FACTORS INFLUENCING THE USE OF MOBILE PHONE BASED SERVICES AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY CHAIN: A PESPECTIVE OF BUNGOMA COUNTY, KENYA

Over the past decades, adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has become an area of interest. The advancement of information and communication technologies in rural areas of developing countries offered opportunities to disseminate timely and accurate for rural development. However, the adoption and use of agricultural market information services (AMIS) remained insignificant among smallholder farmers in the rural areas of developing countries. Therefore, a sound understanding on possible factors associated with the use of mobile phone-based services in support of agricultural supply chain is necessary. This study applied an extended diffusion of innovation model (DOI). The study relied on a convenient sample of 200 smallholder farmers in Bungoma County, Kenya. Data was analyzed using descriptive and multinomial logistic regression (MLR) statistics to identify possible factors associated with the adoption and use of mobile phone-based services in Bungoma County, Kenya. The backward selection analysis confirmed that innovativeness, social influence, and compatibility were statistically significant on the use of mobile phone-based services in the study context. Overall, the results confirmed a positive relationship between the final model and the use of mobile phone-based services (M-services). Therefore, the results of this study may contribute knowledge to the domain of ICT4D in the rural context of developing countries. Further, the findings of this study established knowledge that may be useful for practical implications among smallholder farmers and policy makers in the field of ICT4D.