Understanding the Agricultural Input Information Needs and Seeking Behavior of Small-Scale Farmers: A Case of Koulikoro Region in Mali

Macire Kante () and Patrick Ndayizigamiye ()
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Macire Kante: University of Johannesburg
Patrick Ndayizigamiye: University of Johannesburg

A chapter in Digital Transformation for Sustainability, 2022, pp 471-491 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Many developing countries have put in place interventions to help small-scale farmers to increase their agricultural productivity. Some of these interventions include the use of Information and Communication Technology tools by extension services to disseminate agricultural input information. However, to date, there is still a limited understanding of the agricultural information needs and seeking behavior of these farmers. Such understanding is needed in order to devise adequate ICT-driven interventions that are in sync with the information needs and seeking behavior of the farmers. Hence, this study investigated farmer’s agricultural input information needs and their information-seeking behavior in the context of Mali. The study adopted the Information-Seeking Task framework as the guiding theoretical lens. Data, gathered from 100 respondents, were analyzed using the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling. The results revealed that there are five farmer’s agricultural input information needs, namely calendar planning; planting; water, fertilizer, and pest management, and input provision. Furthermore, the findings showed that farmers seeking agricultural input information formally, that is, through mobile phone satisfied their information needs more than those seeking it informally through their peers. The findings suggest that farmer’s extension services should pay more attention to these results when devising their interventions.

Keywords: Agricultural information; Information needs; Farm inputs; Seeking behavior; PLS-SEM; Mali (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prochp:978-3-031-15420-1_23

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-15420-1_23

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