mobile divides: gender, socioeconomic status, and mobile phone use in Rwanda. In Proceedings of the 4th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (pp. 1-10).
- Blumenstock, J.E., Hall, M.G. & Eagle, N. (2012). Divided We Call: Disparities in Access and Use of Mobile Phones in Rwanda. Information Technologies and International Development, 8 (2), 1–16.
- Burrell, J. (2010). Evaluating Shared Access: social equality and the circulation of mobile phones in rural Uganda. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15 (2), 230–250.
- Cant, M.A. and Shen, S.F. (2006). Endogenous timing in competitive interactions among relatives. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 273(1583), 171-178.
- Chalemba, L. (2016). Integration of Telecommunication Technologies into Agricultural Market Information Systems: a comparative analysis of Uganda and Malawi. Journal of Agricultural Informatics, 7(2), 70-79.
- Chikuni, T., & Kilima, F. T. (2019). Smallholder farmers' market participation and mobile phone‐based market information services in Lilongwe, Malawi. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 85(6), e12097.
- Chinsinga, B. (2011). Seeds and subsidies: The political economy of input programmes in Malawi. IDS bulletin, 42(4), 59-68.
10. Chirwa, E. W. (2007). Sources of technical efficiency among smallholder maize farmers in Southern Malawi. https://media.africaportal.org/documents/RP172.pdf. Accessed March 3, 202.
11. Chirwa, E. W., & Matita, M. (2012). From Subsistence to Smallholder Commercial Farming in Malawi: A Case of NASFAM Commercialisation Initiative. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/2268/FAC_Working_Paper_037.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Accessed March 3, 2021.
12. Chowa, C., Garforth, C. & Cardey, S. (2013). Farmer experience of pluralistic agricultural extension, Malawi. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 19(2), 147-166.
13. Dessie, A. B., Abate, T. M., & Mekie, T. M. (2018). Factors affecting market outlet choice of wheat producers in North Gondar Zone, Ethiopia. Agriculture & Food Security, 7(1), 1-8.
14. Dorward, A. & Chirwa, E. (2011). The Malawi agricultural input subsidy programme: 2005/06 to 2008/09. International journal of agricultural sustainability, 9(1), 232-247.
15. Dorward, A., Chirwa, E., Kelly, V. A., Jayne, T. S., Slater, R., & Boughton, D. (2008). Evaluation of the 2006/7 agricultural input subsidy programme, Malawi. Final Report (No. 1093-2016-87963). United Nations (2005). Designing household survey samples: Practical guidelines. United Nations handbook. New York, NY: United Nations.
16. Enete, A. A. & Amusa, T. A. (2010). Contribution of men and women to farming decisions in cocoa based agroforestry households of Ekiti State, Nigeria. Tropicultura, 28(2), 77-83.
17. Fafchamps, M. and Gabre-Madhin, E. (2001). Agricultural markets in Benin and Malawi: The operation and performance of traders. The World Bank.
18. Fan, Q., & Salas Garcia, V. B. (2018). Information access and smallholder farmers’ market participation in Peru. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 69(2), 476-494.
19. Forsythe, L., Posthumus, H. & Martin, A. (2016). A crop of one's own? Women’s experiences of cassava commercialization in Nigeria and Malawi. Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security, 1(2), 110-128.
20. Galtier, F., David-Benz, H., Subervie, J., & Egg, J. (2014). Agricultural market information systems in developing countries: New models, new impacts. Cahiers Agricultures, 23(4-5), 232-244.
21. Garín-Muñoz, T., López, R., Pérez-Amaral, T., Herguera, I., & Valarezo, A. (2019). Models for individual adoption of eCommerce, eBanking and eGovernment in Spain. Telecommunications policy, 43(1), 100-111.
22. Geldof, M. (2011). Earphones are not for women: Gendered ICT use among youths in Ethiopia and Malawi. Information Technologies and International Development, 7(4), pp-69.
23. Greene, W. H. (2003). Econometric Analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall International, New York University
24. Hatakka, M., Ater, S., Obura, D.and Mibei, B. (2014). Capability outcomes from educational and ICT capability inputs–An analysis of ICT use in informal education in Kenya. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 61(1), 1-17.
25. Holden, S. T. and Lunduka, R. W. (2013). Who benefit from Malawi's targeted farm input subsidy program? In Forum for Development Studies, 40 (1), 1-25. Routledge.
26. Huyer, S. Hafkin, N., Ertl, H. and Dryburgh, H. (2005). Women in the information society. From the digital divide to digital opportunities: Measuring infostates for development. G. Sciadas, ed. Orbicom. 135–196.
