The Level of Technology Utilization in the Dissemination of Market Information to Smallholder Vegetable Farmers of Vihiga County, Kenya

Aims: To investigate the level of information and communication technology used in the dissemination of market information to vegetable farmers of Vihiga County, Kenya.

Study Design: The study used a correlational research design to investigate the relationship between ICT tools and vegetable farmers concerning the dissemination of market information.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Agribusiness and Extension Management (ABE)- Operational, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, between March 2022 and August 2022.

Methodology: We included 568 smallholder vegetable farmers (356 women, 212 men; age range 18-50 years) with the ability to produce and sell vegetables in respective local markets. Cross-tabulation was administered to generate information about the association between the dependent and independent variables.

Results: The findings indicated the availability of ICT tools such as radios, TV, mobile phones, and cyber cafes in the county. However, the use of ICT in vegetable farming was found to be limited to Radio, with 135(49.1%) of the respondents reporting owning one. This limitation contributed to the absence of market information on other ICT platforms. Still, Chi-square analysis established that ICT use in the dissemination of market information was statistically significant at P-value=0.000, with a 5% level of significance.

Conclusion: There was a positive correlation between ICT use in the dissemination of market information, and improved returns from the sale.