Examining the non-adoption of mobile phone technologies for agricultural activities by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The introduction of mobile phones and their associated technologies has impacted every aspect of human existence, particularly in the developing world. This increase in mobile phone usage has given developing nations a window of opportunity to use mobile phone technologies as a means of achieving development. However, most of the research across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including Zimbabwe, reported minimal usage of mobile phone technologies by a few smallholder farmers. There is an underusage of mobile phone technologies for agricultural purposes by most of the smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe, while these farmers use mobile phone technologies productively in their everyday lives. This research sought to understand why most smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe do not use their mobile phones in their agricultural activities when they successfully use them in their everyday lives. The study explores the perceptions of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe on the role of mobile technology in the sustainable development of smallholder agriculture in the country. The researcher employed a qualitative technique to understand smallholder farmers' perspectives on mobile phone technology use in their agricultural activities. The research adopted an inductive approach to theory creation based on interpretivism, a philosophical theory that recognises the possibility of multiple realities and subjectivity during the formation of knowledge. Qualitative techniques including observations, a focus group discussion (FGD) and in-depth interviews were used to gather empirical data. The study was conducted following the key tenets provided for conducting a progressive case study. The researcher analysed the literature on smallholder farmers and mobile phone use in agriculture and offered a detailed overview of the study's context. The factors influencing mobile phone uptake and use in agriculture and attitudes and perceptions toward technology are identified and discussed. The main contribution of this research to the body of knowledge is the constructed eclectic theoretical model with nine constructs. The empirical research results affirmed the findings from the literature analysis for six constructs Perceived Costs (PC), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Compatibility (PComp), Perceived Subjective Norms (PSN) and Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC). The Page II of 338 research also proposed three new constructs, which are Perceived Expressiveness (PE), Perceived Support of Service Provider (PSoSP), and Perceived Mobility (PM). This research has found the proposed model to irradiate the adoption and usage patterns, and variations of mobile phone technologies by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. The model emphasises the significance of the role of agricultural extension service officers in the adoption and usage processes. That is why it incorporates agricultural extension services officers as a vital cog in the model because of the moderating effect on eight constructs of the proposed model. According to the research findings, agricultural extension service personnel in Zimbabwe play a crucial role in teaching smallholder farmers and assessing the utility of mobile phone technology applications as a supplemental tool in agricultural extension processes. The study's secondary aim is to contribute to practice by creating a framework for guiding the adoption and usage of mobile phone technologies to advance smallholder agriculture in Zimbabwe. The proposed framework integrates the key agricultural stakeholders in the layers and places the agricultural extension services officers at the epicentre of the operationalisation of the framework since they are a vital part of the smallholder agriculture information dissemination and agriculture development matrix. The framework intends to support the integration of agricultural information sources into a centralised repository which should be accessible to all agricultural information dissemination platforms. All developed mobile phone technology for agriculture platforms should be integrated into the framework after evaluation. The agricultural extension services officers, who work directly with smallholder farmers, should evaluate the intrinsic conditions of the smallholder farmers under their jurisdiction and recommend the best mobile phone technology agricultural application suitable for each farmer's circumstances.