Role of mobile phones in improving communication and information delivery for Agricultural Development: lessons from South-Western Uganda

Agricultural production for local consumption and export in East Africa plays a critical role in national economies. The sector employs nearly 80% of the people who are mostly sm all -scale farmers and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Agricultural information is a key component in improving small- scale agricultural production and linking increased production to remunerative markets, thus leading to improved rural livelihoods, food security and national economies. The paper discusses the dynamics of using portable phones among smallholder farmers to link them with market outlet and other service providers who contribute in one way or te other into agricultural productivity . The paper isolate strength, weakness and threats while analysing insights associated with results patterns. Research f indings show ed that use of phone was appreciated by rural communities as easy, fast and convenient way to communicate and get prompt ans wers of respective problems. F armers were more excited about the use of phone than other information and communication technologies. U se of mobile phones to access information differ ed from one parish to another . Information on market ing is on higher demand (100% ). There is generally more use of phones by male than female farmers , yet more female farmers request ed information on NRM and agri culture as compared to male farmers . Despite some obvious challenges the use of phone in the study area was accompanied by positive outcomes and opened opportunities such as emerging of strong collective action among social groups . Farmers are coming together to market their produce. Based on these results the increased mobile penetration rate in the country provides opportunities for actors along commodity chain to look into possibilities of using mobile applications to boost agricultural development that accounts for 30.2 % of the county’s GDP.

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