The Effect of ICTs on Agricultural Distribution Channels in a Developing Country (original) (raw)
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The Effect of ICTs on Agricultural Distribution Channels in Mexico
Globally, traditional family-based production and management is still the main form of agriculture. As with every industry, stakeholders in agriculture need information and, like all decision makers, are information processors with finite capabilities. A farm's capability depends on its typology. Of Mexico's 5.5m farms, only medium-scale and larger producers are likely to have the structured ICT processes and specializations that facilitate efficient identification and management of distribution channels. Every phase in the agricultural business process requires a degree of specialization. Distribution demands market knowledge, entrepreneurial skill, and expertise in negotiation and trading. Improving distribution demands that capital – time and effort – be invested to build knowledge and appropriate networks either directly, through professional managers with a deep knowledge of markets (intermediaries), alongside other farmers in a cooperative or marketplace, or with customers via a collaborative supply chain network. ICTs can establish new links between farmers, markets and end consumers, optimizing distribution channels and reducing transaction costs. Findings suggest that rather than helping producers individually, ICTs are used by the community as a management tool for cooperation by building relationship and through acquisition of knowledge.
Using ICT to Integrate Smallholder Farmers into Agricultural Value Chain
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This article examines an ICT-based intervention (known as the DrumNet project) that has succeeded in integrating smallholder-resource and poor farmers into a higher value agricultural chain. The article assesses the design of the project, and how it resolves the smallholder farmers’ idiosyncratic market failures and examines member-farmers’ marketing margins. The article finds that the design of the DrumNet project resolves smallholder farmers’ credit, insurance and information market failures and enables them to overcome organizational failure. The article concludes that successful ICT-based interventions for integrating farmers into higher value agricultural value chains require an integrated approach to tackling smallholder farmers’ constraints. The findings have implications for the design of future ICT-based interventions in agriculture.
Insufficient access to markets, limited financial transactions, and a lack of information and knowledge often restrict opportunities for small-scale farmers to link up with commercial value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially mobile phones and the internet, have expanded the possibility to communicate across geographical distances and to integrate into commercial value chains. By using a novel combination of conceptual considerations on ICTs, value chains, and relational proximity, this paper assesses: 1. How the use of ICTs affects the integration of small-scale farmers into the value chains (by analysing the information and knowledge flow, the financial and market transactions) and 2. to what extent the use of ICTs is on the other side influenced by the value chain context (i.e. the structure and coordination of the chain and the relational proximity between farmer and buyer). Our findings showed that even simple ICTs (phones) can lead to improvements for farmers to integrate into the chain as they facilitate simple information and complex knowledge flow, financial transactions, and market access, even though a greater structural transformation was absent. However, our results showed that the extent of the effects depends on the context in the value chains, in particular their structure, coordination, and the relational proximity between the actors. In this way, this paper contributes to the conceptual discussions on information and communication for development (ICT4D) and the dynamics in value chains.
Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology
Agricultural extension is a communication network linking different stakeholders in agriculture to improve their productivity and Information Communication Technology (ICT) has been utilised as an extension tool for enhancing information flow between agricultural extension services and their clients. The application of ICT in agricultural extension and rural development has significantly increased in several countries where it has provided an adequate access to agricultural information. Efforts are, therefore, needed to scale up investments in physical ICT infrastructure and services across developing country. This could be realised through the implementation of interventions aimed at speeding up assimilation and adoption of improved agricultural technology and management practices of the less productive smallholder farmers. Drawing on relevant published works, this paper argues that agricultural knowledge and information management within an extension system can improve productivit...
Challenges and Prospects of ICT Use in Agricultural Marketing
International Journal of ICT Research and Development in Africa, 2014
Up-to-date market information on prices for commodities, inputs and consumer trends can improve farmers' livelihoods substantially and have a dramatic impact on their negotiating positions. Information on new marketing opportunities and the market prices of farm inputs and outputs is fundamental to an efficient and productive agricultural economy. The main focus of this study was on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) use on agricultural marketing. Use of ICT (mobile phone, radio and television) and factors affecting ICT use in agricultural marketing in Eastern Hararghe were the objectives of this study. Random sample of 210 producers were selected from six purposively selected kebeles from Haramaya, Kersa and Metta woredas based on their production potential. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression model were used for analyzing the data and 63.8% were ICT users while 36.2% were not. The model result indicated that age, year of education, information s...
Agricultural market information systems in developing countries: New models, new impacts
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Market information systems (MIS) developed in two steps in developing countries. A first generation of MIS emerged in the 1980s when most developing countries liberalized their agriculture, and a second generation followed in the 2000s driven by various factors such as the difficulties faced by the MIS of the first generation to reach their objectives, the new opportunities offered by the development of ICT-Internet and cell phonesand the increasing organization of market players (farmer organizations, interprofessional organizations). Contrary to first generation MIS (1GMIS), which were almost all built on the same model, 2GMIS developed many technical and organizational innovations, giving birth to a great diversity of models. What are the main innovations developed by 2GMIS? What are currently the main MIS models? To what extent can these new models allow MIS to overcome the limitations of 1GMIS to reach their objectives (improve markets and/or inform policies through market information)? What do we know on MIS impacts? This article and the special issue it introduces address these questions.
Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology
The primary purpose of this research is to look at the potential of technology norms and practices in a variety of agricultural resource management systems. By identifying creative IT application implementation, the research also gives an overview of how to overcome rising hurdles in adopting information and communication technology. This article emphasizes some of the noteworthy findings of a study conducted on most farmers, which revealed that most farmers use ICT devices such as multi-SIM mobile phones, smart phones, and tablets. Cell phones and smart phones are the most generally accepted and utilized ICTs, having helped farmers become more socially engaged. Many agriculture-friendly mobile apps are as well assisting farmers in appreciating the relevance of technology. They can contact middlemen for marketing purposes and immediately contact field specialists in real time for guidance on preserving the quality of inputs/outputs, controlling insect/pest, and managing crop disease...
International Journal of Agricultural Technology, 2011
This paper explored the availability and uses of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by farmers in order to add value to agricultural products and promote agro-based enterprises. A total of 216 randomly selected farmers from Enugu state, south-east Nigeria constituted the sample size for the study. Primary data emanated from structured questionnaires, interview schedules and focus group discussion while secondary data came from internet resources. Data analysis was done using simple descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. Socio-economic background of the respondents revealed the characteristics of the farmers which portray them in the light of users of ICT’s equipments. The study has implication for rural development, and showed prospects for increased use of ICTs in Enugu State. There is need for ICT training programmes for various stakeholders such as agricultural extension agents, the private sectors and farmers. There is also need to create an enab...
Role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture trade’s information
The Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences
The present study was carried out in four districts of Haryana during 2017. Farmers use ICTs for various activities such as marketing, marketing price, time of market inflow, quality parameters that affect price, marketing procedure and other facilities available at marketplace. The results indicate that majority of the farmers use ICTs for the purpose of information of weather forecasting, crops related government policies, credit/loan facilities for crops cultivation, insurance of crop and subsidies for crop cultivation. The variables: education, socio-economic status, land holding, extension contact, mass media exposure, scientific orientation, economic motivation and risk orientation exhibited significantly positive correlation with marketing of agricultural produce, whereas age was significantly negatively correlated with marketing. The regression analysis shows significantly positive impact of education, socio-economic status, land holding, extension contact, mass media exposu...