Dear All,
Thank you for this great opportunity.
Please permit to share my research findings with you on the above subject matter. The potential role of ICTs in agriculture cannot be underestimated! Undoubtedly, ICT is the solution to the current economic meltdown around the globe.
I am a PhD researcher from Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, United Kingdom. I am currently working on the use of ICT (mobile phone) among smallholder farmers and its relevance to sustainable Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in Nigeria. The study aims is to investigate how ICT (mobile phone) could be better used to improve adoption of Good Agricultural Practices and increase the productivity of smallholders farmers.
I conducted adapted livelihood survey in two rural communities in Kaduna State, Northern Nigeria. On my second visit to the study area I trained 25 farmers per community (called lead farmers) on 16 Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and asked them to train 3 farmers each. In a nut shell, I trained 200 smallholder farmers using lead farmers extension model and gave them action plan. Moreover, I gave them improved seeds as incentive for participating in the study and also liaise with an NGO who gave farmers fertilizers at a subsidize prices.
In the same vein, I trained 100 smallholder farmers on the effective and efficient use of mobile phone to improve adoption, unlock market prices and increase bargaining skills. Therefore, I have 100 ICT group and 100 non-ICT group. I also presented 14 free mobile phones to farmers without handset to ensure that all ICT group have access to personal mobile phone. In addition, I sent SMS text messages to ICT group every 2 weeks as a reminder to prompt them to follow the action plan.
On 15 October 2016, at the end of the growing season, I went back to the study area to evaluate the impact of the training on adoption and the effectiveness of ICT (mobile phone). To my greatest surprise the GAP intervention made a big difference in the study area. GAP technologies has created rural prosperity and increase the agricultural productivity and incomes of the farmers. Participants recorded 71.6% increase in productivity particular the ICT group. The role of ICT couple with adequate resources cannot be underrated. I also conducted market intelligence in four rural market in the study area to investigate how farmers and traders use ICT (mobile phone) to unlock markets.
I strongly believe that the purpose of any research is to make meaningful contributions to the lives of participants and body of knowledge.
Thank you.
Olayemi Samson Sennuga.
PhD Student, RAU, UK.
M. Olayemi Samson Sennuga