List of Information Technology in Agriculture subject articles

Open Access Article

1 - Smallholder Farmers' Access and Use of Scientific Climatic Forecast Information in Mt. Elgon Region, Eastern Uganda
Narisi Mubangizi Florence Kyazze Paul Mukwaya

Proper use of climatic forecast information in planning and implementing agricultural activities is critical for the improvement of the wellbeing of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods depend on rain-fed agriculture. This study employed a descriptive cross-sectional d More

Proper use of climatic forecast information in planning and implementing agricultural activities is critical for the improvement of the wellbeing of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods depend on rain-fed agriculture. This study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design involving 12 focus group discussions and 255 household interviews to determine the extent to which smallholder farmers in Mount Elgon Region of Eastern Uganda accessed and used climate forecast information. Results showed that 84% of the farmers had received scientific climate information especially on timing of onset and cessation of rainfall and likelihood of landslides. The information was mainly accessed through radio and rarely from extension workers and fellow farmers. Over 60% of farmers considered the different types of climatic forecast information received to be less reliable and inappropriately timed relative to their needs and this barred most of them from applying it in their agricultural production decisions. The likelihood to use climate forecast information was enhanced by farmers' formal education, ownership of a radio set, perception that the information was reliable and timely. Thus efforts to enhance farmers’ use of rainfall forecast information customize it to the needs of the targeted farmers. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

2 - The Effect of Broadcast Digitalization on Agricultural Information Dissemination in Nigeria.
Akinbode Okunola

Broadcast digitalization with its enormous benefits to the broadcasting industry will improve the quality of content of programs delivered by television stations. Africa has a switchover date of June, 2017. For Nigerians to have access to television broadcast once the s More

Broadcast digitalization with its enormous benefits to the broadcasting industry will improve the quality of content of programs delivered by television stations. Africa has a switchover date of June, 2017. For Nigerians to have access to television broadcast once the switch over is completed, they must purchase high definition television sets or the set-up box. The awareness among urban dwellers in Nigeria have resulted in households switching to receiving digital broadcast transmission by purchasing digital set-up boxes. However, the rural communities which are agrarian and are responsible for the production of food and fiber for the people and provision of raw materials for the industry are being left out of all discussions by the stakeholders in the country. Many of the farming households reside in the rural areas and they depend on agricultural extension systems to improve on their production. Agricultural extension uses mass media as a means to deliver agricultural information on innovations and technology to the farmers and television programs targeted towards agriculture are employed. The farmers have the opportunity to hear and see new agricultural practices which are largely held on state-owned television stations. Due to the inherent poverty among the rural farmers and in the bid to make sure they keep having access to agricultural information through the mass media, specifically, the television, this study looks into what the Nigeria government should do to ensure food production and by extension, food security and overall rural economy development despite the need to improve broadcast technology in Nigeria. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

3 - Underlying Constructs of Farmers’ Perceptions towards Bt Cotton Among Former Cotton Farmers in Northern Ghana: Empirical Application of Q Methodology
Hudu Zakaria

It is often argued that learning from best examples in the neighbouring Burkina Faso and elsewhere, Ghana can succeed in revamping the collapsing cotton industry by introducing Bt cotton to farmers. This paper therefore presents a survey findings on farmers’ views More

It is often argued that learning from best examples in the neighbouring Burkina Faso and elsewhere, Ghana can succeed in revamping the collapsing cotton industry by introducing Bt cotton to farmers. This paper therefore presents a survey findings on farmers’ views and perceptions towards the possible introduction of Bt cotton. A stratified random sampling techniques was applied in selecting 254 farmers from the four cotton producing zones in northern Ghana and Q methodology adopted in collecting narratives and perceptions towards Bt cotton. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was applied in extracting the underlying constructs from farmers’ narratives on Bt cotton. The extraction method was guided by Kaiser’s Eigenvalue-greater-than-one rule follow by Parallel analysis method of Monte Carlo and Scree test techniques. Results of the PCA identified five broad issues representing farmers’ views about the introduction of Bt cotton. The broad issues explaining farmers’ views and perception towards Bt cotton are ‘contractual issues with cotton companies’, ‘issues relating to problems and challenges in cotton farming’, ‘issues relating to farmers desire to go back to cotton farming’, ‘positive views on Bt cotton’ and ‘some reservations on Bt cotton’. This paper therefore recommends that for government and other stakeholders to succeed in revamping the cotton industry, there is the need for farmers’ concerns on contractual issues to be addressed and for more information on Bt cotton to be provided to resolve the reservation farmers have about Bt cotton. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

