Effects of farmers’ peer influence on the use of ICT-based farm input information in developing countries: a case in Sikasso, Mali

Abstract

Agriculture, characterised by low productivity and dominated by small-scale cereal farmers constitutes the backbone of developing countries’ economy. Use of agricultural inputs permits the increase of the yield and hence productivity. However, use of such farm inputs relies heavily on the availability of information. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play a vital role in the dissemination of agricultural input information. Nevertheless, use of ICT-based farm input information is related to certain conditions such as farmers’ peer influence. This influence was investigated, and its effect on the use of ICTs for more access and use of agricultural input information was identified. We gathered from 300 respondents in Sikasso, Mali. The results showed that farmers’ peer influence explained 80.2% of use ICT-based farm input information. From these results, it is important to take this influence as the main factor determining the utilisation of ICT-based farm input information in the cereal production context.

Keywords

• Cereals
• Productivity
• ICT4D
• Developing Countries
• Farm Inputs