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Use of Ict in Decision Making of Agricultural Marketing: Factors Determining of Farmers’ Involvement

Nasida Binta Wahab Tonny
Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Md Salauddin Palash
Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Md Moniruzzaman
Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The paper investigated the magnitude of social parameters’ impacts on effective use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in agricultural marketing by the farmers. In addition, how farmers identify information sources and how they access to those sources in selected areas of Jamalpur district were also examined. Purposive sampling method was used in this investigation and data were collected from eighty farmer’s thorough survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Likert scale and multivariate regression model were used to analyze the data. Multivariate regression model was specified and estimated to identify the factors affecting use of ICT by farmers. The outcome of this study highlights important factors for the use of ICT. It is evident from the findings that the users of ICT are getting better quality information and are hence making significantly better decisions on all aspects of agricultural marketing. Regression analysis revealed that two factors i.e. cultivated land of farmers and level of education were the important factors of using of ICT by farmers. Modern ICT tool such as mobile phone was the most used device by the farmers due to low price and availability. They collected most of the information regarding marketing activities of their produce by mobile phone from other progressive farmers, traders and agricultural extension workers. Social imperative findings of this paper might be helpful for the policy maker to emphasis on further extension of mobile phone based agricultural marketing information system in Bangladesh.

Keywords: ICT, Agricultural Marketing, Mobile Phone, OLS, Bangladesh

Location: Jamalpur District

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: ICT

Objectives:

Farmers can get the facilities of more efficient use of existing transport, storage, packaging and processing technique through the use of ICT (Aker, 2011). For sustainable development of agriculture and national economy, emphasis on ICT and its use in agriculture is very important.

Methodology:

The study was conducted in Jamalpur District; from where 8 unions of 3 upazilas were selected such as Dewanganj, Bahadurabad, Chikajani, Hativanga and Dangdhara union of Dewanganj upazila; Bakshiganj and Merur Char union of Bakshiganj upazila; and Islampur union of Islampur upazila. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to collect the data from the farmers. Eighty farmers from eight unions were selected for conducting the study. Of them, 45 farmers were found who were currently using different ICT sources to collect information for marketing their agricultural produce and 35 farmers were found as non-user of ICT sources. ICT users used only one ICT based sources for collecting information from more than one ICT based sources such as mobile phone, internet, televisions and radios. In this case, most of them have basic knowledge on the uses of these devices. They use these devices by their own means or with the help of any family members who has better knowledge about it. The non-user of ICT was ICT used only one ICT based sources for collecting information from traditional sources such as traders, progressive farmers and sometimes extension workers. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were collected through direct personal interview from the respondents. Secondary data and other relevant information were collected from market reports, journals, publications, Bangladesh Institute of ICT for Development (BIID) and others relevant sources. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze characteristics of the respondents. In addition, Likert scale (Likert, 1932) was used to examine the farmer’s perceptions about quality of their decision regarding different marketing practices. Predetermined opinions were presented to the respondents and the Likert scaling technique was used to rate the opinions. There were mainly nine dimensions on which farmers collect information for marketing their produce. So, the researcher recorded the quality perceptions of farmers on those aspects. Each opinion was given a scale of one to five such as: very good takes a scale of 1, good a scale of 2, average a scale of 3, poor a scale of 4, very poor a scale of 5. Analysis of Variance is a method of estimation how much of total variation in a set of data can be attributed to certain assignable causes of variation and how much can be attributed to chance factor and then comparing these estimates due to chance factor to test the equality of means. Analysis of variance is the separation of variance ascribable to one group of causes from the variance ascribable to other group. According to Venkatesh, Brown, & Bala (2013), researchers can examine relationships between two variables by comparing the mean of the dependent variable between two or more groups within the independent variable. Here, the researcher has collected information on nine dimensions of agricultural marketing which are related to agricultural marketing. These nine practices are generally performed by farmers to collect marketing related information which helps them to take better decision for marketing their products. The researcher recorded quality perceptions of both groups i.e. ICT user and non-user farmers. At first the quality perceptions of farmers on various aspects of marketing were recorded on a five point Likert scale. Then the mean value of responses on various marketing practices and Analysis of Variance between two groups were performed to see whether there was any difference in decision quality between ICT user and non-user farmers. So the following hypothesis was set for this analysis. H0: There is no difference in quality of decision making for marketing agricultural produce between ICT user and non-user farmers. Multivariate regression model was used to identify factors affecting the use of ICT by farmers. In this case, the dependent variable was the total score of the respondents on different marketing practices and the independent variables were age, education level, size of family, farming experience, basic ICT skill, and cultivated land of the farmers.
Y= β0 + β1 X1+ β2 X2 + β3 X3 + β4 X4 + β5 X5 + β6 X6 +β7X7 +ei Where, Y = Total score of the respondents on different marketing practices; X1 = Age of the respondent; X2 = Cultivated land of the respondent; X3 = Farming experience of the respondent; X4 = Household size of the respondent; X5 = Education of the respondent; X6 = Basic ICT skill; X7= Skill upgrading training; β0 to β7 = Regression coefficients; and ei= Error term.

Source of Information: J Bangladesh Agril Univ 17(2): 226–231, 2019

Article Link (Online Journal): https://doi.org/10.3329/jbau.v17i2.41973

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The use of ICT devices by farmers was affected by different socioeconomic factors such as cultivated land area and education level of the farmers in the study area which had shown significantly positive correlation with the use of ICT by farmers. The study also provides practical insights into effectiveness of various sources of information and suggests areas of improvement in the information delivery processes. For example, the benefits of most of the information delivery on marketing practices were towards ICT users while the non-ICT users were not getting all information on marketing their produces. Therefore, it is clear that the provision of ICT should be in such way that all farmers can get information according to their demand are to be benefited equivalently. Sometimes farmers are willing to accept ICTs but they don’t have knowledge of using them. Therefore, the government and private organizations should provide appropriate knowledge generating activities to the farmers to accept the ICTs in agricultural marketing decision making.

Knowledge Management: Journal