4 - Extension Workers’ Attitude towards e-Agriculture: A case study from Bangladesh
Mohammad Sarker Asif Kaiser Md. Abdul Miah

e-Agriculture is being the utmost desire for the sustainable development world over. The research was designed to assess extension workers’ attitude towards e-Agriculture in general. The methodology of this study is an integration of quantitative and qualitative m More

e-Agriculture is being the utmost desire for the sustainable development world over. The research was designed to assess extension workers’ attitude towards e-Agriculture in general. The methodology of this study is an integration of quantitative and qualitative methods based on primary data collection. The study was conducted in two upazilas (sub-districts) of Mymensingh district, namely Mymensingh Sadar and Fulbaria. Data were collected from 78 Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officers (SAAOs) out of total population of 78 following whole population sampling . The empirical data for the study were collected by using distributed questionnaire during weekly conference day at their respective sub-district headquarters. Extreme majorities (94.9 percent) of the extension workers were found to have moderately favourable attitude and 3.8 percent had highly favourable attitude towards e-Agriculture. On the other hand, only 1.3 percent of the SAAOs had slightly favourable attitude towards e-Agriculture. The findings also revealed that, annual income, knowledge on e-Agriculture, access to ICT facilities and use of media associate with e-Agriculture of the SAAOs had positive and significant relationships with their attitude while age and service tenure of the SAAOs were found to have significant negative relationships with their attitude towards e-Agriculture. However, level of education, family size, information sources regarding e-Agriculture, training received on e-Agriculture and job satisfaction of the SAAOs did not show any significant relationship with their attitude towards e-Agriculture. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

5 - The Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Agricultural Systems and the Transition to Food Stability and Security (Case Study: Agricultural Jihad Organization, Khuzestan Province)
Mohsen Mousaei Mehrafrooz Sayednezhad

The propouse of this study was to investigate the role of information and communication technology in agricultural systems and the transition to food security and sustainability. From the perspective of the purpose, the present study is an applied research and from the More

The propouse of this study was to investigate the role of information and communication technology in agricultural systems and the transition to food security and sustainability. From the perspective of the purpose, the present study is an applied research and from the perspective of data collection method is also a survey research. The statistical population of this study includes managers and experts and managers working in the Agricultural Jihad of Khuzestan province. Acorrding to Statictics from the human resources unit of the organization there are 96 experts. Due to the limited statictical society enhsus method was used. Questionnaire was used to measure research variables. The validity of the questionnaire was used by a panel of experts and Cronbach's alpha method was used to determine the reliability and Cronbach's alpha for the questionnaire was 0.798. Descrptive statistic methods used include mean, median and frequency percent and inferencial statistical methods used Partial least squares method. The results show that information and communication technology has a positive and significant impact on agricultural systems. On the other hand, agricultural systems have an impact on food security and sustainable agriculture. Finally, it has been shown that information technology through agricultural systems enhances food security and achieves sustainable agricultural goals. DOR:20.1001.1.22517588.2021.11.1.5.7 Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

6 - Analyzing the Impact of External Variables of Information Communication and Technology on Organizational Agility in Khuzestan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
Elham Khosravipour

Many countries of the world consider the development of information and communication technology as one of the most important development infrastructures, including the impact on organizational agility through information collection and management. In this research, the More

Many countries of the world consider the development of information and communication technology as one of the most important development infrastructures, including the impact on organizational agility through information collection and management. In this research, the aim is to analyze the impact of external variables of information communication and technology on organizational agility in Khuzestan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. The research was applied in terms of type and purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of obtaining data. The statistical population consisted of 100 faculty members of Khuzestan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. With the help of Krejcie and Morgan table and simple random sampling method, a sample of 80 people was determined. To achieve the results, data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire (ICT Questionnaire and Organizational Agility Questionnaire). The validity of the questionnaire was done using the opinions of university faculty members outside the target community and the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficients (α = 0.96), which was distributed among the sample and the results were analyzed. Data were analyzed using SPSS and LISREL software. According to the research findings, the effect of management variables, rules and regulations and software technology is equal to 3.76, 2.71 and 5.63, respectively. The results showed that among the effective variables, management variables, rules and regulations and software technology have a greater impact on organizational agility in the university. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

7 - The Estimation Model of Determinant of Mobile Phone Apps’ Usage by Smallholder Farmers in North West Nigeria
Abdullahi Khidir Idowu Oladele Daniel Ekpa

20.1001.1.22517588.2022.12.2.3.4

This study examined the determinants of frequency of cellphone applications’ usage among farmers in North-West Nigeria using Negative Binomial Regression Model (NBRM). Using ex-post-facto research design, multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 385 r More

This study examined the determinants of frequency of cellphone applications’ usage among farmers in North-West Nigeria using Negative Binomial Regression Model (NBRM). Using ex-post-facto research design, multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 385 respondents from ADP geo-ecological zones of three agrarian states (namely Katsina, Kano and Kaduna) for the study. Thereafter, three Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly selected from each state and from which 5 communities were randomly selected from each of the LGAs in Katsina and Kaduna, and 10 from the most densely populated Kano state. Data were collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire and summarized using frequency counts, percentages and mean. Though most frequently used mobile applications include voice call app (mean value of 1.410), SMS app (0.932 mean score) and Opera with 0.640 mean value, weighted mean values showed that all the apps were rarely being put to use by the farmers, indicating generally low frequency of usage. NBRM analysis results showed that educational attainment, knowledge, phones farmers operate well, phone as information garget, app store, social media and agencies as sources of apps positively influenced the frequency of mobile apps usage. A well guided effort through appropriate policies that would encourage the frequency of mobile phone usage by farmers for information accessing, should be put in place by major stakeholders of rural and agricultural development in the area. Manuscript profile

List of articles (by subject) Information Technology in Agriculture