27. Issahaku, H., Abu, B. M. and Nkegbe, P. K. (2018). Does the use of mobile phones by smallholder maize farmers affect productivity in Ghana? Journal of African Business, 19(3), 302-322.
28. Jaffee, S., Henson, S., & Diaz Rios, L. (2011). Making the grade: Smallholder farmers, emerging standards, and development assistance programs in Africa-A research program synthesis. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/2823/623240SR0White0W110Making0the0Grade.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Accessed March 3, 2021.
29. Jayathilake H, Jayaweera BPA, Waidyasekera ECS (2008). ICT adoption and its implications for agriculture in Sri Lanka. Journal of Food and Agriculture, 1(2), 54-63
30. Jayne, T. S., Mather, D., & Mghenyi, E. (2010a). Principal challenges confronting smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. World development, 38(10), 1384-1398.
31. Jayne, T. S., Sitko, N. J., Ricker-Gilbert, J., & Mangisoni, J. H. (2010b). Malawi’s maize marketing system No. 1093-2016-88020). https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/62162/. Accessed March 3, 2021.
32. Just, D. R., Wolf, S. A., & Zilberman, D. (2006). Effect of information formats on information services: analysis of four selected agricultural commodities in the USA. Agricultural Economics, 35(3), 289-301.
33. Kameri-Mbote, P. (2006). Women, land rights and the environment: the Kenyan experience. Development, 49(3), 43-48.
34. Karim, N. S. A., Alias, R. A., Mokhtar, S. A. & Rahim, N. Z. A. (2009). Mobile phone adoption and appropriation in Malaysia and the contribution of age and gender. In 2009 International Conference on Information and Multimedia Technology (pp. 485-490). IEEE.
35. Katengeza, S. P., Okello, J. J. and Mensah, E. R. (2011). Factors influencing of awareness and use of electronic based market information services for farming business in Malawi. Int. J. Econ. Res., 2(4), 43-58.
36. Kherallah, M., Delgado, C. L., Gabre-Madhin, E., Minot, N., & Johnson, M. (2000). The road half traveled: Agricultural market reform in Sub-Saharan Africa.
37. Kilima, F. T. M., Sife, A. S., & Sanga, C. (2016). Factors Underlying the Choice of Information and Communication Technologies among Small holder Farmers in Tanzania. International Journal of Computing & ICT Research, 10(2),41-62.
38. Kundhlande, G., Franzel, S., Simpson, B., & Gausi, E. (2014). Farmer-to-farmer extension approach in Malawi: a survey of organizations (No. 183). ICRAF working paper.
39. Leng, C., Ma, W., Tang, J., & Zhu, Z. (2020). ICT adoption and income diversification among rural households in China. Applied Economics, 52(33), 3614-3628.
40. Malawi National Statistics Office (2014). Survey on access and usage of ICT services in Malawi report. NSO report. Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority, Lilongwe. 117pp.
41. Malawi National Statistics Office (2020). Survey on Access and Use of Information and Communications Technologies by Households and Individuals in Malawi 2019.
http://www.nsomalawi.mw/images/stories/data_on_line/economics/ICT/ICT%20Household%20Survey%202019.pdf. Accessed March 3, 2021.
43. Manfre, C., & Nordehn, C. (2013). Exploring the promise of information and communication technologies for women farmers in Kenya. Cultural practice, LLC, MEAS Case Study, 4.
44. Maonga, B. B., Joanna, C., & Assa, M. M. (2017). Determinants of smallholder farm household decision to access agricultural support services in Malawi. Int. J. Dev. Sustain, 6(1), 16-32.
45. Masangano, C. & Mthinda, C. (2012). Pluralistic extension system in Malawi. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Catherine-Mthinda/publication/254416842_Pluralistic_Extension_System_in_Malawi/links/53d33b9d0cf2a7fbb2e9d009/Pluralistic-Extension-System-in-Malawi.pdf. Accessed March 3, 2021.
46. Megwa, E. R. (2007). Bridging the digital divide: Community radio's potential for extending information and communication technology benefits to poor rural communities in South Africa. The Howard Journal of Communications, 18(4), 335-352.
47. Mhagama, P. (2015). Expanding access and participation through a combination of community radio and mobile phones: The experience of Malawi. Journal of African Media Studies, 7(3), 267-280.
