ICT TOOLS AND THEIR UTILIZATION IN ACCESSING AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN RURAL AREAS OF SOUTHEAST NIGERIA

Although many studies have been done on ICT usage, most did not explain how effective are some of these ICT tools in accessing not only market information but information on inputs. This article identified the effectiveness of different ICT tools being used by farmers to fetch different information on agricultural activities and other constraining factors that affect the effective use of ICT tools in accessing information apart from socio-economic constraints. The study used structured questionnaires to collect primary data from 360 smallholder farmers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis. The study revealed that averagely mobile phone has a mean of 4.29 which was an indication that despite other ICT tools listed for the survey, smallholder farmers in rural area perceived mobile phone more effective in accessing information on agricultural activities. Inadequate human resources, lack of social influence, high cost of repairing, high operation cost, cost of ICTs component, cost of maintenance and problem of theft and general insecurity were other constraining factor that influences ICT use. To reduce some of the hindrance to effective use of ICT especially mobile phone in getting information on new improved varieties which appear to be very important for agricultural sustainability, this study recommends that government and nongovernmental organization should support rural farmer to boost their access to the use of ICT tools. This can be achieved by providing rural farmer with financial aid, subsidizing cost of ICT component as this would reduce the cost of maintaining ICT tools.