The role of motorized transport and mobile phones in the diffusion of agricultural information in Tanggamus Regency, Indonesia
Yasuyuki Todo; Petr Matous; Ayu Pratiwi
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021042821064
Tiivistelmä
Limited access to agricultural information constrains the well-being of
farmers in developing countries and leads to environmental
deterioration. Although new information-communication technologies
(ICTs) are expected to alleviate this problem, the importance of
physical mobility is rarely considered. This study explores the roles of
motorized transport and mobile phones in the diffusion of agricultural
information within and between Indonesian farming communities. In 2012,
we surveyed 315 household heads from 16 coffee and cocoa farming groups
in Sumatra. The respondents identified 1575 sources from which they
obtained agricultural information, the exact location of the sources,
and the mode of contact. In 2013, we followed up with in-depth
interviews of 20 farmers to obtain a qualitative description of their
agricultural information-seeking behavior. Although 75 % of respondents
had a mobile phone, the main mode of information sharing was
face-to-face meetings for 97 % of the elicited relationships. Mobile
phones were used to communicate with people living at the edge of the
regular physical mobility radius enabled by motorbikes (approximately 10
km). A hierarchical logit model was applied to examine the implications
of the respondents’ tendency to use motorized transport vis-à-vis
walking for information gathering. Respondents with a higher general
preference for faster transport tended to have more extensive access to
information from other communities. However, we also find weak evidence
that individual motorized transport might decrease internal social
contact and information exchange inside these communities. The policy
implication for rural development in less-industrialized countries is
that providing ICTs without increasing the inhabitants’ mobility through
appropriate means may not significantly improve the inhabitants’ access
to important information and the diffusion of successful agricultural
practices.
Kokoelmat
- Rinnakkaistallenteet [19207]