The Use of Mobile Phones by Small Scale Farmers in Northern Ghana: Benefits and Challenges
Published: 2012
Author(s) Name: Hamdiyah Alhassan, Paul Adjei Kwakwa |
Author(s) Affiliation: *University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana; **Presbyterian University College, Ghana
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Abstract
The advent of mobile technology has found to be
beneficial to farmers and as such studies have been
conducted on this. The few studies in Ghana have
concentrated on the Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central,
Eastern and Western regions with little also known
about the associated challenges. Consequently, this
study examined the use of mobile phones among small
scale farmers in Kavilli community of the Northern
region of Ghana. A total of 111 small scale farmers were
purposively selected and we observed that, the mobile
phones were predominantly used for communicating
with family/friends and arranging for the procurement
of farm inputs leading to improved communication with
farm input sellers and efficient use of time. Farmers
were however faced with challenges like no reception,
calls ending unexpectedly and poor sound/breaking up
of sound. It is recommended that, the use of mobile
phones in farming activities should be encouraged.
Keywords: Small scale farmers, Mobile phones, Ghana, telecommunication, agriculture.
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