Inexpensive mobile technologies to empower rural farmers with m-agriculture (original) (raw)
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South African Journal of Agricultural Extension (SAJAE)
Subsistence farming plays a pivotal role in the socioeconomic development and food security of rural populations. Strategic application of information and communication technology (ICT) to agriculture industry offers great opportunities for economic growth and poverty alleviation. The aim of this work is to implement a mobile solution that provides a platform to enable both extension officers to communicate information on agricultural extension and collaborate on farming and irrigation techniques. In addition, the mobile phone application would assist in sharing market related information for buying, selling of their produce, weather, and finance related services, as well as training and employment opportunities. Being better informed, the local farming community would be able to make decisions that would ultimately lead to an improvement in their socioeconomic conditions. Thus, a survey was conducted with 93 farmers selected by random sampling in the Pongola region of Zululand district to establish the penetration of mobile phones. It was found that 94.6% of the farmers owned mobile phones varying in capabilities from simple to smart phones. Based on the findings of the survey, mobile phone application using Java platform was developed and deployed to the cloud. The users expressed satisfaction with the features and the functionalities of the developed system.
Farmers' Use of Mobile Devices in Developing Countries
IST AFRICA, 2021
The introduction of mobile phone technology seems to have brought many benefits to many farmers, especially in developing countries, as it provides access relevant and reliable agricultural information to make more effective farming decisions. Many rural farmers face information asymmetry problems, which seem to emanate from pitfalls in the agriculture or farming extension services that could be solved through the use of mobile devices and technologies. To explore how farmers use mobile devices to access information to aid them in their agricultural practices, this study explored farmers use of mobile devices in the rural arears in Namibia, specifically, the Uukwiyu Uushona community in the Oshana Region for farming purposes. Applying a quantitative research method, data was collected from 140 participants using questionnaire. Thematic analyses to unearth trends were undertaken. The results show that farmers' use of mobile devices adds value and economic benefits to their practices. The study further found that farmers use mobile devices to get up to date information on input and output market transactions, weather information, and banking services. Based on the findings that some of the information on mobile phones are complex and hence difficult to comprehend, it is recommended that mobile agricultural information service providers team up with information systems experts to develop mobile applications or USSD applications that provide agriculture information in its simplest and comprehensive form so as for most farmers if not all, with all kinds of mobile devices will to be able to access agriculture information. Having some of the mobile agricultural information in native or local languages will be helpful especially for the illiterate group of farmers. Considering that only scanty literature similar studies especially in rural Namibia exist, this study contributed to the body of knowledge of mobile device use by farmers in rural areas.
2016
Chisama, Benjamin, F., Purdue University, August 2016. Farmers' Use of Mobile Phone Technology for Agricultural Information Services in Lilongwe District, Malawi. Major Professors: Roger Tormoehlen and Neil Knobloch. Mobile phone technology can be a useful tool to provide farmers with relevant and reliable agricultural information for critical farming decisions in developing countries such as Malawi. An increasing number of rural farmers have been faced with information asymmetry challenges due to some pitfalls in the extension systems. In addition, knowledge gaps on farmers’ use of mobile phone technology; their awareness and use of MAIS; and their preferred topics to be delivered using mobile platforms were identified. However, little was known on how farmers were using existing MAIS. This study’s aim was to explore the potential of providing mobile agricultural information services to farmers in Malawi’s Lilongwe District. The mixed research mode was used to capture informati...
Journal of The Knowledge Economy, 2023
The rapid growth of information systems in the form of mobile phone applications in developing countries resulted in several benefits compared to other choices in relation to costs, environmental exposure, and simplicity of usage. However, smallholder farmers fail to meet the soaring demand for food and other agro commodities in time, and dodging market overflows is an extreme encounter among communal farmers due to a deficiency of information and unacquainted administration. Therefore, the study analyzes the factors influencing the use of information systems for enhancing smallholder production in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study applied a descriptive survey research design. A multi-stage simple random technique was used to collect data from 220 emerging growers using a semistructured survey. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a logistic regression model. The study indicated that most smallholder growers in the mentioned study area use information systems (IS) for their agricultural activities and agribusinesses and have further changed the farming landscape. Interestingly, agricultural productivity has been enhanced, as well as improved the food security status among rural households. Smallholder farmers have experienced problems in using information systems on their farms. Empirical results reveal that socioeconomic factors influence the use of mass media for agricultural purposes by smallholder farmers. Therefore, the study recommends the government should embark on educational awareness and training of farmers in using information systems to enhance productivity.
