Open AccessInformation and communication technologies (ICT) towards agricultural development in rural areas: case of smallholder farmers in Umzimvubu local municipality of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa
Author(s) -
Z Makaula
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
suid-afrikaanse tydskrif vir landbouvoorligting/south african journal of agricultural extension
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2413-3221
pISSN - 0301-603X
DOI - 10.17159/2413-3221/2021/v49n1a10779
Subject(s) - information and communications technology , agriculture , scale (ratio) , socioeconomics , business , cape , economic growth , geography , rural area , population , agricultural economics , political science , environmental health , economics , cartography , archaeology , law , medicine
This paper was initiated in order to find the usage and relevance of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by the smallholder farmers of the Umzimvubu Local Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. A survey questionnaire was then developed to collect the relevant data from randomly selected six villages of Umzimvubu Local Municipality targeting 138 respondents. The questionnaires structure employed both closed and open-ended questions that were administered using a face to face interview, conducted on the sample population in each village. There seems to be a correlation between ICT usage and the economies of scale in agricultural development, where smallholder farmers tend to use less of highly modernized ICT, while commercial large scale farmers use more of the modernized ICT. This disparity amongst farmers is exacerbated in many areas by the differing support systems employed by the public extension services.