Mobile phones and sustainable agriculture based livelihoods: A case study of smallholder farmers in the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions, Ghana

As farmers in the Ashanti region of Ghana have nearly universally adopted mobile phone technology as a means of communication, new opportunities have arisen for individuals to access and convert low cost information into high... [ view full abstract ]

As farmers in the Ashanti region of Ghana have nearly universally adopted mobile phone technology as a means of communication, new opportunities have arisen for individuals to access and convert low cost information into high value outcomes. At present, little is known about the nature of mobile phone use in this context and the impact it is having on livelihoods, and this research aimed to address these gaps in knowledge. The focus of the research was on the impact of mobile phones on livelihoods of smallholder farmers, primarily those growing white yam (Dioscorea rotundata) as a major source of food and income. Yam is a crop with a high market value but is also more nutritious than alternatives such as cassava (Manihot esculenta). Semi-structured interviews and questionnaire data from yam farmers were used to explore the current state of mobile phone use throughout the agricultural production process in 4 communities in the Ashanti region and 4 communities in the Brong-Ahafo region. In doing so it was possible to identify critical challenges within important aspects of the production process and evaluate the use and usefulness of mobile phones in addressing these challenges. Findings suggest that mobile phones were generally useful for sending and receiving financial capital, seeking information (availability, price) on pesticides and fertilizers, organizing farm labour, and searching for yam sale pricing information when carrying out temporal sales arbitrage. Mobile phones were seen as somewhat useful for liaising with extension officers and less useful for the critical processes: obtaining yam seeds, and accessing credit and subsidized fertilizer. It was also found that individuals carry out these processes using mixes of strategies, and the specific combination of strategies carried out by an individual was generally determined by the use of a mobile phone or not. The research showed that combinations of mobile phone based strategies produces better outcomes for these specific processes than combinations of strategies that do not make use of the mobile phone. This results in a digital divide not in mobile phone adoption and access, but in use and function. Throughout each of these elements of agriculture production the mobile phone was more or less useful depending on the nature of associated challenges, the unique knowledge space in which an individual exists, and the nature of individuals’ information seeking behavior. While the study group as a whole is experiencing a trend of general positive livelihood development, individuals continue to suffer from a state of information poverty, and mobile phones are only useful within certain processes and for only a section of the population at present.

Keywords: ICT4D, sustainable agriculture, mobile phones, sustainable livelihoods