Evaluation of information communication technology (ICTs) utilization among dry season vegetable farmers in Ejigbo local government area of Osun state, Nigeria

Abstract

Information Communication Technology (ICTs) plays a pivotal role in enhancing dry-season vegetable production. The study assessed the evaluation of Information Communication Technology (ICT) utilization among dry-season vegetable farmers in Ejigbo local government area of Osun State. A structured interview schedule was used to collect information from 120 respondents for the study selected using a two-stage sampling procedure with the aid of purposive and random sampling techniques from 171 farmers constituting about 93%. Data obtained were analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation). The results show that more than half (65.8%) of the respondents were female, and three-quarters (75.0%) were married with mean age, household size, and years of formal education of 35±13.2, 5±1.38 and 5.15±1.38 respectively. Mobile phone was the major ICT used in facilitating input procurement with a weighted mean score (WMS) of 2.53 and delivery to farm (WMS=4.06) was the main purpose of ICT usage. The major constraints to ICT usage were inadequate capital (WMS=1.61) and the high cost of ICT tools (1.53). A significant and positive relationship exists between each age (r = 0.453), household size (r =-0.204), years of experience (r =-0.376), and the utilization of ICT. The study concluded that farmer's use of ICTs was low and informed by socio-economic factors such as inadequate capital and the high cost of ICTs limiting purposeful usage. It is recommended that ICT infrastructural development should be prioritized in rural communities of Nigeria.