Design and Implementation of Mobile Portal for Kenyan Pastoralists
Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, 2017
A mobile portal is an internet gateway that provides online services primarily accessed via mobiles and other handheld devices. Mobile portals are part of web 3.0 that is starting to revolutionize online services. Such portals can help pastoralists in Kenya access essential information and marketing services online. The aim of the study was to design and implement a mobile portal that will help Kenyan pastoralists improve their yields. The study adopted systems development life cycle (SDLC) methodology to design, implement and test the portal and used structured interviews and observation to collect user requirements. The portal was coded in J2ME, JSP and SQL languages and developed using Java Development Kit (JDK), Sun Wireless Toolkit, Lightweight User Interface Toolkit (LWUIT), Struts, Tomcat and MySQL. The outcome of the study was the mobile portal successfully developed, tested and deployed.
International Journal of Mobile …, 2004
Recently there has been a spate of interest in how to find feasible applications for mobile devices. Compared with the great expectations in mobile applications, the actual acceptance rates of users both in commercial and private sectors lag far behind. This is especially true for Europe, whereas in other countries, such as Japan, companies like DoCoMo literally created their own demand. This paper suggests that, instead of pursuing a supply-oriented strategy, it would be better to look at the actual demands of potential users and develop products that would meet their needs. In doing so, we concentrated on the agricultural sector and analysed the needs of farmers and their willingness to adopt new technologies. A statistical analysis helped us to evaluate our findings and served as the basis for the creation of a set of possible applications that could help farmers to carry out their work more effectively and efficiently.
The farmers' community in Bangladesh is one of the most deprived ones in terms of economy and access to social facilities. An agricultural market information service (AMIS) can be one of the important tools for reducing such social inequality by integrating the farmers with their markets more efficiently. Following the failure of a web-based AMIS initiated by the Government of Bangladesh and considering the wide availability of cellular networks, a mobile phone based AMIS was implemented on a pilot basis in some remote villages in Bangladesh. This paper evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of this mobile service in terms of users, technology, process and facilitating conditions in a rural context. In general this is an interpretive case study as well as an evaluation research which is based on two small scale surveys and observations. Based on a literature review, a conceptual model is also applied for a systematic evaluation. Findings show that effectiveness of a rural e-service depends on the design and delivery of the service in accordance with the individual's information needs, adaptive technologies with easy accessibility within a given infrastructure, affordable services with a rational business model, adequate awareness and efficient communication with the respective community.
Journal of Agricultural Informatics, 2015
Rural development can be favoured not only with the development of new and sustainable agricultural practices, but also with information communication technology applications. Requirements analysis and specification for mobile software has been recognized as a key factor for economic success and as a support to E-commerce. With the aim to develop a mobile application for a small group of farmers, a partnership among the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), the Institute Costa Rican Electricity, Telecommunications (ICE), the University of Costa Rica (UCR), and a group of organic farmers was established. Here we describe the different processes and the connection between the user needs and the software development team. After defining the specific roles of each organization, we provided especial consideration for the adoption phase, due to digital divide of the target group of small organic farmers. The analysis conducted concluded that the creation of the mobile application h...
IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2019
The pervasive use of smartphones to acquire diverse information among small-scale farmers has received little attention in studies. This study, therefore, explored the experience of Chamwino's small-scale farmers of the usage of smartphone to address ownership pattern, farming practices, information needs, encountered challenges and training needs for future technological alterations. The study employed qualitative design for data collection and thematic analysis was used. The findings revealed that the longer the distance from Dodoma city centre, the fewer the number of smartphones owners. That, less than half of farmers in Mvumi and Makangwa owned smartphones while, less than a quarter in Itiso, Mpwayungu, and Chilonwa Divisions. That youths owned more smartphones than elders, and mostly secondhand that were inadequately used for farming business. This was because, there was no special farming enabled information system to disseminate agricultural information. Accordingly, the frequently used features were SMS and voice calls. Consequently, farmers need information on inputs, weather, market and finance among others. Alternatively, there was no official training on the use of the device thus the new technology was therefore underutilized. Furthermore, challenges identified were farmers' lack of expertise of utilizing the device, uncomfortable large size and the interface of smartphones. Accordingly, farmers were interested in capacity building as many features were not used adequately. Consequently, the study provides deep understanding of farmers' experience and recommends for technological alteration to increase usability of the device.