Abstract:
The use of mobile phones has become important in the agricultural sector.
However, little is known about its level of use and the factors that affect its use
to access agricultural information in Agona – District, Ghana. The study
employed a descriptive correlational survey design to determine factors that
affect farmers’ use of mobile phone to access information. Multistage
sampling technique and structured interview schedule were used to collect data
from 182 farmers from 14 communities within the district. Frequencies,
percentages, means, standard deviations and Independent Sample t- test and
multiple regressions were used to analyze the data. The study showed that
males were dominant in the use of mobile phone to access agricultural
information. Farmer’s knowledge and awareness of the use of mobile phone
for agricultural information was relatively low. Majority of farmers agreed to
benefiting from using mobile phone in receiving agriculture information.
Financial services and reduced travel cost were the level of extent to which
farmers use mobile phone. Again, high cost of call tariff and difficulty in
texting message were the major challenges of using mobile phone. The five
factors that best predict the extent of use of mobile phone by farmers were
awareness of mobile phones, knowledge of mobile use, benefit of using mobile
phones, farmers’ educational level and type of mobile used.
The study recommends the need of telecommunication network companies and
Ministry of Food and Agriculture to provide more training to farmers on the
use of mobile phone for accessing agricultural information.