Socioeconomic Influence on Smallholder Crop Farmers’ Use of Electronic Input Marketing and Distribution System in Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzed the influence of socioeconomic attributes of smallholder farmers to utilize electronic input marketing systems in Imo State. Data for the study were obtained from 240 farmers using structured questionnaire selected through a multistage sampling procedure. Frequency distribution, %age score, mean score, standard deviation and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) multiple regression model were used to analyze the collected data. The results indicated that majority (56.7%) of the farmers were males with average age of 48years and primary school education qualification (26.1%). The average farm size of the farmers was 1.7 hectares withN35,500 monthly income. The average farming experience was 18 years, while majority (73.3%) of the farmers had no contact with extension. In terms of Social Organization Membership, the result showed that 72.1% of the farmers had no membership. Furthermore, the farmers were capable of performing 3 out of 7 electronic input marketing operations understudied, namely: operations included: knowledge of Sharing android applications (M = 2.4), tuning into TV and radio channels (M = 2.3) and downloading online media contents (M = 2.2).The coefficient of age (t = 3.170), farm size (t = 3.020), educational level (t = 2.812), monthly income (t = 4.721), farming experience (t = 4.115), extension visit (t = 2.326) and social organization membership (t = 1.991) indicated that farmers’ socioeconomics positively and significantly influenced the use of electronic input marketing in Imo State. The study concluded that smallholder farmers’ socioeconomic attributes determine smallholder farmers’ use of electronic input marketing systems in Imo State, and therefore recommended the use of local content electronic input distribution system to enable farmers relate and communicate effectively.