Factors influencing Mobile Phone use on Climate-Smart Horticulture in Taita-Taveta County, Kenya
Abstract
The role of mobile phones in reducing agricultural information gaps and improving access to wide range of services cannot be underestimated. While climate change poses a serious threat to crop production, mobile phones have steadily been used to provide a solution by facilitating sharing of real time information and enhancing
virtual networks beneficial to farmers. However, there is still low application of mobile phone in horticulture. This study analyzed the factors influencing the use of mobile phones on climate-smart horticulture. The study surveyed 403 tomato and green gram farmers randomly drawn from three sub-counties (Wundanyi, Mwatate and Taveta) in Taita-Taveta County. A binary logit model was applied to analyze the factors influencing mobile phone use on climate-smart horticulture. The results showed that gender, trust on the information received through mobile phone, access to electric power (solar and hydro-electricity) and access to credit improved mobile phone use on climate-smart horticulture while farmer’s age exhibited negative influence. National and County governments should partner with local telecommunication service providers and other agricultural stakeholders to educate farmers and extension agents on mobile phone use on farming and develop a mobile phone digital platform that would provide real time and credible weather, agronomic, market and price information.
Copyright Notices
1. Policy for Journals That Offer Open Access
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Proposed Policy for Journals That Offer Delayed Open Access
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work [SPECIFY PERIOD OF TIME] after publication simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
