TY - JOUR
T1 - Smallholder farmers' use of mobile phone services in central Kenya
AU - Krell, N. T.
AU - Giroux, S. A.
AU - Guido, Z.
AU - Hannah, C.
AU - Lopus, S. E.
AU - Caylor, K. K.
AU - Evans, T. P.
N1 - Funding Information:
Kenya's National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) granted clearance for the study's research permit (Reference number NACOSTI/P/18/8412/20854). This study was supported by the following grants: National Science Foundation (NSF) [grant number WSC-Category 2 Collaborative #1830752] awarded to T.P.E. and Fulbright Fellowship awarded to N.T.K; Institute of International Education (Fulbright Student Program Research Award). The authors are grateful for all the farmers who participated in our survey in Kenya, the Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia, Kenya for facilitating the implementation of the survey, and G. Githaiga for her initial feedback on the survey questions. The U.C. Santa Barbara Statistical Consulting Laboratory provided guidance on the logistic regression statistical analysis. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at U.C. Santa Barbara granted ethical clearance for the study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Information and services delivered through mobile phones, ‘m-services', have transformative potential to provide rural African farmers with important agro-meteorological information. However, a greater understanding is needed regarding the types of m-services available to farmers, how farmers access that information, and possible factors affecting m-service use. With a study of smallholder farming communities in central Kenya, we examine factors affecting the likelihood of Kenyan farmers’ adoption of m-services specifically related to agriculture and livestock information, buying and selling products, and alerts about agricultural or livestock activities. According to a survey of 577 farming households, 98% of respondents own a mobile phone. Approximately 25% use it to access information about agriculture and livestock, 23% access information about buying and selling products, and 18% receive alerts. Personal smartphone ownership increases the likelihood of m-services use (p <.001), as does membership in farmer organizations (p <.001). We find that age and income are not significantly related to m-service use, and we discuss this result in terms of intersections between smartphone ownership, gender, and education. Consistent with prior qualitative research, our quantitative results further support the need for m-services providers to design for basic or feature phone users for improved dissemination of agro-meteorological information.
AB - Information and services delivered through mobile phones, ‘m-services', have transformative potential to provide rural African farmers with important agro-meteorological information. However, a greater understanding is needed regarding the types of m-services available to farmers, how farmers access that information, and possible factors affecting m-service use. With a study of smallholder farming communities in central Kenya, we examine factors affecting the likelihood of Kenyan farmers’ adoption of m-services specifically related to agriculture and livestock information, buying and selling products, and alerts about agricultural or livestock activities. According to a survey of 577 farming households, 98% of respondents own a mobile phone. Approximately 25% use it to access information about agriculture and livestock, 23% access information about buying and selling products, and 18% receive alerts. Personal smartphone ownership increases the likelihood of m-services use (p <.001), as does membership in farmer organizations (p <.001). We find that age and income are not significantly related to m-service use, and we discuss this result in terms of intersections between smartphone ownership, gender, and education. Consistent with prior qualitative research, our quantitative results further support the need for m-services providers to design for basic or feature phone users for improved dissemination of agro-meteorological information.
KW - ICT
KW - Kenya
KW - Mobile technologies
KW - apps for agriculture
KW - mobile services
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U2 - 10.1080/17565529.2020.1748847
DO - 10.1080/17565529.2020.1748847
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85083566853
VL - 13
SP - 215
EP - 227
JO - Climate and Development
JF - Climate and Development
SN - 1756-5529
IS - 3
ER -