48. Milan, S. (2009). Four steps to community media as a development tool, Development in Practice, 19 (4), 598–609.
49. Minot, N. (2010). Transmission of world food price changes to markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington: International Food Policy Research Institute.
50. Mloza-Banda, H. R. (2005). Integrating new trends in farming systems approaches in Malawi. In African Crop Science Conference Proceedings (Vol. 7, No. pt. 2 of 3, pp. 961-966).
51. Morris, M.G. & Venkatesh, V. (2000). Age differences in technology adoption decisions: Implications for a changing work force. Personnel psychology, 53(2), 375-403.
52. Morris, M.G., Venkatesh, V. & Ackerman, P.L. (2005). Gender and age differences in employee decisions about new technology: An extension to the theory of planned behavior. IEEE transactions on engineering management, 52(1), 69-84.
53. Mpazanje, F., & Chigona, W. (2012, October). How the mobile phone saved properness: The case of professional women in Malawi. In 2012 e-Leadership Conference on Sustainable e-Government and e-Business Innovations (E-LEADERSHIP) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.
54. Mudege, N. N., Chevo, T., Nyekanyeka, T., Kapalasa, E. & Demo, P. (2016). Gender norms and access to extension services and training among potato farmers in Dedza and Ntcheu in Malawi.The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 22(3), 291-305.
55. Mulwa, C., Marenya, P. & Kassie, M. (2017). Response to climate risks among smallholder farmers in Malawi: A multivariate probit assessment of the role of information, household demographics, and farm characteristics. Climate Risk Management, 16, 208-221.
56. Mwangi, E. (2007). Subdividing the commons: Distributional conflict in the transition from collective to individual property rights in Kenya’s Maasailand. World development, 35(5), 815-834.
57. Nakazi, F., Babirye, I., Birachi, E. and Ugen, M. A. (2018). Exploring retailer marketing strategies for value added bean products in Kenya. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 22(1030-2019-3335), 675-688.
58. Okello, J. J., Kirui, O. K., Gitonga, Z. M., Njiraini, G. W. and Nzuma, J. M. (2014). Determinants of awareness and use ICT-based market information services in developing-country agriculture: The case of smallholder farmers in Kenya. Quarterly of International agriculture, 53 (4), 263-282.
59. Okello, J.J., Kirui, O., Njraini, G.W. and Gitonga, Z. (2012). Drivers of Use of Information and Communication Technologies by Farm Households: The Case of Smallholder Farmers in Kenya. Journal of Agricultural Science. 4, 2 (Feb. 2012), 111–124.
60. Opolot, H. (2016). Quality and dissemination of information for strengthening University-farming community engagement in northern Uganda. African Journal of Rural Development, 1(1), 23.
61. Poulton, C., Kydd, J., & Dorward, A. (2006). Overcoming market constraints on pro‐poor agricultural growth in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Development policy review, 24(3), 243-277.
62. Sekabira, H., Bonabana, J. and Asingwire, N. (2012). Determinants for adoption of information and communications technology (ICT)-based market information services by smallholder farmers and traders in Mayuge District. Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics, 4(14), 404-415.
63. Shava, H., Chinyamurindi, W., & Somdyala, A. (2016). An investigation into the usage of mobile phones among technical and vocational educational and training students in South Africa. South African journal of information management, 18(1), 1-8.
64. Steinfield, C. and Wyche, S. (2013). Assessing the Role of Information and Communication Technologies to Enhance Food Systems in Developing Countries. Global Center for Food Systems Innovation (GCFSI), Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 39 p.
65. Steinfield, C., Wyche, S., Cai, T. and Chiwasa, H. (2015). The mobile divide revisited: mobile phone use by smallholder farmers in Malawi. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (pp. 1-9).
66. Tadesse, G., & Bahiigwa, G. (2015). Mobile phones and farmers’ marketing decisions in Ethiopia. World development, 68: 296-307.
67. Ulimwengu, J. and Sanyal, P. (2011). Joint estimation of farmers’ stated willingness to pay for agricultural services. International Food Policy Research Institute Discussion Paper, 1070.
68. Vekiri, I. & Chronaki, A. (2008). Gender issues in technology use: Perceived social support, computer self-efficacy and value beliefs, and computer use beyond school. Computers and education, 51(3), 1392-1404.
69. Wei, R. (2008). Motivations for using the mobile phone for mass communications and entertainment. Telematics and Informatics, 25(1), 36-46.
70. Wilska, T. A. (2003). Mobile phone use as part of young people’s consumption styles. Journal of Consumer Policy, 26(4), 441–463.