Mobile telephony and food security in Nigeria: A case study of food crop farmers in Ondo State.
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Date
2012
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Publisher
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt
Abstract
This study assessed the relevance of mobile telephony to food security in Nigeria usingfood crop farmers in Ondo State as a case study. The study stemmed from the need to boost agricultural production in the country through timely access to relevant innovationsand practices by Nigerian farmers. The study describes the socio-economic characteristicsof the farm households, the major farm operations for which the technology is adopted, aswell as the effect of the technology on farm output of the respondents. Primary datacollected from 180 randomly selected farm households were used for the study.Descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis test, regression and correlation analyses were thetools adopted for the study. The study revealed that mobile technology is most used for booking appointments with labour and least used for obtaining agricultural innovations bythe respondents. The study also shows a positive impact of the technology on food crop production. Therefore, the study recommends training farmers on the use of mobile phones for accessing innovations on agriculture and introducing the farmers to other potential uses of mobile phones for improved agricultural production.
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Keywords
Mobile phones, food security, Kruskal-Wallis test, regression, innovations
Citation
Falola, A. & Adewumi, M. O. (2012): Mobile telephony and food security in Nigeria: A case study of food crop farmers in Ondo State. African Journal of Agriculture, Technology and Environment, 1(1):39-46. Published by Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt. Available at http://ajate.uniport.edu.ng.